JP6632689B2 - Gaming machines and game media discriminating devices - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a gaming machine and a game medium discriminating apparatus.

  Conventionally, a game called a pachislot provided with a plurality of reels having a plurality of symbols arranged on each surface, a start switch, a stop switch, a stepping motor provided for each reel, and a control unit Machine is known. The start switch detects that a start lever has been operated by a player (hereinafter, also referred to as a “start operation”) after a game medium such as a medal has been inserted into the gaming machine, and starts the rotation of all reels. Outputs the required signal. The stop switch detects that a stop button provided for each reel is pressed by a player (hereinafter, also referred to as a "stop operation") and outputs a signal requesting that the rotation of the corresponding reel be stopped. I do. The stepping motor transmits the driving force to the corresponding reel. The control unit controls the operation of the stepping motor based on the signals output from the start switch and the stop switch, and performs the rotation operation and the stop operation of each reel.

  In such a gaming machine, when a start operation is detected, a lottery process using a random number (hereinafter, referred to as “internal lottery process”) is performed on a program, and the result of the lottery (hereinafter, “internal winning combination”) is performed. ) And the timing of the stop operation, the rotation of the reel is stopped. Then, when the rotation of all the reels is stopped and a symbol combination related to winning is displayed, a privilege corresponding to the symbol combination is given to the player.

  Also, such a gaming machine is provided with a medal selector for detecting a medal inserted beyond the medal insertion slot. For this medal selector, a medal (illegal medal) that is not a proper medal (regular medal) is inserted into the medal slot, or a device is inserted into the medal slot, so that the gaming machine receives the regular medal. Countermeasures have been taken against fraudulent acts in which a game is played by mistakenly being inserted.

  For example, in Patent Literature 1, two proximity sensors for detecting medals are provided in a medal path, and it is determined whether or not a game medal has passed through the medal path based on the output of each proximity sensor. A slot machine for detecting fraudulent activity using a tool such as a body is described.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique related to an image processing method of dividing an image into a plurality of pieces and performing image processing, and Patent Document 3 discloses a technique related to an image similarity calculation system using a local region. Have been.

JP-A-2002-342814 JP 2001-43371 A Japanese Patent No. 4175413

  However, in the slot machine described in Patent Document 1, medals are inserted by inserting a fraudulent device of various shapes other than the plate-like body into the medal insertion slot and improperly operating the counting function of the medal selector. It is not possible to detect fraudulent acts that give a large number of credits as if they are doing so, or fraudulent acts performed using fraudulent medals.

  For example, when the unit price of lending in the hall where this slot machine is installed is 20 yen per medal and 5 yen per medal with the same diameter but different colors and markings (patterns), in this slot machine, Cannot be determined, and there is a player who performs an illegal game such as using a medal obtained with a low-gaming gaming machine (so-called 5 slots) with a normal gaming machine (so-called 20 slots). Damage has occurred.

  In the slot machine described in Patent Literature 1, a medal rented in a hall where a gaming machine is installed and a medal lent in another hall or a gaming machine purchased at a used machine dealer are attached. In the case where the present medal or a counterfeit medal (including a device that appears to be a medal) and the like have the same diameter but differ only in color or marking (pattern), these cannot be distinguished. For this reason, it has been difficult to detect (detect) a fraudulent act of playing a game using medals (illegal medals) other than regular medals.

  Furthermore, the image processing method described in Patent Document 2 and the image similarity calculation system described in Patent Document 3 cannot easily and accurately determine the authenticity of a game medium inserted into a slot machine or the like.

  Therefore, in the fraud determination according to the related art such as the slot machine described in Patent Literature 1, the image processing method described in Patent Literature 2, and the image similarity calculation system described in Patent Literature 3, various frauds described above are used. Inability to cope with the action, its effect is limited.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a gaming machine and a game medium discriminating apparatus capable of detecting a fraudulent act of mistaking a legitimate game medium as being used. Is to provide.

The invention according to the first embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
An insertion slot (for example, a medal insertion slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal 510);
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 501 including a camera unit 509) for detecting a game medium inserted from the insertion port,
The game medium detection means,
A game medium passage portion (e.g., a medal rail 511) serving as a passage through which the game medium passes;
An imaging unit (for example, a unit including a CMOS image sensor or the like included in the camera unit 509) for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
By performing image processing based on image data (for example, a captured image 562B) obtained through the imaging unit, a game medium determination unit (for example, a game medium determination unit that determines whether or not the game medium is genuine) A control LSI included in the camera unit 509).
The game medium determination means,
A feature image generating unit (for example, a feature image generating unit 364) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) indicating the feature of the game medium based on the image data;
A determination unit (for example, a determination unit 365) that determines whether the game medium corresponding to the image of the game medium included in the image data is a genuine one based on the characteristic image,
The feature image generating means includes:
A first image generation unit (for example, a first image generation unit) that extracts an image of the game medium based on the image data, performs a specific image processing on the extracted image, and generates a first image (for example, a first image 374). An image generation unit 370);
A second image generation unit (for example, a second image generation unit 380) that generates, as the feature image, at least a part of a rotation composite image obtained by combining a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image. e,
The first image generation unit extracts an image of the game medium by performing template matching with an outline template indicating an outline of the game medium,
The feature image is configured to be an image having the same size as the first image .

According to such a configuration of the present invention, a first image is generated based on image data obtained via an imaging unit, and a plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image are combined to generate a characteristic image. Is generated, and it is determined whether or not the game medium is genuine using such a characteristic image. This makes it possible to easily and accurately determine the authenticity of the game medium. In addition, by using such a characteristic image, an effective regular medal determination process can be performed regardless of the angle at which the imaging unit captures the medal. Further, based on the image data obtained via the imaging means, template matching using an outer shape template (for example, outer shape template 377) is performed, and an effective region of the game medium is extracted.

The invention according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration in the first embodiment.
The first image generator, the said contour template image data (e.g., profile template 377) was raster scanned by the template matching to extract an image of the game medium, and generated by performing an edge detection on the extracted image An edge image as the first image;
The second image generation unit includes, when generating the rotated composite image, an image in which the rotation angle of the first image is 0 °, and converts the first image into a total rotation angle in a predetermined angle unit. There by number rotate not exceed 360 °, due urchin configured that generates the feature image.

According to such a configuration of the present invention, template matching and edge detection using the outline template are performed based on the image data obtained via the imaging means, and an effective extraction of the area where the game medium is reflected is performed. .

The invention according to the third embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
A game medium passage portion that becomes a passage through which the game medium passes;
Imaging means for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
A game medium determining device (e.g., a game medium determining device) configured to perform image processing based on image data obtained through the image capturing device, thereby determining whether the game medium is genuine. , A medal selector 501),
The game medium determination means,
A characteristic image generating unit configured to generate a characteristic image indicating a characteristic of the game medium based on the image data;
Determining means for determining whether or not the game medium corresponding to the image of the game medium included in the image data is genuine based on the characteristic image,
The feature image generating means includes:
A first image generation unit that extracts an image of the game medium based on the image data, performs a specific image process on the extracted image, and generates a first image;
E Bei a second image generating unit which at least a portion of the rotary composite image obtained by combining the plurality of rotated image obtained by rotating the first image to generate as the feature image,
The first image generation unit extracts an image of the game medium by performing template matching with an outline template indicating an outline of the game medium,
The feature image is configured to be an image having the same size as the first image .

According to such a configuration of the present invention, a first image is generated based on image data obtained via an imaging unit, and a plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image are combined to generate a characteristic image. Is generated, and it is determined whether or not the game medium is genuine using such a characteristic image. This makes it possible to easily and accurately determine the authenticity of the game medium. In addition, by using such a characteristic image, an effective regular medal determination process can be performed regardless of the angle at which the imaging unit captures the medal. Further, based on the image data obtained via the imaging means, template matching using an outer shape template (for example, outer shape template 377) is performed, and an effective region of the game medium is extracted.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to detect a fraudulent act of mistaking a legitimate game medium as being used.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a functional flow in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view showing an example of appearance composition in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention, with a middle door closed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention, with a middle door opened. It is an explanatory view showing the inside of the cabinet in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention. It is an explanatory view showing the back side of the front door in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the medal selector of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention, as viewed obliquely from behind the gaming machine. FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a medal selector in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a medal selector of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention, as viewed obliquely from the front of the gaming machine. It is a perspective view of a select plate of a medal selector in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing a course of a medal when a medal selector in a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention guides a medal to a hopper device. It is a diagram showing a medal path when the medal selector in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention guides a medal to a medal shoot. It is a block diagram showing a control system in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a main control circuit in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a sub control circuit in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration example of a medal selector in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration example of a control LSI in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a camera unit in the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of a regular medal used for a game machine of a 1st embodiment of the present invention, A shows one side of a regular medal, and B is a figure showing image data of a regular medal. It is a figure for explaining generation (synthesis) of gradient average image data about a regular medal used for a game machine of a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for explaining a regular medal discriminating process of a control LSI in the gaming machine of the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of one side of an unauthorized medal and image data of an unauthorized medal. It is a figure which shows the example of one side of an unauthorized medal, image data of an unauthorized medal, and gradient average image data of an unauthorized medal. It is a functional block diagram of a camera unit in a game machine of a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the captured image in the gaming machine of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a feature image generation unit in more detail. It is a figure which shows an example of a medal area | region typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background difference image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an external form template typically. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining template matching. It is a figure for explaining extraction processing of a medal area. It is a figure which shows an example of an edge image typically. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a rotated composite image. FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a method for generating a template feature image. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a characteristic image. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a characteristic image. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a characteristic image. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of generating a characteristic image. It is a functional block diagram of a camera unit in a game machine of a third embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the picked-up image in the gaming machine of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a medal area | region typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background difference image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an external form template typically. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining template matching. It is a figure for explaining extraction processing of a medal area. It is a figure showing typically an example of a local field specified in a medal field. It is a figure showing an example of an ellipse fitted to a local field. It is a figure showing an example of a spheroid. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a determination unit. It is a figure showing signs that a spheroid and a standard ellipse are similar. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a method of acquiring a position of a spheroid. It is a figure showing an example of a standard ellipse fitted to a local field. It is a figure showing an example of a target ellipse fitted to a local field. It is a figure showing signs that a medal area is divided concentrically. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a local region is divided into a plurality of divided regions. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a local region is divided into a plurality of divided regions. It is a figure showing signs that a plurality of ellipses are each fitted to a plurality of divided areas of a local area. It is a figure showing signs that a plurality of ellipses are each fitted to a plurality of divided areas of a local area. It is a functional block diagram of a camera unit in a game machine of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing typically an example of a picked-up image in a game machine of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a medal area | region typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of a background difference image typically. It is a figure which shows an example of an external form template typically. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining template matching. It is a figure for explaining extraction processing of a medal area. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a region dividing unit. It is a figure showing an example of a luminance histogram in a medal area, and a formula which calculates entropy of a luminance histogram. It is a figure showing signs that a medal region is divided. It is a figure which shows a mode that a division area | region is further divided, and the formula which calculates | requires entropy of a brightness | luminance histogram. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a plurality of uniformly divided regions generated by a region dividing unit. It is a figure showing an example of a two-dimensional histogram of size information and distance information. It is a figure showing an example of a one-dimensional histogram of size information. It is a figure showing a plurality of medal areas from which a rotation angle of a medal differs mutually. It is a figure showing signs that the center of a medal area and the center of the medal reflected in the medal area concerned are shifted. It is a figure showing a medal area from which a standard feature is acquired. It is a figure showing the relation between the 1st judgment evaluation value and the 2nd judgment evaluation value.

<< 1st Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachislot which is a gaming machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

<Function flow>
First, a functional flow of the pachislot will be described with reference to FIG. In the pachislot according to the present embodiment, a medal is used as a game medium for performing a game. It should be noted that all embodiments of the present invention are not limited to pachislot machines, but can be applied to other gaming machines other than pachislot machines (for example, pachinko machines). In addition to the medals, coins, game balls, game point data, tokens, and the like can be used as game media.

  At the start of the game, when a medal is inserted by the player and the start lever is operated, one value (hereinafter, random number value) is extracted from random numbers in a predetermined numerical range (for example, 0 to 65535). Is done.

  The internal lottery means performs a lottery based on the extracted random number value and determines an internal winning combination. This internal lottery means is carried out by a main control circuit described later. By determining the internal winning combination, a combination of symbols permitted to be displayed along a winning determination line described later is determined. In addition, the types of symbol combinations include those related to "winning" in which a bonus such as payout of medals, activation of replays, activation of bonuses, etc. are given to a player, and those relating to other so-called "losing". Is provided.

  When the start lever is operated, the rotation of the plurality of reels is performed. Thereafter, when the stop button corresponding to the predetermined reel is pressed by the player, the reel stop control means performs control to stop the rotation of the corresponding reel based on the internal winning combination and the timing at which the stop button is pressed. Do. This reel stop control means is carried out by a main control circuit described later.

  In the pachi-slot, basically, control for stopping the rotation of the corresponding reel is performed within a specified time (190 msec or 75 msec) from when the stop button is pressed. In the present embodiment, the number of symbols that move with the rotation of the reel within the specified time is referred to as the “number of sliding pieces”. When the prescribed period is 190 msec, the maximum number of sliding pieces is determined to be four symbols, and when the prescribed period is 75 msec, the maximum number of sliding pieces is determined to be one symbol.

  When the internal winning combination that permits the display of the combination of the symbols related to the winning is determined, the reel stop control unit normally changes the combination of the symbols within a specified time of 190 msec (for four frames of the symbol) to the winning determination line. The rotation of the reel is stopped so as to be displayed along as much as possible. In addition, for example, during the operation of a challenge bonus (CB), which is a second type special accessory, and a middle bonus (MB) for continuously operating the CB, the reel stop control means controls one or more reels. The rotation of the reel is stopped so that the combination of the symbols is displayed as much as possible along the winning determination line within the time 75 msec (for one frame of the symbol). Further, the reel stop control means uses various specified times corresponding to the game state to rotate the reels so that a combination of symbols whose display is not permitted by the internal winning combination is not displayed along the winning determination line. Stop.

  When the rotations of the plurality of reels are all stopped in this way, the winning determination unit determines whether or not the combination of the symbols displayed along the winning determination line is a winning combination. This winning determination means is carried out by a main control circuit described later. When the prize determining means determines that the prize is related to a prize, a bonus such as a medal payout is given to the player. In the pachislot, the above-described series of flows is performed as one game.

  Further, in the pachislot, in the above-described series of flows, display of an image performed by a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, output of light performed by various lamps, output of sound performed by a speaker, or a combination thereof is used. Various effects are performed.

  When the start lever is operated, an effect random number value (hereinafter, effect random number value) is extracted separately from the random number value used for determining the internal winning combination described above. When the effect random number value is extracted, the effect content determination means determines, by lottery, the effect content to be executed this time from a plurality of types of effect contents associated with the internal winning combination. This effect content determining means is carried by a sub-control circuit described later.

  When the effect contents are determined, the effect executing means executes the corresponding effect in conjunction with each opportunity such as when the rotation of the reels is started, when the rotation of each reel is stopped, and when there is a winning. In this way, in the pachislot, by executing the effect contents associated with the internal winning combination, the player has an opportunity to know or predict the determined internal winning combination (in other words, a combination of symbols to be aimed). Provided to improve the interest of the player.

<Pachislot structure>
Next, the structure of the pachislot 1 according to one embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Appearance structure]
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external structure of the pachislot 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the pachislot 1 includes an exterior body 2. The exterior body 2 has a cabinet 2a for accommodating a hopper device 51, a medal auxiliary storage 52, and the like (see FIG. 5), which will be described later, and a front door 2b that is openably and closably attached to the cabinet 2a. Handles 7 are provided on both side surfaces of the cabinet 2a (only one side handle 7 is shown in FIG. 2). The handle 7 is a concave portion to which a hand is put when carrying the pachislot 1.

  Inside the exterior body 2, three reels 3L, 3C, 3R are provided side by side. Hereinafter, the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R are referred to as a left reel 3L, a middle reel 3C, and a right reel 3R, respectively. Each of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R has a cylindrical reel body and a light-transmissive sheet material mounted on a peripheral surface of the reel body. On the surface of the sheet material, a plurality (for example, 20) of symbols are drawn at predetermined intervals along the circumferential direction.

  The front door 2b includes a door body 9, a front panel 10, and a liquid crystal display device 11 as a specific example of a display device.

  The door body 9 is attached to the cabinet 2a using a hinge (not shown), and opens and closes an opening of the cabinet 2a. The hinge is provided at the left end of the door body 9 when the door body 9 is viewed from the front of the pachislot 1. The liquid crystal display device 11 is mounted on an upper part of the door body 9. The liquid crystal display device 11 includes a display unit (display screen) 11a, and an effect by displaying an image is performed using the liquid crystal display device 11.

  The front panel 10 is disposed so as to overlap the display unit 11a side of the liquid crystal display device 11, and is formed in a frame shape having a panel opening 10a that exposes the display unit 11a of the liquid crystal display device 11. A lamp group 18 is provided on the front panel 10. The lamp group 18 is configured by an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or the like, and turns on and off the light in a pattern corresponding to the effect contents.

  A pedestal portion 12 is formed at the center of the front door 2b. The pedestal portion 12 is provided with the symbol display area 4 and various devices to be operated by the player.

  The symbol display area 4 is arranged on the near side overlapping the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R when viewed from the front, and is provided corresponding to the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R. The symbol display area 4 functions as a display window, and is configured to be able to pass through the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R provided behind it. Hereinafter, the symbol display area 4 is referred to as a reel display window 4.

  When the rotation of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R provided behind the reel display window 4 is stopped, the upper, middle, and lower tiers in the frame of the plurality of types of symbols on the reels 3L, 3C, 3R are displayed. One symbol (a total of three symbols) is displayed in each area. In the present embodiment, a pseudo line formed by combining any one of predetermined three of the upper, middle, and lower regions of the reel display window 4 is a target for determining whether or not a winning is achieved. (A prize determination line).

  The reel display window 4 is formed by a frame member 13 provided on the base 12. The frame member 13 has a reel display window 4, an information display window 14, and a stop button mounting portion 15.

  The information display window 14 is provided continuously below the reel display window 4 and opens upward. That is, the reel display window 4 and the information display window 14 are formed as one continuous opening. The information display window 14 and the reel display window 4 are covered by a transparent window cover 16.

  The window cover 16 is arranged on the inner side of the frame member 13 and cannot be removed from the front side of the front door 2b. Further, the frame member 13 has a sheet placing portion 17 facing the opening of the information display window 14 with the window cover 16 interposed therebetween. A sheet member (information sheet) on which information about the game is described is arranged between the sheet placing portion 17 and the window cover 16. Therefore, the information sheet is covered with the window cover 16 having a smooth surface without irregularities or gaps.

  The window cover 16 constituting the mounting portion of the information sheet cannot be removed from the front side of the front door 2b and has a smooth surface without irregularities or gaps. Can prevent unauthorized access to the inside of the device.

  The stop button mounting portion 15 is provided below the information display window 14, and is formed in a plane facing the front. The stop button mounting portion 15 is provided with a through hole through which the stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R pass. The stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R are associated with the three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R, respectively, and are provided to stop the rotation of the corresponding reels. Hereinafter, the stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R are referred to as a left stop button 19L, a middle stop button 19C, and a right stop button 19R, respectively.

  The stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R show examples of various devices to be operated by the player. The pedestal section 12 is provided with a medal slot 21, a BET button 22, and a start lever 23 as various devices to be operated by the player.

  The medal insertion slot 21 is provided for receiving a medal dropped from outside by the player. The medals accepted by the medal insertion slot 21 are inserted into one game with a predetermined maximum number (for example, 3) as an upper limit, and a portion exceeding the predetermined number is deposited inside the pachislot 1. (So-called credit function).

  The BET button 22 is provided to determine the number of medals deposited in the pachislot 1 to be inserted into one game. The start lever 23 is provided for starting rotation of all reels (3L, 3C, 3R).

  Further, a 7-segment display 24 including a 7-segment LED (Light Emitting Diode) is provided on the left side of the reel display window 4 when the front door 2b is viewed from the front. The 7-segment display 24 digitally displays information such as the number of medals to be paid out to the player as a privilege (hereinafter referred to as a payout number) and the number of medals deposited in a pachislot (hereinafter referred to as a credit number). .

  A settlement button 27 is provided on the left side of the pedestal portion 12 when the front door 2b is viewed from the front. The payment button 27 is provided for pulling out (discharging) outside the pachislot 1. Below the pedestal portion 12, a waist panel unit 31 is provided. The waist panel unit 31 has a decorative panel on which an arbitrary image is drawn, and a light source that emits light for illuminating the decorative panel from the back side.

  Below the waist panel unit 31, a medal payout port 32, speaker holes 33L and 33R, and a medal tray unit 34 are provided. The medal payout slot 32 guides medals discharged from a medal selector 201 described later and medals discharged by driving a hopper device 51 described later to the outside. The medals discharged from the medal payout outlet 32 are stored in a medal tray unit 34. The speaker holes 33L and 33R are provided for outputting sound such as sound effects and music according to the effect contents.

[Internal structure]
3 and 4 are perspective views showing the internal structure of the pachislot 1. FIG. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the front door 2b is opened and the middle door 41 provided on the back side of the front door 2b is closed with respect to the front door 2b. FIG. 4 shows a state where the front door 2b is opened and the middle door 41 is opened with respect to the front door 2b. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the inside of the cabinet 2a. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the back side of the front door 2b.

  The cabinet 2a has a top plate 20a, a bottom plate 20b, left and right side plates 20c and 20d, and a back plate 20e (see FIG. 5). A cabinet-side speaker 42 is provided above the inside of the cabinet 2a. The cabinet-side speaker 42 is mounted on the back plate 20e of the cabinet 2a via mounting brackets 43L and 43R. The cabinet-side speaker 42 is, for example, a speaker for outputting a sound effect.

  A cabinet-side relay board 44 is provided on the left side of the cabinet-side speaker 42 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front. The cabinet-side relay board 44 is attached to the left side plate 20c of the cabinet 2a. The cabinet-side relay board 44 includes a main control board 71 (see FIG. 13) described later attached to the middle door 41 (see FIGS. 3 and 4), a hopper device 51, a medal auxiliary storage switch (not shown), and a medal payout. It relays wiring for connecting to a count switch (not shown).

  An amplifier board 45 for controlling the output of sound from the cabinet-side speaker 42 is provided in a central portion inside the cabinet 2a. The amplifier board 45 is mounted on a mounting shelf 46 fixed to the left and right side plates 20c and 20d.

  When the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, an external centralized terminal board 47 is provided on the right side of the amplifier board 45 (see FIG. 5). This external concentrated terminal plate 47 is attached to the right side plate 20d of the cabinet 2a. The external concentrated terminal board 47 is provided to output signals such as a medal insertion signal, a medal payout signal, and a security signal to the outside of the pachislot 1.

  A sub power supply 48 is provided on the left side of the amplifier board 45 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front. The sub power supply 48 is attached to the left side plate 20c of the cabinet 2a. The sub power supply 48 supplies power of an AC voltage of 100 V to a power supply 53 described later. Further, the power of the AC voltage of 100 V is converted into the power of the DC voltage and supplied to the amplifier board 45.

  A medal payout device (hereinafter referred to as a hopper device) 51, a medal auxiliary storage 52, and a power supply device 53 are provided below the inside of the cabinet 2a.

  The hopper device 51 is attached to the center of the bottom plate 20b in the cabinet 2a. The hopper device 51 is capable of storing a large amount of medals, and has a structure capable of discharging the medals one by one. The hopper device 51 discharges the stored medals by the number of credits, for example, when the payment button 27 (see FIG. 2) is pressed to perform the payment of the medals deposited inside the pachislot. The medals paid out by the hopper device 51 are discharged from a medal payout opening 32 (see FIG. 2).

  The medal auxiliary storage 52 stores medals overflowing from the hopper device 51. The medal auxiliary storage 52 is disposed on the right side of the hopper device 51 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front. The medal auxiliary storage 52 is engaged with the bottom plate 20b of the cabinet 2a, and is configured to be detachable from the bottom plate 20b.

  The power supply device 53 is arranged on the left side of the hopper device 51 when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, and is attached to the left side plate 20c. The power supply device 53 has a power switch 53a and a power supply board 53b (see FIG. 13). The power supply device 53 converts the power of the AC voltage of 100 V supplied from the sub power supply device 48 into the power of the DC voltage required in each unit, and supplies the converted power to each unit.

  As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 6, the middle door 41 is disposed at the center of the back surface of the front door 2b, and is configured to open and close the reel display window 4 (see FIG. 4) from the back side. Door stoppers 41a, 41b, 41c are provided on the upper and lower portions of the middle door 41. The door stoppers 41a, 41b, 41c fix (prohibit) the opening operation of the middle door 41 in a state where the reel display window 4 is closed from the back side. That is, in order to open the middle door 41, it is necessary to rotate the door stoppers 41a, 41b, 41c to release the fixing of the middle door 41.

  A main control board case 55 containing a main control board 71 (see FIG. 13) and three reels 3L, 3C, 3R are attached to the middle door 41. A stepping motor is connected to the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R via gears having a predetermined reduction ratio.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the main control board case 55 is provided with a key switch 56 for setting. The setting key type switch 56 is used when changing the setting of the pachislot 1 or confirming the setting of the pachislot 1. In the present embodiment, the main control board unit 55 is constituted by the main control board case 55 and the main control board 71 housed in the main control board case 55.

  The main control board 71 housed in the main control board case 55 constitutes a main control circuit 91 (see FIG. 14) described later. The main control circuit 91 is a circuit that controls the main flow of the game in the pachislot 1 such as determination of an internal winning combination, rotation and stop of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R, and determination of presence or absence of a prize. The specific configuration of the main control circuit 91 will be described later.

  Above the middle door 41, a sub-control board case 57 that accommodates the sub-control board 72 (see FIG. 13) is provided. Above the sub-control board case 57, a center speaker 58 is provided. The sub-control board 72 housed in the sub-control board case 57 constitutes the sub-control circuit 101 (see FIG. 15). The sub control circuit 101 is a circuit that controls execution of an effect by displaying an image or the like. The specific configuration of the sub control circuit 101 will be described later.

  A sub relay board 61 is disposed on the right side of the sub control board case 57 when the front door 2b is viewed from the back side. The sub-relay board 61 relays wiring connecting the sub-control board 72 and the main control board 71. Further, it is a board that relays wiring for connecting the sub-control board 72 and a board disposed around the sub-control board 72. In addition, examples of the boards disposed around the sub-control board 72 include LED boards 62A, 62B, and 62C described later.

  The LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C are disposed on both sides of the sub-control board case 57 when viewed from the back side of the front door 2b. These LED boards 62A, 62B, and 62C are provided with a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) 85 (see FIG. 13) showing one specific example of the light source in accordance with the effect performed under the control of the sub control circuit 101 (see FIG. ) To emit light and display a blinking pattern. The pachislot 1 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of LED boards in addition to the LED boards 62A, 62B, and 62C.

  Below the sub-relay board 61, a 24h door opening / closing monitoring unit 63 is provided. The 24h door opening / closing monitoring unit 63 stores a history of opening / closing of the middle door 41. Further, when the middle door 41 is opened, a signal for displaying an error on the liquid crystal display device 11 is output to the sub control board 72 (sub control circuit 101).

  Below the middle door 41, a board speaker 64 and lower speakers 65L and 65R are provided. The board speaker 64 faces the waist panel unit 31 (see FIG. 2), and the lower speakers 65L and 65R face the speaker holes 33L and 33R, respectively (see FIG. 2).

  Above the lower speaker 65L, a medal selector 201, a medal chute 202, and a door open / close monitoring switch 67 are provided. The medal selector 201 is a device for determining whether or not the material and the shape of the medal are appropriate. The medal selector 201 guides the medal inserted into the medal insertion slot 21 to the hopper device 51 via the slope 203, or Guide to shoot 202. The specific configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described later.

  The medal shoot 202 is a substantially Y-shaped tubular member, and guides the medal guided by the medal selector 201 and the medal discharged from the hopper device 51 to the medal payout opening 32 (see FIG. 2).

  The door opening / closing monitoring switch 67 is disposed on the left side of the medal selector 201 when the front door 2b is viewed from the back side. The door opening / closing monitor switch 67 outputs a security signal to the outside of the pachislot 1 to notify the opening / closing of the front door 2b.

  Further, a door relay terminal plate 68 is disposed below the reel display window 4 and in a region opened and closed by the middle door 41 (see FIG. 4). The door relay terminal plate 68 includes a main control board 71 (see FIG. 13) in the main control board case 55, various buttons and switches, a sub control board 72 (see FIG. 13), a medal selector 201, and a game operation display board. This is a board that relays the wiring to the wiring 81 (see FIG. 13). The various buttons and switches include, for example, a BET button 22, a settlement button 27, a door open / close monitoring switch 67, a BET switch 77, a start switch 79 described later, and the like.

<Configuration of medal selector>
Next, a specific configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the medal selector 201 as viewed obliquely from behind the pachislot 1. FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the medal selector 201. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the medal selector 201 as viewed obliquely from the front of the pachislot 1. FIG. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a later-described select plate 207 of the medal selector 201. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a medal path when the medal selector 201 guides the medal to the hopper device 51. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a medal path when the medal selector 201 guides the medal to the medal shoot 202. 7 to 12, the arrow X indicates the left-right direction of the pachislot 1, the arrow Y indicates the front-back direction of the pachislot 1, and the arrow Z indicates the up-down direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the medal selector 201 includes a base plate portion 204, a sub plate 205, a cancel shooter 206, a select plate 207, a medal solenoid 208 (see FIG. 9), a camera unit 209, It has.

  The base plate portion 204 is a substantially plate-shaped member that forms the outer frame housing of the medal selector 201, and is formed so that both left and right ends of the pachislot 1 are bent rearward of the pachislot 1. The base plate portion 204 has a rear surface 204b, which is one plane orthogonal to the front-rear direction of the pachislot 1, and a front surface 204a, which is the other plane (see FIG. 9). A medal rail 210 is formed on the rear surface 204b so as to be recessed in front of the pachislot 1 and in a substantially L-shape. A plurality of ridges are formed on the surface of the medal rail 210.

  At the upper end of the base plate 204, a medal entrance 211 for receiving medals inserted from the medal insertion slot 21 (see FIG. 2) is provided. The medals inserted into the medal selector 201 from the medal entrance section 211 move from above to below along the medal rail 210. A medal exit portion 204c (see FIG. 8) is provided below the base plate portion 204. The medals that have moved inside the medal selector 201 are discharged from the medal exit section 204c, and are stored in the hopper device 51 via the slope 203 (see FIG. 4).

  A central hole 212 penetrating in the front-rear direction is formed at a substantially intermediate position of the medal rail 210, and an end of the medal pressure 213 (see FIG. 8) is exposed from the central hole 212. As shown in FIG. 9, the medal pressure 213 is rotatably supported by a shaft 214 provided on the front surface 204a of the base plate portion 204. A coil spring 215 is attached to the shaft 214, and the medal pressure 213 is urged by the coil spring 215 so that the medal pressure 213 protrudes from the central hole 212.

  As shown in FIG. 9, a magnet 217 is provided on the front surface 204a of the base plate portion 204. The magnet 217 attracts (magnetizes) an improper medal which is not a proper material among medals moving on the medal rail 210.

  As shown in FIG. 8, an upper exposure hole 219 that penetrates in the front-rear direction and that exposes a rear end portion of an after-medal pressure 218 described later is formed at a substantially central portion of a downstream region of the medal rail 210. . A lower exposure hole 220 that penetrates in the front-rear direction and that exposes a medal stopper 227 of the select plate 207, which will be described later, is formed below the downstream area of the medal rail 210.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the after-medal pressure 218 is rotatably supported on the front surface 204 a of the base plate portion 204. When the front end of the after-medal pressure 218 is pressed to the rear of the pachi-slot 1 by the medal solenoid 208, the after-medal pressure 218 rotates, and the rear end of the after-medal pressure 218 passes through the upper exposure hole 219 (see FIG. 8). Exposed.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the cancel shooter 206 is a substantially plate-shaped member, and is formed so that both left and right ends of the pachislot 1 are bent forward of the pachislot 1. The cancel shooter 206 is detachably fixed to the base plate portion 204 and covers a lower portion of the base plate portion 204 from behind. The cancel shooter 206 guides medals discharged without passing through the medal exit section 204c to the medal shoot 202 (see FIG. 4). A cutout portion 206a, which is cut out in a substantially rectangular shape below, is formed at an upper portion of a substantially central portion of the cancel shooter 206 in the left-right direction.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the sub-plate 205 is a plate-shaped member that covers the medal rail 210 from behind. The sub-plate 205 has a flat plate-shaped main body 221 and a shaft 222 provided above the main body 221. At a substantially central portion of the main body 221, a through hole 221 a penetrating in the front-rear direction is provided, and a downstream region is exposed from the substantially central portion of the medal rail 210 from the through hole 221 a.

  The shaft portion 222 is supported by the base plate portion 204, and the sub-plate 205 is attached to the base plate portion 204 so as to be rotatable about the shaft portion 222. A coil spring 223 is attached to the shaft 222. Normally, the sub-plate 205 is pressed against the base plate 204 by the urging force of the coil spring 223. At this time, a space through which medals can pass is formed between the sub-plate 205 and the upper part of the medal rail 210 covered by the sub-plate 205. That is, the sub plate 205 functions as a guide plate through which medals pass.

  Here, for example, when a medal jam occurs in the medal selector 201, the medal jam can be resolved by rotating the sub-plate 205 against the urging force of the coil spring 223.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the select plate 207 is a member that guides medals that move in a substantially central portion of the medal rail 210 that is not covered by the sub plate 205. As shown in FIG. 10, the select plate 207 includes a plate body 224 having a substantially trapezoidal plate shape, and a pair of bearings formed by bending both ends of the plate body 224 in the left-right direction forward of the pachislot 1. 225. In addition, a flange 226 formed by bending the pachislot 1 forward and bending the rear end upward is formed at an upper portion of the plate main body 224. Further, a medal stopper 227 extending downward is formed on one of the bearings 225.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the plate main body 224 faces substantially the center of the medal rail 210 not covered by the sub plate 205 in the front-rear direction of the pachislot 1.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the select plate 207 is rotatably supported by a shaft 228 provided on the front surface 204 a of the base plate 204. A coil spring 229 is provided on the shaft 228, and urges the flange 226 forward of the pachislot 1. The flange 226 is in contact with one end of the medal solenoid 208. When the medal solenoid 208 is in the ON state, the flange 226 is pressed by one end of the medal solenoid 208 and moves rearward of the pachislot 1 against the urging force of the coil spring 229. The rotation position of the select plate 207 at this time is referred to as a “guide position”. The distance between the plate main body 224 of the select plate 207 at the guide position and the medal rail 210 is set to a predetermined distance at which the medal can be guided to the hopper device 51 without discharging the medal to the cancel shooter 206 side. At this time, the medal stopper 227 does not protrude from the lower exposure hole 220 (see FIG. 8).

  When the medal solenoid 208 is in the OFF state, the flange portion 226 is released from the pressing of the medal solenoid 208 and moves forward of the pachislot 1 by the urging force of the coil spring 229. The rotation position of the select plate 207 at this time is referred to as a “discharge position”. The distance between the plate body 224 of the select plate 207 at the discharge position and the medal rail 210 is set to be longer than a predetermined distance. At this time, one end of the medal solenoid 208 is moved forward of the pachislot 1 by being pressed by the flange portion 226 moving forward of the pachislot 1. Accordingly, the other end of the medal solenoid 208 moves to the rear of the pachislot 1 and presses the front end of the after-medal pressure 218. As a result, the after-medal pressure 218 rotates, and the rear end of the after-medal pressure 218 is exposed from the upper exposure hole 219 (see FIG. 8).

  The medal stopper 227 does not protrude from the lower exposure hole 220 (see FIG. 8) when the select plate 207 is at the guide position, but protrudes from the lower exposure hole 220 when it is at the discharge position.

  As shown in FIG. 11, when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 satisfies the standard size, the select plate 207 at the guide position comes into contact with the upper part of the medal to move, and the medal exit portion 204c (see FIG. 8). ). When the medal is guided by the select plate 207, the medal pressure 213 is pressed forward of the pachislot 1. In FIG. 11, the illustration of the sub plate 205 and the cancel shooter 206 of the medal selector 201 is omitted.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 12, the select plate 207 at the discharge position has a large distance between the plate main body 224 and the medal rail 210 even when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 satisfies the standard size. Therefore, the medal cannot be guided to the medal exit unit 204c (see FIG. 8). Further, the medals are pushed out by a medal pressure 213, an after-medal pressure 218 projecting from the upper exposure hole 219, or a medal stopper 227 projecting from the lower exposure hole 220, and are discharged toward the cancel shooter 206. 12, the illustration of the sub plate 205 and the cancel shooter 206 of the medal selector 201 is omitted as in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, the select plate 207 is normally positioned at the guide position. However, under a predetermined condition (for example, when inserting a predetermined number of medals, when an error occurs, at the start of a game, etc.), the select plate 207 is positioned at the discharge position. It is positioned.

  When the medal moving on the medal rail 210 has a smaller diameter than the standard size, even if the select plate 207 is at the guide position, the medal is not guided by the select plate 207 but is pushed out by the medal pressure 213 and the cancel shooter 206 It is discharged toward.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the camera unit 209 includes a first substrate 230 and a second substrate 231, and determines whether an object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal. It is. On the first substrate 230, a CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 16) and an LED 233 (see FIG. 16) are provided. The second substrate 231 is provided with a control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16) that is communicably connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233 and is controllably connected thereto. The first substrate 230 and the second substrate 231 are connected by a B-to-B (Board-to-Board) type connector (not shown), and legs 235 provided at corners of the respective substrates 230 and 231. Fixed. The specific configuration of the circuit of the camera unit 209 will be described later. Further, in the present embodiment, the mode in which the camera unit 209 is configured by the two substrates 230 and 231 has been described. However, instead of this, the camera unit 209 is configured by one substrate provided with the CMOS image sensor 232, the LED 233, and the control LSI 234. May be configured.

  The camera unit 209 is fixed by screwing a first substrate 230 into a screw hole 206b provided around a notch 206a at the top of the cancel shooter 206. The CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 16) is provided at a substantially central portion of the first substrate 230. The CMOS image sensor 232 captures an image of a medal moving on the medal rail 210 and outputs image data of the captured medal to the control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16). The LED 233 (see FIG. 16) emits surface light around the CMOS image sensor 232, and emits light to medals moving on the medal rail 210. The control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16) determines whether the object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal based on the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232, and outputs a determination result. In the present embodiment, the mode in which the camera unit 209 is fixed to the cancel shooter 206 by screwing into the screw hole 206b formed around the notch 206a has been described, but the mode of fixing the camera unit is not limited to this. Not done. For example, a mounting rail is provided between the first substrate 230 and the second substrate 231, a concave portion is provided in an upper portion of the cancel shooter 206, and the mounting rail is fitted into the concave portion, and then the mounting rail and the cancel shooter 206 are mounted. May be fixed with screws or an adhesive.

<Pachislot circuit configuration>
Next, a configuration of a circuit included in the pachislo 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the outline of the entire circuit provided in the pachislo 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the entire circuit included in the pachislo 1.

  The pachislot 1 has a main control board 71 provided on the middle door 41 and a sub control board 72 provided on the front door 2b. The main control board 71 includes a reel relay terminal plate 74, a setting key type switch 56, an external centralized terminal plate 47, a hopper device 51, a medal auxiliary storage switch 75, and a power supply substrate 53 b of the power supply device 53. It is connected. The setting key type switch 56, the external centralized terminal board 47, the hopper device 51, and the medal auxiliary storage switch 75 are connected to the main control board 71 via the cabinet side relay board 44. The external central terminal plate 47 and the hopper device 51 have been described above, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

  The reel relay terminal plate 74 is disposed inside the reel body of each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R. The reel relay terminal plate 74 is electrically connected to a stepping motor (not shown) of each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R, and relays a signal output from the main control board 71 to the stepping motor.

  The medal auxiliary storage switch 75 passes through a switch through hole (not shown) of the medal auxiliary storage 52. The medal auxiliary storage switch 75 detects whether or not the medal auxiliary storage 52 is full of medals.

  A power switch 53a is connected to a power substrate 53b of the power device 53. The power switch 53a is turned on when supplying necessary power to the pachislot 1.

  The main control board 71 includes a medal selector 201, a door open / close monitoring switch 67, a BET switch 77, a settlement switch 78, a start switch 79, a stop switch board 80, a game operation display board 81 via a door relay terminal plate 68. And the sub relay board 61 are connected. The door opening / closing monitor switch 67 and the sub-relay board 61 have been described above, and a description thereof will be omitted. The circuit configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described later.

  The BET switch 77 detects that the BET button 22 has been pressed by the player. The settlement switch 78 detects that the settlement button 27 has been pressed by the player. The start switch 79 detects that the start lever 23 has been operated by the player (start operation).

  The stop switch board 80 is a board that constitutes a circuit for stopping a rotating reel and a circuit for displaying a stoppable reel with an LED or the like. The stop switch board 80 is provided with a stop switch. The stop switch detects that each of the stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R has been pressed by the player (stop operation).

  The game operation display board 81 displays the number of inserted medals on the 7-segment display 24 when accepting insertion of medals, when the three reels 3L, 3C, 3R are rotatable, and when performing a replay. This is the substrate to be used. The 7-segment display 24 and the LED 82 are connected to the game operation display board 81. The LED 82 illuminates, for example, a mark indicating the start of a game, a mark for performing a replay, and the like.

  The sub control board 72 is connected to the main control board 71 via the door relay terminal plate 68 and the sub relay board 61. A sound I / O board 84, LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C, 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 are connected to the sub control board 72 via a sub relay board 61. The LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C and the 24h door opening / closing monitoring unit 63 have been described above, and will not be described.

  The sound I / O board 84 outputs sound to a center speaker 58, a board speaker 64, lower speakers 65L and 65R, and speakers (not shown) provided on the front door 2b.

  Further, a ROM cartridge board 86 and a liquid crystal relay board 87 are connected to the sub control board 72. The ROM cartridge board 86 and the liquid crystal relay board 87 are housed in the sub control board case 57 together with the sub control board 72. The ROM cartridge substrate 86 is a substrate for managing effect images (video), sound, LED substrates 62A and 62B and other LED substrates (not shown), and communication data. The liquid crystal relay board 87 is a board that relays wiring connecting the sub control board 72 and the liquid crystal display device 11.

[Main control circuit]
Next, the main control circuit 91 constituted by the main control board 71 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the main control circuit 91 of the pachislo 1.

  The main control circuit 91 includes a microcomputer 92 installed on the main control board 71 as a main component. The microcomputer 92 includes a main CPU 93, a main ROM 94, and a main RAM 95. The main CPU 93 and the above-described hopper device 51 constitute a game medium payout device of the present invention.

  The main ROM 94 includes a control program executed by the main CPU 93 (for example, a program for executing the above-described internal lottery process), a data table, and various control commands (commands) to the sub control circuit 101. Data and the like are stored. The main RAM 95 is provided with a storage area for storing various data such as an internal winning combination determined by executing the control program.

  A clock pulse generation circuit 96, a frequency divider 97, a random number generator 98, and a sampling circuit 99 are connected to the main CPU 93. The clock pulse generating circuit 96 and the frequency divider 97 generate a clock pulse. The main CPU 93 executes a control program based on the generated clock pulse. The random number generator 98 generates a random number in a predetermined range (for example, 0 to 65535). The sampling circuit 99 extracts one value from the generated random numbers.

  After detecting the reel index, the main CPU 93 counts the number of times a pulse is output to the stepping motor of each of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R. Thereby, the main CPU 93 manages the rotation angles of the respective reels 3L, 3C, 3R (mainly, how many symbols the reel has rotated). The reel index is information indicating that the reel has made one rotation. This reel index is provided, for example, at a predetermined position on each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R and a light sensor having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit. It is detected by a reel position detection unit (not shown) having a detection piece interposed therebetween.

  Here, the management of the rotation angles of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R will be specifically described. The number of pulses output to the stepping motor is counted by a pulse counter provided in the main RAM 95. Each time a pulse counter outputs a predetermined number of pulses (for example, 16 times) necessary for rotation of one symbol, the symbol counter provided in the main RAM 95 is incremented by one. The symbol counter is provided for each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R. The value of the symbol counter is cleared when a reel index is detected by a reel position detector (not shown).

  In other words, in the present embodiment, by managing the symbol counter, it is possible to manage how many symbols have been rotated since the reel index was detected. Therefore, the position of each symbol on each of the reels 3L, 3C, 3R is detected based on the position where the reel index is detected.

  As described above, when the maximum number of sliding pieces is set to four symbols, when the left stop button 19L is pressed, the symbol of the left reel 3L in the middle of the reel display window 4 and the four symbols are displayed. Each symbol within the range up to the previous symbol is a symbol that can be stopped in the middle of the reel display window 4.

[Sub-control circuit]
Next, the sub control circuit 101 including the sub control board 72 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the sub-control circuit 101 of the pachislo 1.

  The sub-control circuit 101 is electrically connected to the main control circuit 91, and performs processing such as determination and execution of effect contents based on a command transmitted from the main control circuit 91. The sub-control circuit 101 basically includes a sub CPU 102, a sub RAM 103, a rendering processor 104, a drawing RAM 105, and a driver 106.

  The sub CPU 102 controls output of video, sound, and light in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM cartridge substrate 86 in response to a command transmitted from the main control circuit 91. The ROM cartridge substrate 86 basically includes a program storage area and a data storage area.

  A control program executed by the sub CPU 102 is stored in the program storage area. For example, the control program includes a main board communication task for controlling communication with the main control circuit 91 and an effect registration task for extracting effect random number values and determining and registering effect contents (effect data). Is included. Further, a drawing control task for controlling display of an image by the liquid crystal display device 11 (see FIG. 2) based on the determined effect contents, a lamp control task for controlling light output by a light source such as an LED 85, and speakers 58, 64, and 65L. , 65R, etc., and a voice control task for controlling output of sound from a speaker.

  The data storage area includes a storage area for storing various data tables, a storage area for storing effect data constituting each effect content, and a storage area for storing animation data related to video creation. In addition, a storage area for storing sound data relating to BGM and sound effects, a storage area for storing lamp data relating to a light on / off pattern, and the like are included.

  The sub-RAM 103 is provided with a storage area for registering the determined effect contents and effect data, and a storage area for storing various data such as an internal winning combination transmitted from the main control circuit 91.

  The sub CPU 102, the rendering processor 104, the drawing RAM (including the frame buffer) 105, and the driver 106 create a video according to the animation data specified by the effect contents, and display the created video on the liquid crystal display device 11.

  In addition, the sub CPU 102 causes sounds such as BGM to be output from speakers such as speakers 58, 64, 65L, and 65R in accordance with sound data specified by the contents of the effect. Further, the sub CPU 102 controls turning on and off of the light source such as the LED 85 in accordance with the lamp data specified by the effect contents.

<Circuit configuration of the medal selector>
Next, a circuit configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration example of the medal selector 201.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the medal selector 201 includes a camera unit 209 and a medal solenoid 208. The medal selector 201 is connected to the main control board 71 via a door relay terminal plate 68. That is, the medal selector 201 is electrically connected to the main control circuit 91. Therefore, the main control circuit 91 can set the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the ON state or the OFF state.

  The camera unit 209 includes a control LSI 234, a CMOS image sensor 232, and an LED 233. The control LSI 234 of the camera unit 209 is configured as an LSI dedicated to image processing control, such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Array), and is electrically connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233. Have been. The control LSI 234 controls the light emission of the LED 233. The control LSI 234 determines whether or not the insertion is a regular medal based on the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232, and outputs the determination result to the main control board 71 via the door relay terminal plate 68. . In the present embodiment, the CMOS image sensor 232 employed is a CMOS image sensor having a resolution of 648 × 488 pixels and a frame rate of 240 fps (Frames Per Second), but is limited to such an image sensor. Need not be performed (imaging devices other than CMOS could also be used). Further, a light emitting device other than the LED can be used.

[Circuit Configuration of Control LSI]
Next, a circuit configuration of the control LSI 234 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration example of the control LSI 234. FIG. 18 is a functional block diagram of the camera unit 209 including the control LSI 234, FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining a regular medal, FIG. 19A shows one surface of the regular medal, and FIG. Shows the data. FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining generation (synthesis) of gradient average image data relating to regular medals. Note that the camera unit 209 includes a light emitting unit including an LED or the like, but is not illustrated in FIG.

  The control LSI 234 includes a host controller 241, an image recognition DSP (digital signal processor) circuit 242, an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) 243, a flash memory 244, an ISP (Image Signal Processing) circuit 245, and a medal counting circuit 246. The control LSI 234 includes a color recognition circuit 247, a fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and a GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output) 250. The devices making up the control LSI 234 are mutually connected via a bus, and the control LSI 234 of this embodiment employs AXI (Advanced eXtensible Interface) as a bus protocol.

  The control LSI 234 includes an ISI (Image Sensor Interface) circuit 251. The ISI circuit 251 is electrically connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the ISP circuit. The ISI circuit 251 converts the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232 by the LVDS (Low voltage differential signaling) method into an RGB Bayer image and outputs the RGB Bayer image to the ISP circuit 245.

  Here, the CMOS image sensor 232 and the ISI circuit 251 (and the host controller 241 that controls the ISI circuit 251) correspond to the imaging unit 261 shown in FIG. A captured image 262 is transmitted from the imaging unit 261 to a conversion unit 263 described below (the captured image 262 is an RGB Bayer image output from the ISI circuit 251 in this example).

  Upon receiving the RGB Bayer image from the ISI circuit 251, the ISP circuit 245 outputs a VSYNC (Vertical Synchronization) interrupt signal to the host controller 241. Further, the ISP circuit 245 performs a conversion process of converting the RGB Bayer image output from the ISI circuit 251 into various formats. In the conversion process, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB Bayer image into Y (luminance of each pixel), and stores the converted image data in the SRAM 243. Further, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB Bayer image into image data (YUV image data) corresponding to the YUV color space, and outputs data relating to luminance in the YUV image data to the medal count circuit 246. Further, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB Bayer image into image data (HSV image data) corresponding to the HSV color space, and outputs data on the hue and saturation in the HSV image data to the color recognition circuit 247.

  Here, a part of the ISP circuit 245 (at least, a processing function unit that converts an RGB Bayer image into image data (YUV image data) corresponding to a YUV color space) and a host controller 241 that controls this are shown in FIG. Of the conversion unit 263.

  The medal counting circuit 246 performs a counting process based on the luminance data output from the ISP circuit 245. In the counting process, the medal counting circuit 246 compares data relating to the brightness of the count area, which is a predetermined area in the image, with a count threshold value, and determines whether or not the medal has passed by the background difference method. The count threshold is a threshold determined in advance based on data relating to the brightness of the count area in the image of the regular medal. The medal counting circuit 246 determines that the medal has passed if the difference is small, and determines that the medal has not passed (other than the medal has passed) if the difference is large. Then, the medal counting circuit 246 stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. The count area can be set arbitrarily according to the medals used as the regular medals by the pachislot 1. However, it is preferable to set the count area to an area where the rotation angle of the medals does not greatly affect the difference in luminance. For example, when a regular medal 280 having the same marking (pattern) on both sides as shown in FIG. 19A is used, the image data 282 of the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19B) has one of the regular medals in the area. The location (region 283 in FIG. 19B) where the mark (pattern) applied to the surface does not change with the rotation angle of the medal, that is, the rotation angle of the medal does not significantly affect the difference in luminance, is set as the count region. Is preferred. Also, the smaller the range of the count area, the faster the count processing can be performed.

  The color recognition circuit 247 performs a color determination process based on the hue and saturation data output from the ISP circuit 245. In the color determination process, first, the color recognition circuit 247 expresses the integrated value of the data related to the hue and saturation near the center of the image data as a vector (by performing vector conversion) and calculates the angle of the vector in a three-dimensional space. I do. Next, the color recognition circuit 247 compares the calculated vector angle with a predetermined color threshold value to determine whether or not the color matches the color of the regular medal. The predetermined threshold value is a predetermined threshold value based on the vector angle calculated by the same method as the above-described process for the image data related to the regular medal (for example, 3 based on the regular medal to be compared). (Within ± 10 degrees of the angle on the individual coordinates (XYZ) of the vector in the dimensional space). Then, the color recognition circuit 247 stores the determination result in the SRAM 243.

  The fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 acquires image data obtained by converting the RGB Bayer image into Y (luminance of each pixel) from the SRAM 243, and performs a fisheye correction process. In the fish-eye correction processing, the fish-eye correction scaler circuit 248 performs fish-eye correction on the acquired image data to create reduced image data reduced to 、, ４, １ ／. Then, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 stores the created reduced image data in the SRAM 243.

  The fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 and the host controller 241 for controlling the same are included in the conversion unit 263 in FIG.

  The image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires reduced image data (in this embodiment, reduced image data reduced to 1/4) from the SRAM 243, and performs preprocessing. In the preprocessing, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 converts the acquired reduced image data into edge image data through a non-linear diffusion filter, and stores the edge image data in the SRAM 243.

  Here, a part of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (the processing function unit for converting the acquired reduced image data into the edge image data through the non-linear diffusion filter) and the host controller 241 for controlling the same are shown in FIG. It is included in the conversion unit 263.

  The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs a rotation integration process for creating gradient average image data. In the rotation integration process, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 acquires edge image data from the SRAM 243, and rotates the acquired edge image data (for example, the image data 282 shown in FIG. 19B) by, for example, one degree unit. The gradient average image data is generated by integrating (overlapping) the image data of 360 degrees. The gradient average image data generated by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is stored in the SRAM 243. As an example of generating (synthesizing) the gradient average image data, FIG. 20 shows the gradient average image data 285 of the regular medal 280 shown in FIG. 19A. The gradient average image data 285 is image data in which edge image data of the shape of “A” is integrated while rotating, for example, 360 degrees (that is, integrated 360 times). Here, this is simplified. Shall be shown. The processing function of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 for generating gradient average image data and the host controller 241 for controlling the same correspond to the characteristic image generator 264 in FIG.

  Further, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 performs a marking determination process for determining whether or not the marking (pattern) of the medal matches the marking of the regular medal. In the marking determination process, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires, from the SRAM 243, the gradient average image data created by the image integration accelerator circuit 249 in the rotation integration process. Next, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 obtains the acquired gradient average image data and template data for engraving determination processing (for example, gradient average image data of regular medals stored in the SRAM 243 or the flash memory 244 prepared in advance). Is calculated. Then, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 determines whether or not the mark of the medal matches the mark of the regular medal based on the calculated difference value and the threshold for the mark determination, and stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. . For example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 compares the luminance of each pixel between the acquired gradient average image data and the template data, and determines whether they match (in the case of multiple gradations, whether the difference is within a predetermined range). If the number of matching pixels (the difference is within a predetermined range) is equal to or more than a certain number, it is determined that the mark (pattern) of the medal matches the mark of the regular medal. It is determined that the (pattern) does not match the mark of the regular medal. Note that such a processing function unit related to the marking determination processing of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241 that controls the processing function unit correspond to the determination unit 265 shown in FIG. Corresponding to

  The image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241 that perform the above-described marking determination processing and the like operate according to programs (sequence programs), and these programs are stored in, for example, the SRAM 243 and the flash memory 244. The template data is stored in, for example, the SRAM 243.

  The host controller 241 controls each device, that is, the medal count circuit 246, the color recognition circuit 247, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, the image recognition DSP circuit 242, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and the GPIO 250. In addition, the host controller 241 outputs a signal relating to a lighting instruction and a light-off instruction to the LED 233 via the GPIO 250. In addition, the host controller 241 outputs, via the GPIO 250, a determination result related to the count processing, a determination result related to the color determination processing, and a determination result related to the marking determination processing stored in the SRAM 243. Note that the above-described GPIO 250 that outputs the determination result related to the color determination process or the engraving determination process and the host controller 241 that controls the GPIO 250 correspond to the input / output unit 266 illustrated in FIG. Corresponds to result 268.

  The flash memory 244 stores parameters and data (including the template data described above) used by the host controller 241, the image recognition DSP circuit 242, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 for various processes.

  Next, referring to FIG. 21, a process performed by control LSI 234 to determine whether or not the object moving on medal rail 210 is a regular medal (hereinafter, may be referred to as “regular medal determination process”). Will be described.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining the regular medal determination processing of the control LSI 234. FIG. 21 shows the relationship of processing in each device constituting the control LSI 234 in chronological order. A relatively thick line in a vertical line extending below each device name indicates various types of processing performed by the device. Is performed. A broken arrow extending from a line corresponding to each device toward a vertical line extending below “IN” in the host controller indicates an interrupt signal output from each device to the host controller 241. A broken arrow extending from a vertical line extending below “OUT” in the host controller toward a line corresponding to each device indicates a signal output from the host controller 241 to each device. In the host controller, a solid arrow between a vertical line extending below “IN” and a vertical line extending below “OUT” indicates an interrupt signal detected by the host controller 241 and a signal from the host controller 241. The correspondence with the output signal is shown. FIG. 21 shows a normal medal determination process when six medals are continuously inserted into the medal insertion slot 21 (see FIG. 2). Also, in order to make it clear which signal is related to which number of medals, a numeral indicating the insertion order of medals is given at the beginning of the reference numeral attached to each signal. For example, a VSYNC interrupt signal output to the host controller 241 from an ISP circuit 245 (described later) for the first medal is denoted by “1IH”, and a similar VSYNC interrupt for the second medal is given. The signal is denoted by the symbol “2IH”.

  First, when the CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 17) captures an image of an object (first medal in this example) moving on the medal rail 210 and outputs image data to the control LSI 234, the ISP circuit 245 The image data is acquired (received) via the interface 251 and a VSYNC (Vertical Synchronization) interrupt signal is output to the host controller 241 (1IH). Further, the ISP circuit 245 performs a conversion process for converting an RGB Bayer image into various formats. Then, the image data after conversion and the data of the hue, saturation, and luminance related to the image data are output to the SRAM 243, the medal counting circuit 246, and the color recognition circuit 247. Note that the detailed description of the conversion process has been described above, and will not be repeated.

  Upon receiving the data from the ISP circuit 245, the color recognition circuit 247 performs a color determination process, stores the determination result in the SRAM 243, and outputs a color determination interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1CH). Note that the detailed description of the color determination processing has been described above and will not be repeated.

  Upon receiving data from the ISP circuit 245, the medal count circuit 246 performs a count process, stores the determination result in the SRAM 243, and outputs a medal count interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1MH). Note that the detailed description of the counting process has been described above, and will not be repeated.

  When detecting the color determination interrupt signal, the host controller 241 acquires the determination result of the color determination process from the SRAM 243 and outputs the result to the allocation PORT of the GPIO 250 (1HG1). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the color determination process to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250.

  When detecting the count interrupt signal, the host controller 241 acquires the determination result of the count processing from the SRAM 243 and outputs it to the allocation PORT of the GPIO 250 (1HG2). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the count processing to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250. When the determination result of the count process is “medal passed”, the main control circuit 91 sets the value of the inserted number counter, which is a counter provided for the main CPU 93 to count the number of inserted medals, to the value of the inserted number counter. Add one. If the value of the inserted number counter is the maximum value (for example, 3), the number of credited medals is incremented by 1 to the value of the credit counter, which is a counter provided for the main CPU 93 to count. When the credit counter has the maximum value (for example, 50), the main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the OFF state. As a result, the select plate 207 is positioned at the “discharge position”, and the medals inserted after the credit counter reaches the maximum value are guided to the medal shoot 202 and discharged to the medal tray unit 34 from the medal payout slot 32. In the present embodiment, when the start lever is operated while the value of the insertion number counter is a specified value (for example, 2 or 3), the main CPU 93 performs the above-described internal lottery processing.

  When the image data converted by the ISP circuit 245 is stored in the SRAM 243, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 performs a fisheye correction process, stores the generated reduced image data in the SRAM 243, and causes the host controller 241 to perform a reduction end ratio. (1SH). Note that the detailed description of the fisheye correction processing has been described above, and will not be repeated.

  Between the output of the determination result of the count processing by the host controller 241 to the GPIO 250 (1HG2) and the transmission of the reduction end interrupt signal by the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 (1SH), the second sheet by the ISP circuit 245 is provided. The output (2IH) of the VSYNC interrupt signal related to the medal is generated. However, since the storage areas of the SRAM 243 are individually set to store the determination results of various processes (such as a count process, a color determination process, and an engraving determination process) for each medal, data overwriting does not occur.

  When detecting the reduction end signal, the host controller 241 refers to the SRAM 243, determines that the medal has passed in the count process, and determines that the color determination process matches the color of the regular medal. , And instructs the image recognition DSP circuit 242 to start preprocessing (1HD).

  The image recognition DSP circuit 242 performs preprocessing according to an instruction from the host controller 241, stores edge image data in the SRAM 243, and outputs a preprocessing end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH1). Note that the detailed description of the preprocessing is omitted since it has been described above.

  When detecting the preprocessing completion interrupt signal, the host controller 241 instructs the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 to start the rotation integration processing (1HA).

  The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs a rotation integration process in accordance with an instruction from the host controller 241, stores the gradient average image data in the SRAM 243, and outputs an integration end interrupt signal to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (1AD). It should be noted that the detailed description of the rotation integrating process has been described above, and will not be repeated.

  When detecting the integration end interrupt signal, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires the gradient average image data stored in the SRAM 243, performs the marking determination process, and stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. Then, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 outputs an engraving determination end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH2).

  When the host controller 241 detects the marking determination end interrupt signal, the host controller 241 acquires the determination result of the marking determination processing stored in the SRAM 243 and outputs the result to the GPIO allocation PORT (1HG3). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the result of the marking determination processing to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250.

  As shown in FIG. 21, in the present embodiment, the pre-processing and the marking determination processing by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the rotation integration processing by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 take a relatively long time. Therefore, when medals are continuously inserted, upon detecting the reduction end signal, the host controller 241 checks whether the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is processing (busy state), If none of them is being processed, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 instructs the pre-processing and the engraving determination process and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 to start the rotation integration process.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, when the host controller 241 detects the reduction end signals (2SH and 3SH) relating to the second and third medals, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition Since the accelerator circuit 249 is processing (busy state), the host controller 241 does not issue the start instruction. Therefore, for the second and third medals, the counting process and the color determining process are performed, but the engraving determining process is not performed. On the other hand, when the host controller 241 detects the reduced signal (4SH) relating to the fourth medal, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 are not in processing (busy state). Therefore, for the fourth medal, a count process, a color determination process, and a marking determination process are performed.

  By increasing the speed of the pre-processing and the marking determination processing by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the speed of the rotation integration processing by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, the counting processing, the color determination processing, and the marking determination processing are performed for all the inserted medals. It may be performed.

  Various signals related to the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth medals shown in FIG. 21 (the prefix of the code is “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”, The signals ("6") are the same as the various signals related to the above-mentioned first medal (the first symbol is "1"), which differ only in the leading numeral, and therefore, detailed description is omitted. Note that the processing timing of each device in the regular medal determination processing of the control LSI 234 shown in FIG. 21 is merely an example. The regular medal determination processing can be performed at various processing timings according to the processing capacity, processing content, and processing procedure of each device.

<Action>
In the pachislo 1 of the present embodiment, the control LSI 234 of the medal selector 201 performs a regular medal determination process including a color determination process, a count process, and a marking determination process. When an unauthorized device that is not a medal moves on the medal rail 210, it is determined in the color determination process that "the color does not match the color of the regular medal", and in the count process it is determined that "the medal has not passed". Therefore, it is possible to detect a fraudulent act of playing a game by erroneously recognizing that a regular medal is used in the pachislot 1.

  In addition, on the medal rail 210, an unauthorized medal 290 (a medal having the same diameter and the same color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) shown in FIG. 22A and differing only in the mark (pattern) applied to the surface of the medal) moves. In this case, in the color determination process, it is determined that “the color matches the color of a regular medal”. However, in the counting process, the mark (pattern) in the count area (area 293 surrounded by a dotted line) of the image data 292 of the unauthorized medal shown in FIG. 22B and the count area of the image data of the regular medal (dotted line in FIG. 19B) Since the engraving (pattern) in the enclosed area 283) is significantly different, it is determined that "the medal has not passed". Therefore, it is possible to detect a fraudulent act of playing a game by erroneously recognizing that a regular medal is used in the pachislot 1.

  Also, on the medal rail 210, an unauthorized medal 295 (another medal having the same diameter and the same color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) shown in FIG. 23A and differing only in the mark (pattern) applied to the surface of the medal) is shown. If it has moved, in the color determination process, it is determined that “the color matches the color of a regular medal”. Also, in the counting process, the stamp (pattern) in the count area (area 298 surrounded by a dotted line) of the image data 297 of the unauthorized medal shown in FIG. Since the difference from the engraving (pattern) in the enclosed area 283) is small, it is determined that "the medal has passed". However, in the marking determination process, the gradient average image data 299 of the illegal medal shown in FIG. 23C is significantly different from the gradient average image data 285 of the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 20). Does not match the medal marking ". Therefore, it is possible to detect a fraudulent act of playing a game by erroneously recognizing that a regular medal is used in the pachislot 1.

  Also, the medal of the same color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) has a different diameter (slightly smaller or larger than the regular medal and can be guided by the select plate 207) on the medal rail 210. In this case, in the color determination process, it is determined that “the color matches the color of a regular medal”. However, in the image data of this medal, if this medal is slightly smaller than the diameter of the regular medal and there is a boundary between the outer edge of the medal and the background in the count area, "the medal has not passed" in the counting process. Is determined. Even if it is determined in the counting process that "the medal has passed", the gradient average image data of this medal and the gradient average image data 285 of the regular medal 280 (FIG. 20). For this reason, in the marking determination processing, it is determined that "the marking (pattern) of the medal does not match the marking of the regular medal". Therefore, it is possible to detect a fraudulent act of playing a game by erroneously recognizing that a regular medal is used in the pachislot 1.

  When a medal having the same diameter and a different color as the regular medal 280 (see FIG. 19A) moves on the medal rail 210, it is determined in the color determination processing that “the color does not match the color of the regular medal”. Therefore, it is possible to detect a fraudulent act of playing a game by erroneously recognizing that a regular medal is used in the pachislot 1.

  Further, the control LSI 234 outputs the determination results of the color determination process, the count process, and the marking determination process to the main control circuit 91 including the main control board 71 via the GPIO. Therefore, it is possible to cause the main control circuit 91 to perform various kinds of processing in the event of an illegal act. Here, the various processes in the case of a fraud include, for example, the main control circuit 91 forcibly interrupting the game and notifying the fact that the fraud has occurred through the sub-control circuit 101 (for example, , Which indicates that an illegal act has occurred on the liquid crystal display device 11).

  Further, when an illegal act is detected based on the determination results of the color determination process and the count process, the main control circuit 91 may set the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to an OFF state. As a result, the select plate 207 is positioned at the “discharge position”, so that this illegal medal can be guided to the medal shoot 202 and discharged from the medal payout opening 32. Note that the main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 set to the OFF state by the detection of the fraud by the color determination processing and the count processing to the ON state after guiding the fraudulent medal related to the fraud to the medal shoot 202. You may.

  Also, when an improper act is detected by the engraving determination process, the main control circuit 91 may set the medal solenoid 208 of the medal selector 201 to the OFF state. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, the VSYNC interrupt for the fifth medal after the VSYNC interrupt signal (4IH) for the fourth medal is output from the ISP circuit 245 to the main control circuit 91. Until the signal (5IH) is output, the determination result of the marking determination process for the first medal is output to the main control circuit (1HG3). Therefore, when illegal medals are continuously inserted, the illegal medals inserted after the fifth card can be guided to the medal shoot 202 and discharged from the medal payout opening 32. As a result, it is possible to suppress an increase in damage caused by wrongdoing. In addition, by speeding up the engraving determination process, if a medal taken by the camera unit 209 can pass through the after-medal pressure 218 or the medal stopper portion 227, if improper operation can be detected by the engraving determination process, Since the main control circuit 91 immediately sets the medal solenoid 208 to the OFF state, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of damage due to fraud. In addition, the main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 set to the OFF state by the detection of the improper action by the marking determination processing to determine that the determination result of the next marking determination processing indicates that “the medal's marking (pattern) matches the regular medal's marking”. If "Yes", it may be set to the ON state. As a result, since the illegal medal is accidentally mixed in, if the player inserts the illegal medal without intending the illegal act and the medal solenoid 208 is set to the OFF state and the game becomes impossible, the player becomes If a medal is inserted, the game can be resumed.

<Modification of First Embodiment>
As above, the gaming machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention has been described, including its operational effects. However, the gaming machine of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention described in the claims.

  For example, in the above description, an example was described in which medals having the same engraving (pattern) applied to both sides as game media were used. However, different engravings may be used on one side and the other side of the medal instead. A medal that has been given may be used. In this case, data relating to each surface of the medal may be prepared in advance as data relating to the threshold values in the count processing, the color determination processing, and the marking determination processing.

  Further, as a method of setting data relating to the threshold value, a certain unit game period (for example, 100 games) is set as a data collection period relating to the threshold value, and the camera unit 209 takes an image during this unit game period. A method of setting based on the image data of the set medals may be adopted.

  The gaming machine according to the above-described first embodiment can determine medals and the like by image conversion and image recognition processes performed based on a captured image obtained by the imaging unit 261 including the CMOS image sensor 232 and the like. Therefore, it is possible to determine a difference between patterns such as medals. Further, since the control LSI 234 of the camera unit 209 is configured as an ASIC or the like, the manufacturing cost can be effectively reduced. Further, since the control LSI 234 is provided in a packaged state such as an ASIC, an external misconduct (for example, invalidating the regular medal determination process or stealing the processing logic of the regular medal determination process). And the act of doing the same) can be prevented, and there is a remarkable advantage also in security.

<< 2nd Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachislot which is a gaming machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the pachislot 300, which is a gaming machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention, has a function flow, a pachislot structure, a medal selector configuration, a pachislot circuit configuration, and a medal selector circuit configuration described in the first embodiment. Is the same as the pachislot 1 which is the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. In the following, the regular medal determination process executed in the pachislot 1 as the gaming machine according to the first embodiment will be described more specifically, and a new regular medal determination process will be described.

  As described above, the pachislot 300 as the gaming machine according to the second embodiment includes the control LSI 334 (corresponding to the control LSI 234 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), similarly to the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. A camera unit 309 (corresponding to the camera unit 209 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided, and further, a medal selector 301 including the camera unit 309 (corresponding to the medal selector 201 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided. . FIG. 24 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 309, and has substantially the same configuration as that shown in the functional block diagram of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 24, the camera unit 309 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 361, a conversion unit 363, a feature image generation unit 364, a determination unit 365, and an input / output unit 366. Note that the camera unit 309 includes a light emitting unit including an LED or the like, but is not illustrated in FIG.

  The imaging unit 361 includes a CMOS image sensor 332 (corresponding to, for example, the CMOS image sensor 232 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), and outputs image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 332 (if necessary, to a predetermined value). After the conversion, the image is output as a captured image 362A.

  The conversion unit 363 (for example, corresponding to the ISP circuit 245 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) converts the captured image 362A input from the imaging unit 361 from a color image to a grayscale image, and converts the converted captured image. The image is output as a captured image 362B.

  The characteristic image generation unit 364 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) generates a characteristic image indicating the characteristic of the medal 310 based on the captured image 362B in which the medal 310 is captured. 362C is generated. Based on the characteristic image 362C generated by the characteristic image generation unit 364, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362B (that is, the medal 310 corresponding to the image of the medal 310 included in the captured image 362C) is a regular one. It determines whether or not the game is a game, and outputs the result of the determination via the input / output unit 366 (for example, the GPIO 250 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment).

  The determination unit 365 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) includes a feature image 362C generated from the captured image 362B by the feature image generation unit 364 and a template indicating the features of the regular medal. Data (template feature image) 367 is compared, and based on the comparison result, it is determined whether or not the medal 310 relating to the captured image 362B is a regular one.

  FIG. 25 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a captured image 362A obtained by the imaging unit 361. The captured image 362A illustrated in FIG. 25 includes a captured image of the medal 310. Further, the medal rail 311 as the background is imaged, and the image is included in the imaged image 362A. Note that the medal rail 311 corresponds to the medal rail 210 of the above-described first embodiment, but here, the shape of the rail is simplified.

  On one main surface 310a of the medal 310, for example, a pattern of an alphabet "A" is shown. This indicates the pattern of the regular medal, but may be another pattern. In addition, a pattern may be provided on both main surfaces of the regular medal.

  In the present embodiment, the medal 310 moves on the medal rail 311 while rotating around a rotation axis passing through the center of both main surfaces and along the thickness direction. Then, the imaging unit 361 images the medal 310 from the one main surface 310a side of the medal 310. Therefore, the captured image 362A includes an image of the one main surface 310a of the medal 310. In the present embodiment, the captured image 362A generated by the imaging unit 361 is a color image, but may be a grayscale image.

  FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the feature image generation unit 364. As shown in FIG. 26, the characteristic image generation unit 364 includes a first image generation unit 370 and a second image generation unit 380. The first image generation unit 370 generates a first image 374 indicating the medal 310 based on the captured image 362B. The second image generation unit 380 converts at least a part of a rotation composite image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image 374 generated by the first image generation unit 370 into a characteristic image 362C (second image). ).

  The first image generation unit 370 includes an extraction unit 371 and an edge image generation unit 372. The extracting unit 371 extracts a medal region 373 in which the medal 310 is shown from the captured image 362B. The edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371, and generates an edge image (first image 374).

<Regular medal determination processing flow>
Next, a series of operations of the regular medal determination processing performed by the camera unit 309 in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, when a captured image 362A is input from the imaging unit 361, the conversion unit 363 converts the captured image 362A from a color image to a grayscale image, and processes the captured image 362B obtained thereby.

  Next, the extraction unit 371 extracts a medal region 373 in which the medal 310 appears from the captured image 362B to be processed. After that, the edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371, and generates an edge image as the first image 374 indicating the medal 310. Next, the second image generation unit 380 features at least a part of a rotation composite image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the edge image (first image 374) generated by the edge image generation unit 372. Generated as an image 362C.

  Next, the determination unit 365 compares the characteristic image 362C generated by the second image generation unit 380 with the characteristic image included in the template data 367, and generates a processing target captured image 362B based on the comparison result. It is determined whether or not the indicated medal 310 is a regular one. In other words, the determination unit 365 determines whether the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362A generated by the imaging unit 261 is a regular one based on the comparison result between the characteristic image 362C and the characteristic image included in the template data 367. Determine whether or not. Then, the determination unit 365 sends the determination result 368 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the first embodiment) via the input / output unit 366 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the first embodiment). Output. In this manner, when the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362A is not a regular one, the main control circuit forcibly interrupts the game, as in the gaming machine of the first embodiment, and causes the sub control circuit (first Via the sub-control circuit 101 in the gaming machine according to the embodiment), it is possible to notify that there has been an illegal act. For example, a warning can be issued to the outside by outputting a warning sound from a speaker or displaying warning information on a display which is a liquid crystal display device.

  Thereafter, when a new captured image 362A is input, the determination unit 365 performs the above-described regular medal determination processing with the captured image 362B obtained from the captured image 362A as a new processing target. Thereafter, the determination unit 365 performs the same operation each time the captured image 362A is input.

<Detailed description of each component>
Next, the operations of the extraction unit 371, the edge image generation unit 372, the second image generation unit 380, and the determination unit 365 of the first image generation unit 370 will be described in more detail.

[Extractor]
FIG. 27 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the medal region 373 extracted from the captured image 362B by the extraction unit 371. There are various methods for extracting the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B.

  For example, there is a first extraction method using the fact that the outer shape of the medal 310 is circular. In the first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 362B to generate an edge image. As an edge image generation method, for example, the Sobel method, the Laplacian method, the Canny method, or the like is used. Next, a circular area is extracted from the generated edge image. As a method for extracting a circular area, for example, Hough transform is used. Then, a circular area in the captured image 362B existing at the same position as the position of the circular area in the edge image is defined as a medal area 373.

  As another method, there is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B using the background difference method and labeling. In the second extraction method, first, a background difference image indicating a difference between the captured image 362B and a background image (an image in which only the background of the captured image 362B is shown) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. You. Then, labeling such as 4-connection is performed on the binary background difference image. Then, a partial area in the captured image 362B existing at the same position as the position of the connected area (independent area) obtained as a result of the labeling in the binary background difference image is defined as a medal area 373.

  In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B by a method different from the above two methods. Hereinafter, the operation of the extraction unit 371 according to the present embodiment will be described. Note that the extraction unit 371 may extract the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B using one of the above two methods.

  First, the extraction unit 371 generates a background difference image indicating a difference between the captured image 362B and the background image 375 (an image showing only the background of the captured image 362B), and binarizes the generated background difference image. FIG. 28 is a diagram schematically illustrating the background image 375, and FIG. 29 is a diagram schematically illustrating the binary background difference image 376. Note that, in the binary images schematically shown in FIG. 29 and the later-described diagrams of the present embodiment, the area (high-luminance area) where the pixel value is “1” is shown in black, and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low-luminance area) is shown in white. The background image 375 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Next, the extraction unit 371 performs template matching on the binary background difference image 376 using a binary outline template 377 indicating the outline of the medal 310. That is, the extraction unit 371 specifies where in the background difference image 376 an area similar to the outline template 377 exists. In other words, the extraction unit 371 specifies where in the background difference image 376 an area that matches the outer shape of the medal 310 indicated by the outer shape template 377 exists. FIG. 30 is a diagram schematically illustrating the outer shape template 377. The outer shape template 377 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  In the template matching, the extraction unit 371 moves the outline template 377 little by little (for example, one pixel (pixel)) in the raster scan direction on the background difference image 376 as shown in FIG. In other words, the extraction unit 371 causes the outline template 377 to be raster-scanned on the background difference image 376. At this time, at each position of the outline template 377, the extraction unit 371 generates an AND image of the outline template 377 and a partial area of the background difference image 376 that overlaps the outline template 377. Thereby, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. Then, the extraction unit 371 generates the background difference image 376 of the outer shape template 377 used for generating the AND image having the largest number of pixels (high-brightness pixels) having the pixel value “1” among the generated multiple AND images. Locate the top position. This position is a position where a region similar to the outline template 377 exists in the background difference image 376.

  Then, as illustrated in FIG. 32, the extraction unit 371 extracts the partial region 378 in the captured image 362B existing at the same position as the specified position as the medal region 373. In other words, when the outer shape template 377 is arranged in the captured image 362B at the same position as the specified position, the extracting unit 371 extracts the partial region 378 in the captured image 362B that overlaps the outer shape template 377 as the medal region 373. . At this time, the medal region 373 may be a region in which the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 377 on the partial region 378 is zero. The medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 is a grayscale image. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the medal region 373 is square, but may be other shapes such as a circle.

[Edge image generation unit]
The edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 by using, for example, the Sobel method, the Laplacian method, the Canny method, or the like, and generates an edge image (first image 374). Generate. In the present embodiment, the edge image generation unit 372 uses, for example, the Sobel method that is light in processing. The edge image is a binary image. FIG. 33 is a diagram schematically illustrating an edge image.

[Second image generation unit]
The second image generation unit 380 uses, as the characteristic image 362C, at least a part of the rotation composite image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 generated by the edge image generation unit 372. Generate. In the present embodiment, the second image generating unit 380 generates, for example, a rotation composite image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 as the characteristic image 362C. Here, the rotation of the first image (edge image) 374 includes a case where the rotation angle is 0 °. Hereinafter, a method of generating the rotated composite image will be described.

  FIG. 34 is a diagram for explaining a method in which the second image generation unit 380 generates the rotated composite image 379. The second image generation unit 380 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by a predetermined angle α to generate a plurality of rotated images 374a as shown in FIG. Here, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by a predetermined angle α until the total rotation angle becomes (360 ° −α). In the present embodiment, the second image generating unit 380 generates 180 rotated images 374a by rotating the first image (edge image) 374, for example, by 2 ° (α = 2 °). The angle α described above can be adjusted to various angles such as 1 ° and 4 °.

  Then, the second image generation unit 380 generates a rotation composite image 381 by synthesizing the plurality of generated rotation images 374a. More specifically, the second image generation unit 380 adds and averages the plurality of rotated images 374 a with their centers matched, and sets the resulting averaged image as the rotated composite image 381. The second image generation unit 380 uses the generated rotated composite image 381 as a characteristic image 362C indicating the characteristic of the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362B.

  When synthesizing the plurality of rotated images 374a, the second image generation unit 380 determines, in each of the rotated images 374a, a rotated image 374a having a total rotation angle of 0 ° (that is, the first image (not rotated) ( An area outside the outer shape of the edge image 374) is not used. Therefore, the rotated composite image 381 is a grayscale image having the same size as the first image (edge image) 374.

  As described above, the imaging unit 361 captures the image of the rotating medal 310 and generates a captured image 362A in which the medal 310 is reflected. Therefore, the rotation angle of the medal 310 of the captured image 362B generated by the conversion unit 363 (the rotation angle of the pattern attached to the medal 310) is not always the same. On the other hand, since the rotated composite image 381 is obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotated images 374a obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 indicating the medal 310 of the captured image 362B, the medal of the captured image 362B is Even if there is a variation in the rotation angle of 310, if the medal 310 is a regular one, the rotated composite image 381 obtained from the captured image 362B hardly changes. Therefore, it can be said that the rotated composite image 381 is a characteristic image 362C that is less affected by the rotation angle of the medal 310 of the captured image 362B and that indicates the characteristics of the medal 310.

[Judgment unit]
The determination unit 365 compares the rotated composite image 381 (the characteristic image 362C) generated by the second image generation unit 380 with the characteristic image of the template data 267 indicating the characteristic of the regular medal 310, and based on the comparison result. Then, it is determined whether or not the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B is a regular one. As the characteristic image of the template data 267, a characteristic image 362C (rotated) showing the characteristic of the regular medal 310 generated by the characteristic image generating unit 364 from the captured image 362B including the image of the regular medal 310 in the same manner as described above. The composite image 381) is used.

  By inserting the medal 310 into the gaming machine, a characteristic image of the template data 367 can be obtained. For example, a captured image 362B of the inserted normal medal 310 is generated, and the captured image 362B is referred to as a “standard image 391”. Next, based on the standard image 391, the characteristic image generation unit 364 generates a characteristic image 362C (rotated composite image 381) indicating the characteristics of the regular medals 310 included in the standard image 391. This feature image 362C is referred to as “standard feature image 392”. In the present embodiment, the standard feature image 392 is the feature image of the template data 367. Such template data 367 is stored in the SRAM or the like of the camera unit 309 as described above. Hereinafter, the feature image 362C (the feature image 362C generated for discriminating a regular medal) generated during the actual operation of the gaming machine is referred to as a “target feature image 362C” to distinguish it from the standard feature image 392. There is.

  The determination unit 365 compares the two by, for example, determining the similarity (degree of difference) between the rotated composite image 381 (the target characteristic image 362C) and the characteristic image of the template data 367. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 365 uses, for example, SAD (Sum of Absolute Difference) as a value indicating the similarity. A large SAD means that the similarity is low, and a small SAD means that the similarity is high. As a value indicating the similarity, another value such as an SSD (Sum of Squared Difference) or an NCC (Normalized Correlation Coffiecient) may be used.

  When the degree of similarity between the rotated composite image 381 and the feature image of the template data 367 is high, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B is a regular one, and the similarity is determined. When it is low, it is determined that the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B is not a regular one. Specifically, when the SAD between the rotated composite image 381 and the feature image of the template data 367 is equal to or smaller than the threshold, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 310 of the captured image 362B is a regular one. However, when the SAD is larger than the threshold value, it is determined that the medal 310 of the captured image 362B is not regular. Then, the determination unit 365 outputs a determination result 368.

  The threshold value used in the determination unit 365 is determined, for example, by using a plurality of medals 310. Specifically, when the gaming machine is not actually operating, a plurality of regular medals are sequentially inserted into the gaming machine. Then, a plurality of captured images 362B in which the plurality of inserted regular medals are captured are generated. For each of the plurality of generated captured images 362B, the determination unit 365 obtains the SAD between the rotation composite image 381 generated by the characteristic image generation unit 364 from the captured image 362B and the characteristic image of the template data 367. Then, the maximum value of the plurality of SADs determined by the determination unit 365 is determined as the threshold. The determined threshold value is stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Note that such determination of the threshold value by the gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the threshold value may be determined in advance by the gaming machine or another device and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  When the type of the regular medal 310 is changed by the determination of the threshold value used in the determination unit 365 in this way, the changed medal 310 is inserted into a gaming machine that is not actually operating. As a result, the threshold value according to the changed medal 310 is determined. Therefore, even if the type of the medal 310 is changed, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not the medal 310 inserted into the gaming machine is a regular one.

  In the above example, the binary first image (edge image) 374 is input to the second image generation unit 380 as the first image 374 indicating the medal 310 of the captured image 362B. An image indicating the region 373 may be input to the second image generation unit 380 as a first image. In this case, a rotation combined image obtained by combining a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the medal region 373 is set as the characteristic image 362C.

  As described above, in the pachislot 300 which is the gaming machine according to the second embodiment, at least the rotated combined image 381 obtained by combining the plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 indicating the medal 310 A part is generated as a second image (feature image 362C). The characteristic image 362C is not easily affected by the rotation angle of the medal 310 included in the captured image 362B. Therefore, even if the rotation angle (rotational posture) of the medals 310 included in the captured image 362B varies, the medals 310 included in the captured image 362B using the characteristic image 362C (the target characteristic image 362C and the standard characteristic image 392). Can be more accurately determined as to whether or not is a regular one, and the determination accuracy is improved.

  In the present embodiment, since the binary edge image is used as the first image 374, the brightness of the imaging area in the imaging unit 361 is compared with the case where the medal area 373 of the grayscale image is used as the first image 374. It is possible to suppress the first image 374 from being affected by the change in the height. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the characteristic image 362C from being affected by a change in the brightness of the imaging region where the medal 310 is imaged, and as a result, the accuracy of determining a regular medal is improved.

  In the present embodiment, since the extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B using template matching, the above-described first extraction method using the Hough transform or the labeling is used. The extraction process is simplified as compared with the second extraction method performed.

  In the present embodiment, the determination unit 365 compares the characteristic image 362C generated from the captured image 362B with the characteristic image of the template data 367 using SAD or the like, and based on the comparison result, determines the captured image 362B. Is determined whether or not the medal 310 according to (1) is legitimate, so that the determination process is simplified.

<Modification of Second Embodiment>
Hereinafter, various modifications will be described.

[Modification 1]
In the above example, the standard feature image 392 is adopted as the feature image of the template data 367 to be compared with the target feature image 362C. However, a plurality of regular medals 310 different from each other are captured from a plurality of captured images 362A. A synthesized image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of standard feature images 392 generated respectively may be used as the feature image of the template data 367.

  FIG. 35 is a diagram for describing a method for generating a characteristic image of template data 367 according to the present modification. In the example of FIG. 35, four standard feature images 392 generated from captured images 362B of four different regular medals 310 are used to generate the template data 367. Here, when both main surfaces of one medal 310 have different patterns from each other, these can be individually used as standard feature images 392 for generating template data 367.

  In this modification, when the template data 367 is generated, a plurality of regular medals 310 are sequentially inserted into the gaming machine when the gaming machine is not actually operating. Then, a plurality of captured images 362A of the plurality of regular medals 310 inserted into the gaming machine are generated. The characteristic image generation unit 364 generates a standard characteristic image 392 based on the captured image 362A for each of the generated captured images 362A. Next, the characteristic image generation unit 364 synthesizes the generated plurality of standard characteristic images 392, and sets a synthesized image 382 (see FIG. 35) obtained thereby as a characteristic image of the template data 367. For example, the feature image generation unit 364 performs the averaging of the plurality of standard feature images 392, and sets the obtained averaged image (synthesized image 382) as the feature image of the template data 367.

  Note that generation of the template data 367 by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the template data 367 may be generated in advance by a gaming machine or another device and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  In this way, the standard image 392 is directly used as the template data 367 by using the composite image 382 obtained by synthesizing the plurality of standard characteristic images 392 indicating the characteristics of the different regular medals 310 as the characteristic image of the template data 367. As compared with the case, the influence of the individual difference of the regular medals 310 on the regular medal determination processing can be suppressed. Further, even when the distance between the medal 310 and the imaging device (for example, a CMOS image sensor) of the medal 310 varies when the imaging unit 361 captures the medal 310, the influence of the variation on the regular medal determination processing is not affected. Therefore, the accuracy of the regular medal determination processing is improved.

  Also, unlike the present example, when the first image 374 indicating the regular medal 310 is used as it is as the standard feature image 392, when combining the plurality of standard feature images 392, the plurality of standard feature images 392 are used. It is necessary to match the directions of the plurality of standard feature images 392 such that the rotation angles (rotational postures) of the plurality of regular medals 310 respectively included in the standard medals 310 match.

  On the other hand, in the present modified example, since the rotated composite image 381 obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotated images obtained by rotating the first image 374 indicating the regular medal 310 is used as the standard feature image 392, When synthesizing the plurality of standard feature images 392, it is not necessary to match the orientations of the plurality of standard feature images 392. Therefore, the generation processing of the characteristic image of the template data 367 is simplified.

  If the regular medal 310 used for generating the feature image of the template data 367 has a large scratch, even if the template data 367 is generated by combining a plurality of standard feature images 392, the influence of the scratch is May appear in the template data 367, and the accuracy of the regular medal determination processing may be degraded.

  Therefore, when the pixel values of a plurality of pixels at the same position included in the plurality of standard feature images 392 indicating the features of the plurality of regular medals 310 respectively have pixel values extremely different from other pixel values. Alternatively, the feature image of the template data 367 may be generated without using the standard feature image 392 including pixels having extremely different pixel values. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress the use of the standard feature image 392 indicating the feature related to the regular medal 310 having the large scratch for generating the feature image of the template data 367. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the accuracy of the regular medal determination processing from being deteriorated.

[Modification 2]
In the above example, the second image generation unit 380 uses the rotation composite image 381 obtained by rotating the first image 374 indicating the medal 310 as the characteristic image 362C, but the rotation composite image 381 May be a feature image 362C. Hereinafter, a part of the rotation composite image 381 that becomes the characteristic image 362C is referred to as a “characteristic partial region 383”.

  FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a characteristic portion area 383 that is a part of the rotation composite image 381 is set as a characteristic image 362C. In the example shown in FIG. 36, a rectangular partial region extending from the center 381c to one side 381B on the upper side is defined as the characteristic partial region 383 in the square rotated composite image 381. In the example of the characteristic portion region 383 shown in FIG. 36, a plurality of pixels are included in each of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. The shape of the characteristic portion region 383 may be other than a rectangle.

  The second image generation unit 380 generates the rotation composite image 381 based on, for example, the first image 374 indicating the medal 310, and then extracts the characteristic partial region 383 from the rotation composite image 381, thereby converting the characteristic image 362C. Generate.

  The second image generation unit 380 can also generate the characteristic image 362C without generating the rotated composite image 381. FIG. 37 is a diagram for explaining the method. As shown in FIG. 37, the second image generation unit 380 sets an extraction window 384 for the first image 374 generated by the first image generation unit 370, and sets a partial area 385 (the (A partial area of one image 374) is extracted. The extraction window 384 has, for example, the same size as the characteristic portion region 383 shown in FIG. Further, the extraction window 384 is set in the first image 374 at the same position as the position of the generated characteristic portion region 383 in the rotated composite image 381 (see FIG. 36). The extracted partial area 385 is referred to as “reference partial area 385A”.

  Next, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the extraction window 384 by a predetermined angle β about the center 374c of the first image 374, and extracts a partial region 385 in the extraction window 384 at each rotation angle. Here, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the extraction window 384 by a predetermined angle β around the center 374c of the first image 374 until the total rotation angle becomes (360 ° −β). β can be set at various angles, but is 2 ° in this example. Then, the second image generation unit 380 generates a synthesized image by synthesizing the plurality of obtained partial regions 385. At this time, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the partial regions 385 other than the reference partial region 385A in the obtained plurality of partial regions 385 so as to match the outer shape of the reference partial region 385A, and then performs the rotation. A plurality of partial regions 385 are synthesized. The second image generation unit 380 generates a composite image of the plurality of partial areas 385 by, for example, adding and averaging the obtained plurality of partial areas 385 to generate an averaged image. This averaging image (composite image) corresponds to the characteristic portion area 383 shown in FIG.

  As described above, by using a part of the rotation composite image 381 as the feature image 362C, the number of pixels of the feature image 362C is reduced. Therefore, the processing in the determination unit 365 using the characteristic image 362C is simplified.

  Also, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the extraction window 384 by a predetermined angle, extracts a partial region 385 in the extraction window 384 at each rotation angle, and combines the obtained plural partial regions 385. When generating the characteristic image 362C, the process of generating the characteristic image 362C is simplified because the number of pixels of the image handled when generating the characteristic image 362C is reduced.

  It should be noted that which part of the rotated composite image 381 is to be used as the characteristic part region 383 is determined based on the position of the pattern shown in the regular medal 310 and the like. That is, it is preferable to set a part of the rotated composite image 381 in the characteristic part region 383 so that the characteristic of the medal 310 can be sufficiently displayed in the characteristic part region 383.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 25, when the pattern of the regular medal 310 exists over substantially the entire one main surface 310 a of the medal 310, the center 381 c in the rotated composite image 381 as in this example. It is desirable that the characteristic portion region 383 be set so as to reach from the to one side 381B (see FIG. 36).

  When the pattern of the medal 310 is present only at the peripheral end of the one main surface 310a of the medal 310, as shown in FIG. 38, only the end of the rotated composite image 381 is used as the characteristic portion area 383. Good.

  When the pattern of the medal 310 is present over substantially the entirety of the one main surface 310a of the medal 310, it may be a linear characteristic portion area 383 as shown in FIG. In the characteristic portion region 383 shown in FIG. 39, a plurality of pixels are included in the vertical direction, but only one pixel is included in the horizontal direction.

<<< 3rd Embodiment >>>
Hereinafter, a pachislot which is a gaming machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The pachislo 400, which is a gaming machine according to the third embodiment of the present invention, has the above-described first embodiment with respect to the function flow, the pachislot structure, the medal selector configuration, the pachislot circuit configuration, and the medal selector circuit configuration. Is the same as the pachislot 1 which is the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. In the following, a description will be given of a regular medal determination process executed by the pachislo 400 which is a gaming machine according to the third embodiment.

  As described above, the pachislo 400 as the gaming machine according to the third embodiment includes the control LSI 434 (corresponding to the control LSI 234 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), similarly to the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. A camera unit 409 (corresponding to the camera unit 209 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided, and a medal selector 401 including the camera unit 409 (corresponding to the medal selector 201 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided. . FIG. 40 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 409.

  As illustrated in FIG. 40, the camera unit 409 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 461, a conversion unit 463, an extraction unit 464, a specification unit 465, a fitting unit 466, a determination unit 467, and an input / output unit 468. I have. Note that the camera unit 409 includes a light emitting unit including an LED or the like, but is not illustrated in FIG.

  The imaging unit 461 includes a CMOS image sensor 432 (for example, corresponding to the CMOS image sensor 232 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), and outputs image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 432 (if necessary, a predetermined Conversion) and output as a captured image 462A.

  The conversion unit 463 (for example, corresponding to the ISP circuit 245 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) converts the captured image 462A input from the imaging unit 461 from a color image to a grayscale image, and converts the converted captured image. The image is output as a captured image 462B.

  The extraction unit 464 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) extracts a medal region (object region) 473 where the medal 410 is captured from the captured image 462B.

  The specifying unit 465 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) specifies a characteristic local region (partial region) in the medal region 473. In other words, the specifying unit 465 specifies a meaningful local area in the medal area 473. The processing in the specifying unit 465 is called “segmentation”. Hereinafter, simply “local area” means a characteristic local area specified by the specifying unit 465 in the medal area 473.

  The fitting unit 466 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) fits an ellipse to the local area specified by the specifying unit 465. In this specification, the term “ellipse” is a concept including a circle (true circle).

  The determining unit 467 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) uses the ellipse information on the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 as a feature of the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B. The characteristic amount shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, for example, position information and shape information of the ellipse are adopted as the ellipse information about the ellipse. However, such ellipse information is only an example, and is not limited to such information. Then, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B is a regular one based on such a feature amount, and outputs the determination result 469 to the input / output unit 468 (for example, (Corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment). In the present embodiment, the determination unit 467 compares the characteristic amount obtained from the captured image 462B with a standard characteristic amount (reference characteristic amount) 467A indicating the characteristic of the regular medal 410, and based on the comparison result, It is determined whether or not the medal 410 related to the captured image 462B is a regular one. The standard feature amount 467A can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  FIG. 41 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a captured image 462A obtained by the imaging unit 461. The captured image 462A illustrated in FIG. 41 includes the captured image of the medal 410. In the captured image 462A, a medal rail 411 as a background is captured. Note that the medal rail 411 corresponds to the medal rail 210 of the above-described first embodiment, but here, the shape of the rail is simplified.

  On one main surface 410a of the medal 410, for example, a pattern of an alphabet "A" and a pattern of an alphabet "B" are shown. This indicates the pattern of the regular medal, but may be another pattern. In addition, a pattern may be provided on both main surfaces of the regular medal.

  In the present embodiment, the medal 410 moves on the medal rail 411 while rotating around a rotation axis passing through the center of both main surfaces and along the thickness direction. Then, the imaging unit 461 images the medal 410 from the one main surface 410a side of the medal 410. Therefore, the captured image 462A includes an image of one main surface 410a of the medal 410. In the present embodiment, the captured image 462A generated by the imaging unit 461 is a color image, but may be a grayscale image.

<Regular medal determination processing flow>
Next, a series of operations of a regular medal determination process performed by the camera unit 409 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  First, when a captured image 462A is input from the imaging unit 461, the conversion unit 463 converts the captured image 462A from a color image to a grayscale image, and processes the captured image 462B obtained thereby.

  Next, the extraction unit 471 extracts a medal region 473 in which the medal 410 appears from the captured image 462B to be processed. Thereafter, the specifying unit 465 specifies a local region in the medal region 473 extracted by the extracting unit 471. Next, in the fitting unit 466, an ellipse is fitted to the local region specified by the specifying unit 465.

  Next, the determination unit 467 sets ellipse information on the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 as a feature amount. Then, the determination unit 467 compares the feature amount with the standard feature amount 467A, and determines whether or not the medal 410 of the captured image 462B is a regular one based on the comparison result. Then, the determination unit 467 sends the determination result 469 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the first embodiment) via the input / output unit 468 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the first embodiment). Output. In this manner, when the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462A is not a regular one, the main control circuit forcibly interrupts the game, as in the gaming machine of the first embodiment, and causes the sub-control circuit (first Via the sub-control circuit 101 in the gaming machine according to the embodiment), it is possible to notify that there has been an illegal act. For example, a warning can be issued to the outside by outputting a warning sound from a speaker or displaying warning information on a display which is a liquid crystal display device.

  Thereafter, when a new captured image 462A is input, the determination unit 467 performs the above-described regular medal determination processing with the captured image 462B obtained from the captured image 462A as a new processing target. Thereafter, the determination unit 467 performs the same operation each time the captured image 462A is input.

<Detailed description of each component>
Hereinafter, the operations of the extracting unit 464, the specifying unit 465, the fitting unit 466, and the determining unit 467 will be described in more detail.

[Extractor]
FIG. 42 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the medal region 473 extracted from the captured image 462B by the extraction unit 464. There are various methods for extracting the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B.

  For example, there is a first extraction method using the fact that the outer shape of the medal 410 is circular. In the first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 462B to generate an edge image. As an edge image generation method, for example, the Sobel method, the Laplacian method, the Canny method, or the like is used. Next, a circular area is extracted from the generated edge image. As a method for extracting a circular area, for example, Hough transform is used. Then, a circular area in the captured image 462B existing at the same position as the position of the circular area in the edge image is defined as a medal area 473.

  As another method, there is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B using the background difference method and labeling. In the second extraction method, first, a background difference image indicating a difference between the captured image 462B and the background image (image in which only the background of the captured image 462B is shown) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. You. Then, labeling such as 4-connection is performed on the binary background difference image. Then, a partial area in the captured image 462B existing at the same position as the position of the connected area (independent area) obtained as a result of the labeling in the binary background difference image is defined as a medal area 473.

  In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 464 extracts the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B by a method different from the above two methods. Hereinafter, the operation of the extraction unit 464 according to the present embodiment will be described. Note that the extraction unit 464 may extract the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B by using one of the above two methods.

  First, the extraction unit 464 generates a background difference image indicating a difference between the captured image 462B and the background image 475 (an image showing only the background of the captured image 462B), and binarizes the generated background difference image. FIG. 43 is a diagram schematically illustrating a background image 475, and FIG. 44 is a diagram schematically illustrating a binary background difference image 476. Note that, in the binary image schematically shown in FIG. 44 and the later-described drawings of the present embodiment, the area (high-brightness area) where the pixel value is “1” is shown in black, and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low-luminance area) is shown in white. The background image 475 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Next, the extraction unit 464 performs template matching on the binary background difference image 476 using a binary outline template 477 indicating the outline of the medal 410. That is, the extraction unit 464 specifies where in the background difference image 476 an area similar to the outline template 477 exists. In other words, the extraction unit 464 specifies where in the background difference image 476 an area that matches the outer shape of the medal 410 indicated by the outer shape template 477 exists. FIG. 45 is a diagram schematically illustrating the outer shape template 477. The external shape template 477 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  In the template matching, the extraction unit 464 moves the outline template 477 on the background difference image 476 little by little (for example, one pixel (pixel)) in the raster scan direction as shown in FIG. In other words, the extraction unit 464 raster-scans the outline template 477 on the background difference image 476. At this time, at each position of the outline template 477, the extraction unit 464 generates an AND image of the outline template 477 and a partial area of the background difference image 476 overlapping the outline template 477. Thereby, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. Then, the extraction unit 464 generates the background difference image 476 of the outline template 477 used in generating the AND image having the largest number of pixels (high-brightness pixels) having the pixel value “1” among the generated multiple AND images. Locate the top position. This position is a position in the background difference image 476 where an area similar to the outline template 477 exists.

  Then, as illustrated in FIG. 47, the extraction unit 464 extracts the partial region 478 in the captured image 462B existing at the same position as the specified position as the medal region 473. In other words, when the outline template 477 is arranged in the captured image 462B at the same position as the specified position, the extraction unit 464 extracts the partial region 478 in the captured image 462B that overlaps the outline template 477 as the medal region 473. . At this time, in the partial area 478, a medal area 473 may be obtained by setting the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 477 on the partial area 478 to zero. The medal region 473 extracted by the extraction unit 464 is a grayscale image. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the medal region 473 is a square, but may be another shape such as a circle.

[Specific part]
The specifying unit 465 specifies a local region in the medal region 473 extracted by the extracting unit 464 using, for example, MSER (Maximally Stable Extremal Regions). The specifying unit 465 may specify the local region by a method other than the MSER.

  When specifying the local region using the MSER, the specifying unit 465 first binarizes the medal region 473. At this time, the specifying unit 465 binarizes the medal region 473 while changing the threshold value used for binarization. As a result, a plurality of binarized images binarized using different threshold values are obtained. Next, the specifying unit 465 specifies, in the obtained plurality of binarized images, a partial area (a plurality of pixels) in which the pixel value does not change among the plurality of binarized images. In other words, the specifying unit 465 specifies, in the obtained plurality of binarized images, a partial region in which pixel values are stable among the plurality of binarized images. Then, the specifying unit 465 sets the partial region in the medal region 473 existing at the same position as the position of the specified partial region in the binarized image as the local region. As a result, in the specifying unit 465, a partial region having a uniform pixel value in the medal region 473 is specified as a meaningful region.

  In the present embodiment, in the medal region 473 including the medal 410, a region where the pattern attached to the medal 410 is reflected is specified as a local region. FIG. 48 is a diagram schematically showing local regions 473a and 473b specified in the medal region 473 including the medal 410. The local area 473a is an area in the medal area 473 where the pattern of “A” attached to the regular medal 410 is reflected. The local area 473b is an area in the medal area 473 where the pattern of “B” attached to the regular medal 410 is reflected. In the medal area 473 where the regular medal 410 appears, the area where the pattern “A” attached to the regular medal 410 appears and the area where the pattern “B” attached to the regular medal 410 appears separately. Identified as a local region.

  As described above, when there are a plurality of independent characteristic portions in the medal region 473, the plurality of characteristic portions are specified as different local regions.

[Fitting part]
The fitting unit 466 fits an ellipse to the local region specified by the specifying unit 465. When a plurality of local regions are specified by the specifying unit 465, the fitting unit 466 fits a plurality of ellipses to the plurality of local regions. FIG. 49 is a diagram showing a state where ellipses 481a and 481b are fitted to the local regions 473a and 473b shown in FIG. Hereinafter, an example of a method of fitting an ellipse to a local region will be described.

  The fitting unit 466 generates position information and shape information of an ellipse to be fitted to the local area based on the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local area included in the medal area 473. In the present embodiment, the fitting unit 466 determines the center position of the ellipse to be fitted to the local area as position information of the ellipse. The fitting unit 466 obtains the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the ellipse as shape information of the ellipse.

  The fitting unit 466 calculates an average value of the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local region, and sets the average value as the center position of the ellipse to be fitted to the local region. That is, the fitting unit 466 calculates the average value of the x coordinate and the y coordinate of a plurality of pixels forming the local area, and calculates the average value as the x coordinate and the y coordinate of the center of the ellipse fitted to the local area. And Further, the fitting unit 466 obtains a covariance matrix for the x and y coordinates of the pixel in the local region using the x and y coordinates of a plurality of pixels forming the local region. Then, the fitting unit 466 obtains two eigenvalues for the obtained covariance matrix. The fitting unit 466 obtains the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the ellipse to be fitted to the local region from the two eigenvalues. As a result, the position and shape of the ellipse to be fitted to the local region are determined, and the ellipse is fitted to the local region. If the two eigenvalues determined by the fitting unit 466 are the same value, the ellipse fitted to the local region is a perfect circle.

[Judgment unit]
The determination unit 467 uses the position information and the shape information of the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 as feature amounts, and compares the feature amount with the standard feature amount 567A. Specifically, the determination unit 467 sets the center position of the ellipse, the length of the long axis and the length of the short axis obtained by the fitting unit 466 as the feature amount, and compares the feature amount with the standard feature amount 467A. . Then, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B is a regular one based on the comparison result.

  The standard feature amount 467A includes standard ellipse information. To generate the standard feature amount 467A, a captured image 462B in which a regular medal 410 is captured is used. Hereinafter, a method of generating the standard feature amount 467A will be described.

  When the gaming machine (pachislot 400) is not actually operating, a regular medal 410 is inserted into the gaming machine in order to obtain the standard feature amount 467A. The imaging unit 461 and the conversion unit 463 of the camera unit 409 of the gaming machine according to the present embodiment generate a captured image 462B in which the inserted regular medal 410 is captured. Then, the extracting unit 464 extracts the medal region 473 from the captured image 462B in the same manner as described above, and the specifying unit 465 specifies a local region in the medal region 473. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 49 described above, two local areas 473a and 473b are specified in the medal area 473 where the regular medal 410 is reflected. The fitting unit 466 fits a plurality of ellipses to the plurality of local regions 473a and 473b specified by the specifying unit 465. In this way, the ellipse obtained from the captured image 462B in which the regular medal 410 appears is called a “standard ellipse”. In the present embodiment, the ellipse information on the standard ellipse is the standard ellipse information. The standard ellipse information includes position information and shape information of the standard ellipse. Specifically, the standard ellipse information includes the center position of the standard ellipse, the length of the major axis, and the length of the minor axis. In the present embodiment, since a plurality of standard ellipses are obtained from the captured image 462B including the captured image of the regular medal 410, the standard feature amount 467A includes a plurality of standard ellipse information respectively corresponding to the plurality of standard ellipses. Is included. The standard feature amount 467A generated when the gaming machine is not actually operating can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment).

  Note that the acquisition of the standard feature amount 467A by the gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the standard feature value 467A may be acquired in advance by a gaming machine or another device and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  Thereafter, in order to distinguish the ellipse obtained by the fitting unit 466 (the ellipse obtained from the captured image 462B in which the medal 410 to be subjected to the determination process is captured) when the gaming machine is actually operating, from the standard ellipse It may be called "object ellipse".

  Here, when the feature amount including the ellipse information regarding the target ellipse and the standard feature amount 467A are similar, it can be considered that the feature of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B and the feature of the regular medal 410 are similar. . Therefore, in this case, it can be determined that the medal 410 related to the captured image 462B is a regular one.

  On the other hand, when the feature amount including the ellipse information regarding the target ellipse and the standard feature amount 467A are not similar, it may be considered that the feature of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not similar to the feature of the regular medal 410. Since it is possible, in this case, it seems that there is no problem even if it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not a regular one. However, when the feature amount composed of the ellipse information relating to the target ellipse and the standard feature amount 467A are not similar, if it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not a regular one based on only this condition, the captured image The legitimate medal 410 shown in 462B may be erroneously determined to be not legitimate. Hereinafter, this point will be described.

  In the present embodiment, the imaging unit 461 captures an image of the rotating medal 410 and generates a captured image 462A in which the medal 410 is reflected. Therefore, the rotation angle of the medal 410 (the rotation angle of the pattern attached to the medal 410) shown in the captured image 462B generated by the conversion unit 463 is not always the same. Therefore, the ellipse information on the target ellipse obtained from the captured image 462B in which the regular medal 410 is reflected is not always the same. Thus, even if the regular medal 410 appears in the captured image 462B, the feature amount including the ellipse information on the target ellipse obtained from the captured image 462B may not be similar to the standard feature amount 467A. Therefore, when the feature amount including the ellipse information related to the target ellipse and the standard feature amount 467A are not similar, when it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not a regular one, the regular medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is determined. There is a possibility that the medal 410 is incorrectly determined to be incorrect.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 467 determines a plurality of rotation ellipses obtained by rotating the target ellipse fitted to the local region included in the medal region 473 around the center of the medal region 473. Get the spheroid information of. Then, the determining unit 467 sets the obtained plurality of pieces of spheroid information as a feature amount, and compares the feature amount with the standard feature amount. When a plurality of local areas are specified in the medal area 473, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information are generated for each of the plurality of local areas, and each piece of spheroid information is used as a feature amount.

  Here, the plurality of spheroids include a target ellipse whose rotation angle is 0 °. That is, the plurality of spheroids include the ellipse itself fitted to the local region. Therefore, the plurality of pieces of spheroid information include ellipse information about the target ellipse. It can be said that a target ellipse with a rotation angle of 0 ° is a target ellipse with a rotation angle of 360 °.

  FIG. 50 is a diagram illustrating a part of a plurality of spheroids 483 obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482 around the center 473c of the medal region 473. FIG. 50 shows three spheroids 483 including the target ellipse 482 (in this example, the target ellipse 482 is also shown as one of the spheroids 483). FIG. 50 shows the center 482c of the target ellipse 482 and the center 483c of each spheroid 483.

  As described above, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information on a plurality of spheroids including the target ellipse obtained by rotating the target ellipse around the center 473c of the medal region 473 are used as feature amounts, and thus, a medal to be rotated. Even when the image 410 is captured, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a regular one. Hereinafter, the operation of the determination unit 467 will be described in detail. Hereinafter, the feature amount used by the determination unit 467 when the gaming machine is actually operating may be referred to as a “target feature amount” to distinguish it from the standard feature amount.

  FIG. 51 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the determination unit 467. When the fitting unit 466 fits an ellipse to a local region included in the medal region 473, as shown in FIG. 51, in step S21, the determination unit 467 acquires spheroid information. The rotation ellipse information acquired here is ellipse information relating to the target ellipse whose rotation angle is 0 °, that is, ellipse information of the ellipse itself acquired by the fitting unit 466. When a plurality of target ellipses are obtained in the fitting unit 466, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information corresponding to the plurality of target ellipses are obtained. In step S21, at least one piece of spheroid information is obtained. In this example, since two ellipses are obtained from the captured image 462B in which the regular medal 410 is reflected, two pieces of spheroid information are obtained in step S21.

  Next, in step S22, the determination unit 467 sets the at least one piece of spheroid information acquired in step S21 as a target feature amount, and obtains an evaluation value indicating the degree of similarity between the target feature amount and the standard feature amount. Specifically, the determination unit 467 determines whether or not standard ellipse information similar to at least one piece of spheroid information constituting the target characteristic amount is included in the standard characteristic amount. Then, the determination unit 467 obtains an evaluation value according to the number of pieces of spheroid information determined to include similar information in the standard feature amount. Specifically, the determination unit 467 obtains the evaluation value α using the following equation 1.

α = N1 / N2 (Equation 1)
Here, N1 indicates the number of pieces of spheroid information included in the target feature, for which similar information is determined to be included in the standard feature. N2 indicates the total number of standard ellipse information included in the standard feature amount. In the present embodiment, N2 = 2.

  In the present embodiment, the spheroid information included in the target feature amount includes the center position of the spheroid, the length of the major axis, and the length of the minor axis. For example, the determination unit 467 determines that the distance between the center position of the spheroid included in the spheroid information and the center position of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and And the absolute value of the difference between the length of the major axis of the standard ellipse and the absolute value of the difference between the minor axis of the spheroid and the minor axis of the standard ellipse is equal to or less than a predetermined value. If the value is equal to or less than the value, it is determined that the spheroid information is similar to the standard ellipse information. When the spheroid information and the standard ellipse information are similar, as shown in FIG. 52, the spheroid 483 corresponding to the spheroid information and the standard ellipse 484 corresponding to the standard ellipse information are positioned and shaped. Is similar.

  When determining the evaluation value α using Expression 1, in step S23, the determination unit 467 calculates the spheroid in the latest step S21 (the spheroid corresponding to the spheroid information acquired in step S21) by (360 ° − β) It is determined whether or not the target ellipse is rotated. If the determination unit 467 determines that the spheroid in step S21 is not the target ellipse rotated by (360 ° −β), the determination unit 467 executes step S21 again to acquire spheroid information. Here, the determination unit 467 determines the rotation related to the spheroid obtained by rotating the spheroid corresponding to the spheroid information acquired in the previous step S21 around the center 473c of the medal region 473 by a predetermined angle β. Get ellipse information. If the spheroid in the previous step S21 is, for example, a target ellipse rotated by β, in this step S21, the target ellipse is obtained by being rotated by 2β around the center 473c of the medal region 473. The spheroid information on the spheroid to be obtained is obtained. β is, for example, 1 ° or 2 °.

  When a plurality of pieces of spheroid information have been acquired in the previous step S21, the determining unit 467 determines that a plurality of spheroids corresponding to the plurality of pieces of spheroid information are placed around the center 473c of the medal region 473. A plurality of pieces of spheroid information about a plurality of spheroids obtained by being rotated by a predetermined angle β are acquired.

  When at least one piece of spheroid information is obtained in step S22, the determination unit 467 executes step S23 again to determine the degree of similarity between the target feature amount and the standard feature amount, which are made up of the at least one piece of spheroid information. The evaluation value α shown is obtained using Expression 1. Thereafter, step S23 is executed again.

  When the determining unit 467 determines in step S23 that the spheroid in the latest step S21 is the target ellipse rotated by (360 ° −β), the determining unit 467 executes step S24. In step S24, the determination unit 467 determines whether the maximum value among the plurality of obtained evaluation values α is equal to or larger than a threshold. When the maximum value is equal to or larger than the threshold value, that is, when the target feature amount and the standard feature amount used when obtaining the maximum value are similar to each other, the determination unit 467 appears in the captured image 462B. It is determined that the medal 410 is authentic. On the other hand, when the maximum value is less than the threshold value, that is, when all of the plurality of target feature amounts respectively used for obtaining the plurality of evaluation values α are not similar to the standard feature amount, the determination unit 467 determines In this case, it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not a regular one. The threshold used in step S24 is set to, for example, “1”.

  In the above example, the determination unit 467 determines that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a legitimate one when the maximum value of the plurality of obtained evaluation values α is equal to or larger than the threshold value. However, when the evaluation value α equal to or greater than the threshold value is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B may be determined to be regular. If the evaluation value α equal to or larger than the threshold value does not exist equal to or larger than the predetermined number, it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not a regular one.

  Further, the evaluation value α = N1 may be set. In this case, the threshold used in step S24 is set to, for example, “2”.

<How to obtain spheroid information>
As a method of acquiring the spheroid information in step S21, for example, two methods can be considered. In the first method, the determination unit 467 actually rotates the target ellipse 482 around the center 473c of the medal region 473 by a predetermined angle in the medal region 473 as shown in FIG. 483 is generated. Then, the determination unit 467 obtains the position of the center 483c, the length of the long axis, and the length of the short axis of the generated spheroid 483, and sets them as spheroid information about the spheroid 483. The determining unit 467 generates a plurality of pieces of spheroid information by changing a predetermined angle.

  In the second method, the determination unit 467 acquires spheroid information without actually rotating the target ellipse. Specifically, the determination unit 467 obtains spheroid information of a spheroid obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482 around the center 473c of the medal region 473 by a predetermined angle (β, 2β, 3β, etc.). In this case, as shown in FIG. 53, the virtual point P, which is included in the ellipse information about the target ellipse 482 and exists at the position of the center 482c of the target ellipse 482, is moved around the center 473c of the medal region 473 by the predetermined distance. Rotate by an angle. Then, the determination unit 467 sets the position of the virtual point P 'after rotation as the position of the center of the spheroid included in the spheroid information. The determination unit 467 obtains the positions of the centers of a plurality of spheroids obtained by rotating the target ellipse around the center 473c of the medal region 473 by changing the predetermined angle.

  In the second method, the determining unit 467 may rotate the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the target ellipse included in the ellipse information about the target ellipse around the center 473c of the medal region 473. Are the lengths of the major axis and minor axis of each of the plurality of spheroids obtained by

  As described above, in the second method, the virtual point P existing at the position indicated by the position information of the target ellipse 482 is rotated around the center 473c of the medal region 473. Then, the plurality of positions of the virtual point P 'after rotation obtained thereby are respectively set as the positions of the plurality of spheroids, so that the position information of the plurality of spheroids is obtained. Further, by setting the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the target ellipse as the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the plurality of spheroids, the shape information of the plurality of spheroids is obtained. Therefore, as compared with the first method of acquiring a plurality of pieces of spheroid information by actually rotating the target ellipse, the second method can easily acquire a plurality of pieces of spheroid information.

  In the above example, the length of the major axis and the length of the minor axis of the ellipse are used as the shape information of the ellipse included in the ellipse information serving as the feature amount. May be employed.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the ellipse information on the ellipse fitted to the characteristic local region in the medal region 473 is the feature amount indicating the feature of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B. Therefore, the feature amount is easily acquired from the partial image within the ellipse in the medal region 473 as compared with the case where the feature amount such as SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transformation) and SURF (Speeded Up Robust Features) is acquired. be able to. Therefore, it is possible to easily determine whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a regular one.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of pieces of spheroid information on a plurality of spheroids including the target ellipse obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482 around the center 473c of the medal region 473 are used as the feature amounts. Therefore, even when the rotating medal 410 is imaged, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is regular.

<Modification of Third Embodiment>
Hereinafter, various modifications of the present embodiment will be described.

[Modification 1]
When only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medal 410 and the non-regular medal 410, it cannot be correctly determined whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is regular. there is a possibility. Hereinafter, this point will be described.

  FIG. 54 is a diagram illustrating an example of a standard ellipse 482A set for a local region 491A specified in a medal region 473A obtained from a captured image 462B in which a regular medal 410 is reflected. FIG. 55 is a diagram illustrating an example of a target ellipse 482B set for a local region 491B specified in a medal region 473B obtained from a captured image 462B in which an unauthorized medal 410 appears.

  In the examples of FIGS. 54 and 55, only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medal 410 and the non-regular medal 410. Specifically, the regular medal 410 has a large alphabet “A” pattern, and the non-regular medal 410 has a large alphabet “S” pattern.

  As shown in FIG. 54, one standard ellipse 482A is obtained from a captured image 462B in which a correct medal 410 with only one large continuous pattern is shown. Further, as shown in FIG. 55, one target ellipse 482B is obtained from a captured image 462B on which an irregular medal 410 is displayed with only one large continuous pattern.

  As shown in FIG. 54, when only one large continuous pattern is attached to the regular medal 410, the center position of the standard ellipse 482A is closer to the center position of the medal region 473A. The shape of the standard ellipse 482A is close to a perfect circle. Further, as shown in FIG. 55, regarding the target ellipse 482B obtained from the captured image 462B in which the irregular medal 410 having only one large continuous pattern is displayed, the center position is the center of the medal region 473A. It becomes closer to the position and its shape becomes closer to a perfect circle. Therefore, a plurality of spheroids related to a plurality of spheroids including the target ellipse 482B obtained by rotating the target ellipse 482B obtained from the captured image 462B in which the unauthorized medal 410 is reflected, around the center of the medal region 473B. The information is more likely to include information similar to the standard ellipse information about the standard ellipse 482A. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the determination unit 467 cannot correctly determine whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a regular one.

  Thus, in the present modification, even if only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medal 410 and the non-regular medal 410, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 is reduced. It is possible to improve.

  The fitting unit 466 according to the present modification divides the local region included in the medal region 473 into a plurality of independent divided regions by dividing the medal region 473 concentrically. Then, the fitting unit 466 fits a plurality of ellipses to the obtained plurality of divided regions. When a plurality of local regions are specified in the medal region 473, each of the plurality of local regions is divided into a plurality of divided regions, and an ellipse is fitted to each divided region.

  FIG. 56 is a diagram illustrating a state where the medal region 473 is concentrically divided by the fitting unit 466. In the medal region 473 shown in FIG. 56, only the outer shape of the medal 410 is shown for convenience of explanation.

  In the example shown in FIG. 56, the medal region 473 is concentrically divided by two circles 492a and 492b that form concentric circles 492 and have different radii. As a result, the medal area 473 is divided into three partial areas 493a to 493c. The partial area 493a is an area inside the circle 492a in the medal area 473. The partial region 493b is a region outside the circle 492a and inside the circle 492b in the medal region 473. The partial region 493c is a region outside the circle 492b and inside the circle 492c in the medal region 473.

  Here, assuming that the outer shape of the medal 410 reflected in the medal region 473 is a circle 492c, the radii of the circles 492a, 492b, 492c increase in this order. The ratio of the radii of the circles 492a, 492b, 492c is 1: 2: 3. In the present embodiment, the fitting unit 466 divides the medal region 473 concentrically so that the ratio of the radii of the plurality of circles 492a, 492b, 492c is always 1: 2: 3. That is, in the present embodiment, the fitting unit 466 includes a plurality of circles 492a including the outer shape of the medal 410 reflected in the medal region 473 between the plurality of medal regions 473 extracted from the plurality of captured images 462B by the extraction unit 464, respectively. Each of the plurality of medal regions 473 is concentrically divided such that the ratio of the radius of 492b and 492c is constant (1: 2: 3). The ratio of the radii of the circles 492a, 492b, 492c may be other than 1: 2: 3. When the medal region 473 is extracted by the above-described first or second extraction method, the outer shape of the medal region 473 becomes the outer shape of the medal 410 reflected in the medal region 473.

  FIG. 57 is a diagram showing how the medal region 473A shown in FIG. 54 is concentrically divided. FIG. 58 is a diagram showing how the medal region 473B shown in FIG. 55 is concentrically divided. As shown in FIG. 57, by dividing the medal region 473A concentrically, the local region 491A included in the medal region 473A is divided into a plurality of independent divided regions 491A1, 491A2, 491A3, and 491A4. . As shown in FIG. 58, by dividing the medal region 473B concentrically, the local region 491B included in the medal region 473B is divided into a plurality of divided regions 491B1, 491B2, and 491B3 that are independent from each other. .

  In FIG. 57, for the sake of simplicity, it is easy to understand how the local region 491A is divided into a plurality of divided regions 491A1, 491A2, 491A3, and 491A4. It is shown. Similarly, in FIG. 58, for the sake of simplicity, it is easy to understand how the local region 491B is divided into the plurality of divided regions 491B1, 491B2, and 491B3. I have.

  When the local area included in the medal area 473 is divided into a plurality of divided areas, the fitting unit 466 fits a plurality of ellipses to the plurality of divided areas. FIG. 59 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a plurality of ellipses 494A1, 494A2, 494A3, and 494A4 are fitted to the plurality of divided regions 491A1, 491A2, 491A3, and 491A4 shown in FIG. FIG. 60 is a diagram showing a state where a plurality of ellipses 494B1, 494B2, and 494B3 are fitted to the plurality of divided regions 491B1, 491B2, and 491B3 shown in FIG. Each of the plurality of ellipses 494A1, 494A2, 494A3, 494A4 is a standard ellipse.

  As shown in FIGS. 59 and 60, an ellipse group composed of a plurality of ellipses 494A1 to 494A4 obtained from a medal area 473A in which a regular medal 410 appears, and a plurality of ellipses obtained from a medal area 473B in which an irregular medal 410 appears. The ellipse group composed of the ellipses 494B1 to 494B3 is significantly different in the number, position, and shape of the ellipses. Therefore, from the medal region 473 extracted from the captured image 462B, the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 462B is determined by using a plurality of pieces of ellipse information regarding the plurality of target ellipses obtained as described in the present modification as the feature amount. It can be more accurately determined whether or not it is a regular one.

  When a plurality of local areas are specified in the medal area 473, each of the plurality of local areas is divided into a plurality of divided areas. Therefore, a plurality of ellipses are obtained for each of the plurality of local regions. In this modification, a plurality of ellipses are obtained by the fitting unit 466 regardless of the number of local regions specified in the medal region 473.

  The determination unit 467 according to this modification determines whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a regular one in the same manner as described above. Hereinafter, the operation of the determination unit 467 according to the present modification will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 51 again.

  When a plurality of target ellipses are obtained in the fitting unit 466, as shown in FIG. 51, in step S21, the determination unit 467 acquires a plurality of pieces of rotational ellipse information respectively corresponding to the plurality of target ellipses. The plurality of pieces of spheroid information acquired here are a plurality of pieces of ellipse information relating to a plurality of subject ellipses having a rotation angle of 0 °, that is, a plurality of pieces of elliptic information relating to the subject ellipses themselves acquired by the fitting unit 466. As shown in FIG. 59, four ellipses are obtained from the medal area 473 (the medal area 473A shown in FIG. 59) where the regular medal 410 is reflected. In this case, four rotations are performed in step S21. Ellipse information is obtained.

  Next, in step S22, the determination unit 467 sets the plurality of pieces of spheroid information acquired in step S21 as the target feature amount, and calculates the evaluation value α indicating the degree of similarity between the target feature amount and the standard feature amount using the above equation (1). Ask using. In this modified example, N2 in Expression 1 is “4”.

  When determining the evaluation value α using Expression 1, in step S23, the determination unit 467 determines whether the plurality of spheroids in the latest step S21 are the plurality of target ellipses rotated by (360 ° −β), respectively. Is determined. If the determination in step S23 is No, the determination unit 467 executes step S21 again to acquire a plurality of pieces of spheroid information. Here, the determination unit 467 is obtained by rotating a plurality of spheroids corresponding to the plurality of spheroid information acquired in the previous step S21 by a predetermined angle β around the center 473c of the medal region 473. Obtain a plurality of pieces of spheroid information about a plurality of spheroids. If the plurality of spheroids in the previous step S21 are, for example, a plurality of target ellipses rotated by β, in the present step S21, the plurality of target ellipses are shifted by 2β around the center 473c of the medal region 473. A plurality of pieces of spheroid information on a plurality of spheroids obtained by being rotated are acquired.

  When a plurality of pieces of spheroid information are obtained in step S22, the determination unit 467 executes step S23 again to evaluate the degree of similarity between the target feature amount and the standard feature amount including the plurality of pieces of spheroid information. The value α is obtained using Expression 1. Thereafter, step S23 is executed again.

  If the determination in step S23 is Yes, the determination unit 467 determines in step S24 whether the maximum value among the plurality of obtained evaluation values is equal to or greater than a threshold. When the maximum value is equal to or larger than the threshold value, that is, when the target feature amount and the standard feature amount used when obtaining the maximum value are similar to each other, the determination unit 467 appears in the captured image 462B. It is determined that the medal 410 is authentic. On the other hand, when the maximum value is less than the threshold value, that is, when all of the plurality of target feature amounts respectively used for obtaining the plurality of evaluation values α are not similar to the standard feature amount, the determination unit 467 determines In this case, it is determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is not correct. In the present modified example, the threshold used in step S24 is set to, for example, “0.75” or “1”.

  As described above, in this modification, the medal area 473 is concentrically divided, so that the local area included in the medal area 473 is divided into a plurality of divided areas, and a plurality of divided areas are assigned to the plurality of divided areas. Each ellipse is fitted. Then, a plurality of pieces of ellipse information regarding the plurality of ellipses are used as the feature amount. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 54 and 55 described above, even if only one large continuous pattern is attached to each of the regular medal 410 and the non-regular medal 410, It is possible to suppress similarity between the feature amount obtained from the captured image 462B in which the other medals 410 are reflected and the standard feature amount. Therefore, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 can be improved.

  When the imaging unit 461 captures the medal 410, if the distance between the medal 410 and the CMOS image sensor (corresponding to the CMOS image sensor 232 of the camera unit 209 of the first embodiment) varies, the captured image The medal 410 appears large or small at 462B, and the size of the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 462B varies. As a result, the size of the local area in the medal area 473 where the regular medal 410 is reflected varies. In such a case, if the radius of the circles 492a and 492b (see FIG. 56) set in the medal area 473 is constant regardless of the size of the outer shape of the medal 410 reflected in the medal area 473, the medal area 473 is obtained. According to the size of the outer shape of the regular medal 410 shown in FIG. 4 (depending on the size of the local region in the medal region 473 where the regular medal 410 is shown), the manner of dividing the local region included in the medal region 473 varies. Therefore, the positions and shapes of the plurality of ellipses obtained from the medal region 473 where the regular medal 410 is reflected vary, and as a result, the feature amounts acquired from the medal region 473 where the regular medal 410 is reflected vary, and the captured image 462B In some cases, the authenticity of the reflected medal 410 cannot be correctly determined.

  On the other hand, in the present modification, a plurality of circles 492a and 492b including the outer shape of the medal 410 indicated by the medal region 473 are set between the plurality of medal regions 473 extracted from the plurality of captured images 462B by the extraction unit 464. , 492c are divided concentrically so that the ratio of the radii of the plurality of medals is constant. Therefore, even if the size of the outer shape of the medal 410 included in the captured image 462B varies (even if the size of the local region in the medal region 473 where the medal 410 appears), the medal 410 appears. Variations in the division manner of the local area included in the medal area 473 can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the positions and shapes of the plurality of ellipses obtained from the medal region 473 where the medal 410 is reflected from varying. As a result, variation in the feature amount acquired from the medal region 473 where the medal 410 is reflected is suppressed, and the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 462B is further improved.

[Modification 2]
This modified example is different from the above-described modified example 1 in the method of obtaining the evaluation value α. That is, in the present modification, the operation in step S22 described above is different from that of the first modification. When determining the evaluation value α, the determination unit 467 in this modification determines that similar standard ellipse information is included in the standard feature amount (the position of the spheroid corresponding to the spheroid information included in the target feature amount). Is weighted according to. Hereinafter, this modified example will be described in detail.

  In the present modified example, the determination unit 467 determines, in the above-described step S22, standard elliptical information similar to the rotational ellipse information for each of a plurality of pieces of rotational ellipse information configuring the target feature amount, as in Modification 1. It is determined whether or not it is included in the standard feature amount. Then, the determination unit 467 gives a partial evaluation value to the rotation ellipse information (hereinafter, may be referred to as “similar rotation ellipse information”) for which it is determined that similar standard ellipse information is included in the standard feature amount. Here, the determination unit 467 weights the partial evaluation value given to the similar spheroid information according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information.

  How to weight the partial evaluation value specifically according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is determined according to the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern in the regular medal 410. As shown in FIG. 54 described above, the pattern is applied to one main surface 410a such that the center of the pattern of the alphabet “A” is located near the center of one main surface 410a of regular medal 410. If there is, the characteristic portion of the pattern is located near the center of the one main surface 410a. In such a case, the determination unit 467 increases the partial evaluation value given to the similar spheroid information as the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is closer to the center 473c of the medal region 473. For example, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is present in the innermost partial region 493a of the medal region 473 (see FIG. 56), the determination unit 467 includes the partial spheroid information in the similar spheroid information. An evaluation value “1.5” is assigned. In addition, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the partial area 493b of the medal area 473, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “1” to the similar spheroid information. . Then, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the outermost partial region 493c of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 includes the partial evaluation value “0. 5 ".

  When giving the partial evaluation value to each similar spheroid information included in the target feature amount, the determination unit 467 obtains the sum N11 of the given partial evaluation values. Then, the determination unit 467 obtains the evaluation value α using the following Expression 2.

α = N11 / N12 (Equation 2)
Here, N12 indicates the sum of partial evaluation values when partial evaluation values are given to each of a plurality of pieces of standard ellipse information constituting the standard feature amount in the same manner as described above. For example, in the example of FIG. 59, N12 = 1.5 + 3 × 1 = 4.5.

  When the characteristic portion of the pattern attached to one main surface 410a is located at the peripheral edge of one main surface 410a of regular medal 410, determination unit 467 corresponds to the similar spheroid information. As the position of the spheroid is farther from the center 473c of the medal region 473, the partial evaluation value given to the similar spheroid information may be increased. For example, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the outermost partial region 493c of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 includes the partial evaluation value “1. 5 ". In addition, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the partial area 493b of the medal area 473, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “1” to the similar spheroid information. . Then, when the center position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists in the innermost partial region 493a of the medal region 473, the determination unit 467 includes the partial evaluation value “0. 5 ". The weighting method of the partial evaluation value is not limited to this.

  As described above, when the determination unit 467 obtains the evaluation value α, by performing weighting according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is determined. Is further improved. For example, as described above, when weighting is performed based on the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern in the regular medal 410 according to the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information, in the medal region 473, The evaluation value α can be increased when the spheroid information on the spheroid present at the position corresponding to the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern in the regular medal 410 is similar to the standard ellipse information. That is, when the local region of the medal region 473 includes a portion similar to the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410, the evaluation value α can be increased. If the local region of the medal region 473 includes a portion similar to the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410, the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is likely to be a legitimate one. Therefore, in this case, by increasing the evaluation value α, it is possible to more accurately determine that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is correct. Therefore, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is further improved.

  When determining the evaluation value α, the determination unit 467 may perform weighting according to the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information. For example, as shown in FIG. 59, among a plurality of standard ellipses 494A1 to 494A4 set in the local area 491A of the medal area 473A where the regular medal 410 is reflected, the position of the characteristic part of the pattern in the regular medal 410 When the standard ellipse 494A1 existing at the position corresponding to is larger than the other standard ellipses 494A2 to 494A4, the determining unit 467 gives the similar spheroid information to a larger spheroid as the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is larger. Increase the partial evaluation value. As an example, if the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is larger than the reference size, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “1.5” to the similar spheroid information. If the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is equal to or smaller than the reference size, the determination unit 467 assigns a partial evaluation value “0.5” to the similar spheroid information.

  Whether or not the size of the spheroid is larger than the reference size can be determined based on the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the spheroid. For example, if the value obtained by multiplying the length of the major axis and the minor axis of the spheroid is larger than the reference value, it is determined that the size of the spheroid is larger than the reference size. On the other hand, if the value obtained by multiplying the length of the major axis and the minor axis of the spheroid is equal to or smaller than the reference value, it is determined that the size of the spheroid is equal to or smaller than the reference size.

  As described above, even when the determination unit 467 calculates the evaluation value α by performing weighting according to the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information, the authenticity of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is determined. Accuracy is further improved. For example, as described above, of the plurality of standard ellipses obtained from the medal region 473 where the regular medal 410 is reflected, the standard ellipse existing at a position corresponding to the position of the characteristic portion of the pattern in the regular medal 410 is described. When performing weighting according to the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information based on the size, the local region of the medal region 473 is similar to the characteristic portion of the pattern of the regular medal 410. When a portion is included, the evaluation value α can be increased. Therefore, it can be more accurately determined that the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is a regular one. Therefore, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is further improved.

  Further, how to weight the partial evaluation value specifically may be determined by learning. In other words, the results of the elliptical fitting (the elliptical fitting results for the regular medal 410) with respect to the plurality of divided regions forming the local region of the medal region 473 where the regular medal 410 appears, and the medal region 473 where the irregular medal 410 appears. The weighting method may be determined based on the results of the elliptical fitting for the plurality of divided regions constituting the local region (the results of the elliptical fitting for the irregular medal 410).

  For example, in the elliptical fitting result of the non-regular medal 410, an ellipse located at the peripheral end of the medal region 473 is obtained, but in the elliptical fitting result of the regular medal 410, the elliptical position is located at the peripheral end of the medal region 473. Consider a case where an ellipse is not obtained. In this case, when the position of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information exists at the peripheral end of the medal area 473, the determination unit 467 compares the position of the spheroid with that of the other parts. Reduce the partial evaluation value given to the spheroid information.

  Further, for example, consider a case where a large ellipse is obtained in the ellipse fitting result of the non-regular medal 410, but a large ellipse is not obtained in the elliptic fitting result of the regular medal 410. In this case, when the size of the spheroid corresponding to the similar spheroid information is larger than the reference size, the determination unit 467 compares the size of the spheroid with the similar spheroid information with a value equal to or smaller than the reference size. Decrease the evaluation value.

  In this way, by determining the weighting method by learning, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462B is further improved.

[Modification 3]
In the above example, the ellipse information (spheroid information) used by the determination unit 467 includes the position information and the shape information of the ellipse (spheroid), but either one of the position information and the shape information of the ellipse May be included. Also, the ellipse information may include elliptical inclination information. That is, the ellipse information used by the determination unit 467 may include at least one of position information, shape information, and inclination information of the ellipse.

  The fitting unit 466 can generate inclination information of an ellipse to be fitted to the local area based on the positions of a plurality of pixels forming the local area included in the medal area 473. Specifically, the fitting unit 466 obtains a covariance matrix for the x coordinate and the y coordinate of the pixel in the local region using the x coordinate and the y coordinate of a plurality of pixels forming the local region. . Then, the fitting unit 466 obtains two eigenvectors for the obtained covariance matrix. One of the two eigenvectors indicates the direction in which the major axis of the ellipse extends, and the other of the two eigenvectors indicates the direction in which the minor axis of the ellipse extends. Therefore, it can be said that each of the two eigenvectors indicates the inclination of the ellipse. The fitting unit 466 sets one of the two eigenvectors of the covariance matrix as the inclination information of the ellipse to be fitted to the local region.

  When only the center position of the spheroid is included in the spheroid information, the determination unit 467 determines in step S22 described above the center position of the spheroid included in the spheroid information and the standard position included in the standard ellipse information. When the distance from the center position of the ellipse is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that the rotation ellipse information is similar to the standard ellipse information.

  When the spheroid information includes only the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis of the spheroid, the determination unit 467 determines in step S22 that the major axis of the spheroid included in the spheroid information. And the absolute value of the difference between the length of the major axis of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the length of the minor axis of the spheroid and the minor axis of the standard ellipse If the absolute value of the difference is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that the rotation ellipse information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

  If the spheroid information includes only the center position of the spheroid and the eigenvector, the determination unit 467 determines in step S22 that the center position of the spheroid included in the spheroid information and the center position of the spheroid included in the standard ellipse information. If the distance from the center position of the standard ellipse is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and the angle between the eigenvector included in the rotation ellipse information and the eigenvector included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the rotation It is determined that the ellipse information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

  When the spheroid information includes only the length of the major axis, the minor axis, and the eigenvector of the spheroid, the determination unit 467 determines the spheroid included in the spheroid information in step S22 described above. The absolute value of the difference between the length of the long axis and the length of the long axis of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the length of the short axis of the spheroid and the short axis of the standard ellipse When the absolute value of the difference from the length is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the angle formed between the eigenvector included in the spheroid information and the eigenvector included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the spheroid information Is determined to be similar to the standard ellipse information.

  If the spheroid information includes the center position of the spheroid, the length of the major axis, the length of the minor axis, and the eigenvector, the determination unit 467 includes the spheroid information in the above-described step S22. The distance between the center position of the spheroid and the center position of the standard ellipse included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the length of the major axis of the spheroid and the major axis of the standard ellipse The absolute value of the difference is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and the absolute value of the difference between the length of the minor axis of the spheroid and the length of the minor axis of the standard ellipse is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and is included in the spheroid information. If the angle formed by the eigenvector and the eigenvector included in the standard ellipse information is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that the rotational ellipse information and the standard ellipse information are similar.

<< 4th Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachislot which is a gaming machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the pachislot 500, which is a gaming machine according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, has the function flow, the pachislot structure, the medal selector configuration, the pachislot circuit configuration, and the medal selector circuit configuration described in the first embodiment. Is the same as the pachislot 1 which is the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. In the following, a description will be given of a regular medal determination process performed by the pachislot 500 which is a gaming machine according to the fourth embodiment.

  As described above, the pachislot 500, which is the gaming machine according to the fourth embodiment, includes the control LSI 534 (corresponding to the control LSI 234 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), similarly to the gaming machine according to the first embodiment. A camera unit 509 (corresponding to the camera unit 209 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided, and further, a medal selector 501 including the camera unit 509 (corresponding to the medal selector 201 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is provided. . FIG. 61 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 509.

  As shown in FIG. 61, the camera unit 509 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging unit 561, a conversion unit 563, an extraction unit 564, a region division unit 565, a feature amount acquisition unit 566, a determination unit 567, and an input / output unit 568. It has. Note that the camera unit 509 includes a light emitting unit including an LED or the like, but is not illustrated in FIG.

  The imaging unit 561 includes a CMOS image sensor 532 (corresponding to, for example, the CMOS image sensor 232 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment), and outputs image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 532 (if necessary, to a predetermined value). After the conversion, the image is output as a captured image 562A.

  The conversion unit 563 (for example, corresponding to the ISP circuit 245 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) converts the captured image 562A input from the imaging unit 561 from a color image to a grayscale image, and converts the converted captured image. The image is output as a captured image 562B.

  The extracting unit 564 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) extracts a medal region (object region) 573 where the medal 510 is captured from the captured image 562B.

  The region dividing unit 565 (for example, corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) performs region division on the medal region 573 extracted by the extracting unit 564. Here, the region division is a process of dividing the medal region 573 into a plurality of divided regions each having a uniform luminance. In other words, the region division is a process of dividing the medal region 573 into a plurality of divided regions each having a uniform feature.

  The feature amount acquiring unit 566 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) is included in the captured image 562B based on the plurality of divided regions generated by the region dividing unit 565. The feature amount indicating the feature of the image of the medal 510 is obtained.

  The determination unit 567 (e.g., corresponding to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment) determines that the medal 510 in the captured image 562 </ b> B is normal based on the feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquisition unit 566. And outputs the determination result 569 via the input / output unit 568 (for example, the GPIO 250 of the gaming machine according to the first embodiment). In other words, the determining unit 567 determines whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562A is a regular one based on the feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquiring unit 566, and outputs the determination result 569. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 567 compares the characteristic amount obtained from the captured image 562B with a standard characteristic amount (reference characteristic amount) 567A indicating the characteristic of the regular medal 510, and based on the comparison result, It is determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is regular. The standard feature amount 567A can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  FIG. 62 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a captured image 562A obtained by the imaging unit 561. The captured image 562A illustrated in FIG. 62 includes the captured image of the medal 510. In the captured image 562A, a medal rail 511 as a background is captured. Note that the medal rail 511 corresponds to the medal rail 210 of the first embodiment described above, but here, the shape of the rail is simplified.

  On one main surface 510a of the medal 510, for example, a pattern of an alphabet "A" is shown. This indicates the pattern of the regular medal, but may be another pattern. In addition, a pattern may be provided on both main surfaces of the regular medal.

  In the present embodiment, the medal 510 moves on the medal rail 511 while rotating around a rotation axis passing through the center of both main surfaces and along the thickness direction. Then, the imaging unit 561 images the medal 510 from the one main surface 510a side of the medal 510. Therefore, captured image 562A includes an image of one main surface 510a of medal 510. In the present embodiment, the captured image 562A generated by the imaging unit 561 is a color image, but may be a grayscale image.

<Regular medal determination processing flow>
Next, a series of operations of a regular medal determination process performed by the camera unit 509 in the present embodiment will be described.

  First, when the captured image 562A is input from the imaging unit 561, the conversion unit 563 converts the captured image 562A from a color image to a grayscale image, and processes the captured image 562B obtained thereby.

  Next, the extraction unit 564 extracts a medal region 573 in which the medal 510 appears from the captured image 562B to be processed. After that, the region dividing unit 565 performs region division on the medal region 573 extracted by the extracting unit 564. Next, the feature amount obtaining unit 566 obtains a feature amount indicating a feature of the medal 510 in the captured image 562B based on the plurality of divided regions generated by the region dividing unit 565.

  Next, the determining unit 567 determines whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one based on the feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquiring unit 566. Then, the determination unit 567 sends the determination result 569 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the first embodiment) via the input / output unit 568 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the first embodiment). Output. In this manner, when the medal 410 shown in the captured image 462A is not a regular one, the main control circuit forcibly interrupts the game, as in the gaming machine of the first embodiment, and causes the sub-control circuit (first Via the sub-control circuit 101 in the gaming machine according to the embodiment), it is possible to notify that there has been an illegal act. For example, a warning can be issued to the outside by outputting a warning sound from a speaker or displaying warning information on a display which is a liquid crystal display device.

  Thereafter, when a new captured image 562A is input, the determination unit 567 executes the above-described regular medal clan processing with the captured image 562B obtained from the captured image 562A as a new processing target. Thereafter, the determination unit 567 performs the same operation each time the captured image 562A is input.

<Detailed description of each component>
Hereinafter, the operations of the extraction unit 564, the region division unit 565, the feature amount acquisition unit 566, and the determination unit 567 will be described in more detail.

[Extractor]
FIG. 63 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a medal region 573 extracted from the captured image 562B by the extraction unit 564. There are various methods for extracting the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B.

  For example, there is a first extraction method using the fact that the outer shape of the medal 510 is circular. In the first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 562B to generate an edge image. As an edge image generation method, for example, the Sobel method, the Laplacian method, the Canny method, or the like is used. Next, a circular area is extracted from the generated edge image. As a method for extracting a circular area, for example, Hough transform is used. Then, a circular area in the captured image 562B existing at the same position as the position of the circular area in the edge image is defined as a medal area 573.

  As another method, there is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B using the background difference method and labeling. In the second extraction method, first, a background difference image indicating a difference between the captured image 562B and the background image (image in which only the background of the captured image 562B is shown) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. You. Then, labeling such as 4-connection is performed on the binary background difference image. Then, a partial area in the captured image 562B existing at the same position as the position of the connected area (independent area) obtained as a result of the labeling in the binary background difference image is defined as a medal area 573.

  In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 564 extracts the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B by a method different from the above two methods. Hereinafter, the operation of the extraction unit 564 according to the present embodiment will be described. Note that the extraction unit 564 may extract the medal region 573 from the captured image 562B using one of the above two methods.

  First, the extraction unit 564 generates a background difference image indicating a difference between the captured image 562B and the background image 575 (an image showing only the background of the captured image 562B), and binarizes the generated background difference image. FIG. 64 is a diagram schematically illustrating the background image 575, and FIG. 65 is a diagram schematically illustrating the binary background difference image 576. Note that, in the binary image schematically shown in FIG. 65 and the later-described drawings of the present embodiment, the area (high-luminance area) where the pixel value is “1” is shown in black, and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low-luminance area) is shown in white. The background image 575 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Next, the extraction unit 564 performs template matching on the binary background difference image 576 using a binary outline template 577 indicating the outline of the medal 510. That is, the extraction unit 564 specifies where in the background difference image 576 an area similar to the outline template 577 exists. In other words, the extraction unit 564 specifies where in the background difference image 576 an area that matches the outer shape of the medal 510 indicated by the outer shape template 577 exists. FIG. 66 is a diagram schematically illustrating the outer shape template 577. The outer shape template 577 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like. The outer shape of the outer shape template 577 is, for example, a square.

  In the template matching, the extraction unit 564 moves the outline template 577 little by little (for example, one pixel (pixel)) in the raster scan direction on the background difference image 576 as shown in FIG. In other words, the extracting unit 564 causes the outline template 577 to be raster-scanned on the background difference image 576. At this time, at each position of the outline template 577, the extraction unit 564 generates an AND image of the outline template 577 and a partial area of the background difference image 576 that overlaps the outline template 577. Thereby, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. Then, the extraction unit 564 generates the background difference image 576 of the outline template 577 used in generating the AND image having the largest number of pixels (high-brightness pixels) having the pixel value “1” among the generated multiple AND images. Locate the top position. This position is a position in the background difference image 576 where an area similar to the outline template 577 exists.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 68, the extraction unit 564 extracts a partial area 578 in the captured image 562B located at the same position as the specified position as the medal area 573. In other words, when the outline template 577 is arranged in the captured image 562B at the same position as the specified position, the extraction unit 564 extracts the partial region 578 in the captured image 562B that overlaps the outline template 577 as the medal region 573. . At this time, in the partial area 578, a medal area 573 may be obtained by setting the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 577 on the partial area 578 to zero. The medal area 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 is a grayscale image. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the medal region 573 is a square, but may be another shape such as a circle.

[Region division unit]
In the present embodiment, the region division unit 565 performs region division on the medal region 573 using the entropy of the luminance histogram. When the entropy of the luminance histogram in the divided region of the medal region 573 is equal to or larger than the threshold, the region dividing unit 565 repeatedly performs a process of further dividing the divided region into a plurality of divided regions.

  FIG. 69 is a flowchart showing the operation of the area dividing unit 565. As shown in FIG. 69, in step S31, the area division unit 565 determines a threshold value used in the area division. Specifically, the area division unit 565 obtains a luminance histogram for the entire medal area 573. Then, the area dividing unit 565 obtains the entropy of the obtained luminance histogram. Then, the region dividing unit 565 determines a threshold based on the obtained entropy.

  FIG. 70A is a diagram illustrating an example of the luminance histogram 590 in the entire medal region 573. The luminance histogram 590 shows the distribution of the luminance of a plurality of pixels forming the medal region 573. The horizontal axis in FIG. 70A indicates luminance. The vertical axis in FIG. 70A indicates the number of pixels having the luminance shown on the horizontal axis, that is, the frequency, in the medal region 573. In the present embodiment, the luminance of a pixel is represented by, for example, 8 bits, and takes a value from “0” to “255” in decimal notation.

  The area dividing unit 565 obtains the entropy EA of the luminance histogram 590 using Expression 3 shown in FIG. 70B.

Here, PAi in Expression 3 indicates the appearance probability of the luminance “i” in the medal region 573. The appearance probability PAi is expressed by the following Expression 4 using the number KAi of pixels having luminance “i” in the medal region 573 and the total number KAtotal of pixels in the medal region 573.
PAi = KAi / KAtotal (Equation 4)

  For example, if KAtotal = 1000 and the number of pixels KA255 = 10 in the medal area 573 having a luminance of “255”, then PA255 = 10/10000.

  The entropy EA indicates the degree of variation in the distribution of the luminance histogram 590. When the entropy EA is large, it can be said that the distribution of the luminance histogram 590 varies. That is, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the medal region 573 is large. On the other hand, when the entropy EA is small, it can be said that the distribution of the luminance histogram 590 is biased. That is, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the medal region 573 is small.

After obtaining the entropy EA, the area dividing unit 565 obtains a threshold value T used in the area division using Expression 5 below.
T = EA × α (Equation 5)

  Here, α in Expression 5 is an adjustment parameter for adjusting the division mode of the medal region 573, and is 0 <α <1. When α decreases, the threshold value T decreases, so that the medal region 573 is easily divided in the region division. The value of α can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like. In the present embodiment, the value of α is determined in advance by an experiment or the like so that the authenticity of the medal 510 can be appropriately determined.

  After determining the threshold value T in step S31, the region dividing unit 565 initially divides the medal region 573 in step S32. Here, the medal area 573 is divided into four, for example, as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 71, the medal area 573 is equally divided into four square divided areas 580 in a matrix. When initially dividing the medal region 573, the region dividing unit 565 does not use the entropy of the luminance histogram.

  Next, in step S33, the region division unit 565 determines a division region 580 to be processed. In step S33 immediately after step S32, each divided area 580 obtained in step S32 is to be processed.

  Next, in step S34, the region dividing unit 565 obtains the entropy of the luminance histogram for each of the processing target divided regions 580 determined in step S33. Specifically, the area dividing unit 565 first obtains a luminance histogram of the divided area 580 to be processed. The luminance histogram of the divided region 580 indicates, for example, the distribution of luminance of a plurality of pixels constituting the divided region 580 shown in FIG. 72A. Then, the region dividing unit 565 obtains the entropy EB of the luminance histogram of the divided region 580 to be processed using Expression 6 shown in FIG. 72B.

Here, PBi in Expression 6 indicates the appearance probability of the luminance “i” in the divided area 580. The appearance probability PBi is expressed by the following Expression 7 using the number KBi of pixels having luminance “i” in the divided region 580 and the total number KBtotal of pixels in the divided region 580.
PBi = KBi / KBtotal (Equation 7)

  When the entropy EB of the divided area 580 is large, it can be said that the luminance variation in the divided area 580 is large. On the other hand, when the entropy EB of the divided region 580 is small, it can be said that the variation in luminance in the divided region 580 is small.

  When step S34 is executed, the region dividing unit 565 determines in step S35 that the processing target divided region 580 having the entropy EB equal to or larger than the threshold T exists in the processing target divided region 580 determined in step S33. It is determined whether or not. If the region dividing unit 565 determines in step S35 that there is a processing target divided region 580 whose entropy EB is equal to or larger than the threshold T, in step S36, the processing target divided region 580 whose entropy EB is equal to or larger than the threshold T. Is further divided. As described above, when the entropy EB of the divided region 580 is large, it can be said that the luminance variation in the divided region 580 is large. Therefore, the region dividing unit 565 determines the processing target divided region having large luminance variation. It can be said that 580 is further divided. In other words, the area dividing unit 565 further divides the processing target divided area 580 having non-uniform characteristics. In step S <b> 36, similarly to step S <b> 32, the processing target divided region 580 having the entropy EB equal to or larger than the threshold value T is further equally divided into four square divided regions 581 in a matrix. FIG. 72A is a diagram illustrating a manner in which the upper left divided region 580 of the four divided regions 580 obtained by the initial division in step S32 is further divided into four divided regions 581.

  When step S36 is executed, the area division unit 565 executes step S33 again to newly determine the division area 581 to be processed. In step S33 immediately after step S36, the new divided area 581 obtained in step S36, which is larger than a predetermined size, is set as a processing target. After that, the area dividing unit 565 similarly executes Step S34 and subsequent steps.

  In step S35, when determining that there is no processing-target divided region 581 having the entropy EB equal to or larger than the threshold value T, the region dividing unit 565 ends the region division for the medal region 573.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided region (for example, the divided region 580 or the divided region 581) is equal to or larger than the threshold, the region dividing unit 565 further divides the divided region into a plurality of divided regions. Since the process of dividing into the divided regions is repeatedly performed, the medal region 573 is divided into a plurality of divided regions each having a small entropy EB (for example, in the example of FIG. 71, the medal region 573 is divided into four divided regions 580). Thus, in the example of FIG. 72A, the divided area 580 is divided into four divided areas 581). That is, the medal region 573 is divided into a plurality of divided regions each having a uniform luminance.

  FIG. 73 is a diagram showing an outline of a state where the medal area 573 is divided into a plurality of divided areas 582 each having a uniform luminance. In FIG. 73, the divided area is shown as a divided area 582 regardless of its size (that is, regardless of how many times the area is divided). In the medal region 573, in a region including the outline of the pattern of the medal 510, the luminance varies, and therefore, in the medal region 573, the vicinity of the outline of the pattern of the medal 510 is finely divided as shown in FIG. Similarly, in the medal region 573, in a region including the outer shape of the medal 510, the brightness varies, and therefore, in the medal region 573, the vicinity of the outer shape of the medal 510 is finely divided as shown in FIG.

  As described above, when the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided region is equal to or larger than the threshold value, the process of further dividing the divided region into a plurality of divided regions is repeatedly performed. The vicinity of the contour of the pattern is finely divided. Therefore, it can be said that the plurality of divided areas 582 generated by performing area division on the medal area 573 show the characteristics of the medal 510. Hereinafter, the divided area 582 may be referred to as a “uniform divided area 582”.

  In the above example, when the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided area is equal to or larger than the threshold value, the divided area is further divided into a plurality of divided areas, but the entropy EB of the luminance histogram in the divided area is divided. Is larger than the threshold value, the divided region may be further divided into a plurality of divided regions. Further, in the above example, the divided region is divided into four, but the number of divisions of the divided region may be other than this.

[Feature acquisition unit]
In the present embodiment, for each of the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 determines the size information indicating the size of the uniform divided region 582 and the size information of the medal region 573. The distance information indicating the distance from the center to the uniformly divided area 582 is acquired. Then, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 acquires a medal feature amount based on the size information and the distance information for each of the uniformly divided regions 582. In the present embodiment, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a two-dimensional histogram of the size information and the distance information for the uniformly divided region 582, and sets the two-dimensional histogram as the medal feature amount.

  As the size information of the uniformly divided region 582, for example, the length in the horizontal or vertical direction of the uniformly divided region 582 is adopted. In the present embodiment, since the uniformly divided region 582 is a square, the lengths of the uniform divided region 582 in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction are the same. Further, as the distance information on the uniformly divided region 582, for example, a distance from the center of the medal region 573 to the center of the uniformly divided region 582 is adopted. As the size information of the uniformly divided region 582, the length of a diagonal line of the uniformly divided region 582 may be adopted.

  The feature amount acquisition unit 566 converts the size information and the distance information of the uniform divided area 582 into a single information pair for each uniform divided area 582, for example, an SRAM (the camera unit according to the first embodiment). 209 (corresponding to the SRAM 243). Then, based on the plurality of information pairs respectively corresponding to the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565, the feature amount obtaining unit 566 performs a frequency distribution of the combination of the size information and the distance information. Is generated. Hereinafter, the two-dimensional histogram may be referred to as “two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591”.

  FIG. 74 is a diagram illustrating an example of the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591. A first axis along the x-axis direction in FIG. 74 indicates size information, and a second axis along the y-axis direction in FIG. 74 indicates distance information. The third axis along the z-axis direction in FIG. 74 is size information having a value shown on the first axis and distance information having a value shown on the second axis in a plurality of information pairs. And the frequency of the combination. That is, the third axis in FIG. 74 indicates how many combinations of the size information having the value shown on the first axis and the distance information having the value shown on the second axis in the plurality of information pairs. Indicates whether it exists.

  For example, when there are eight combinations of the size information a1 and the distance information b1 in a plurality of information pairs, the size information a1 shown on the first axis and the distance information b1 shown on the second axis are included. The frequency in the corresponding bin is “8”. In addition, when there are three combinations of the size information a5 and the distance information b3 in the plurality of information pairs, the size information a5 shown on the first axis and the distance information b3 shown on the second axis are included. The frequency in the corresponding bin is “3”.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 of the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided region 582 in the medal region 573 is set as the medal feature amount.

[Judgment unit]
The determination unit 567 compares the medal feature amount acquired by the feature amount acquisition unit 566 with a standard feature amount indicating the feature of the regular medal 510, and based on the comparison result, the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B is determined. It is determined whether it is a regular one. As the standard feature amount, a two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 is used in the same manner as described above from a captured image 562B in which a regular medal 510 is reflected. Hereinafter, the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B in which the regular medals 510 appear will be referred to as “standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A”.

  When the gaming machine is not actually operating, a regular medal 510 is inserted into the gaming machine in order to obtain a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A (standard feature amount). The conversion unit 563 generates a captured image 562B in which the inserted regular medals 510 are reflected. This captured image 562B is referred to as “standard captured image 562C”. The extracting unit 564 generates a medal region 573 in which the regular medal 510 is reflected from the standard captured image 562C, and the region dividing unit 565 divides the medal region 573 into regions. Then, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A (standard feature amount) based on the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565. The standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A thus generated can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment) or the like.

  Note that acquisition of the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A may be acquired in advance by a gaming machine or another device and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  On the other hand, in the gaming machine in actual operation, the determination unit 567 compares the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature amount obtaining unit 566 with the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A stored in the SRAM or the like. Based on the comparison result, it is determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 567 compares the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature amount acquisition unit 566 with the similarity between the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A, thereby comparing the two. As a value indicating the similarity, for example, a Bhattacharyya distance is used. A large Bhattacharyya distance means that the similarity is low, and a small Bhattacharyya distance means that the similarity is high. Another value may be used as the value indicating the similarity.

  Here, when the similarity between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is high, the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular medal. Probability is high. Therefore, like the Bhattacharyya distance, the value indicating the similarity between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is such that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is normal. It can be said that this is an evaluation value indicating the likelihood of being a value. In other words, it can be said that the value indicating the similarity is an evaluation value indicating the possibility that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one. Hereinafter, the evaluation value is referred to as a “determination evaluation value”.

  In the present embodiment, when the similarity between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature amount obtaining unit 566 and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is high, the determination unit 567 determines whether the captured image 562B has the similarity. It is determined that the medal 510 reflected is regular, and when the similarity is low, it is determined that the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B is not regular. Specifically, the determining unit 567 determines that the Bhattacharyya distance between the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated by the feature amount obtaining unit 566 and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is equal to or smaller than the threshold. In addition, it is determined that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is regular, and when it is larger than the threshold value, it is determined that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is not regular. In other words, when the determination evaluation value generated based on the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 obtained from the captured image 562B and the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is equal to or smaller than the threshold value, In addition, it is determined that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is regular, and when it is larger than the threshold value, it is determined that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is not regular. Then, the determination unit 567 outputs a determination result 569.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the threshold value T used in dividing the medal region 573 into regions is determined based on the medal region 573. Therefore, the medal area 573 in which the medal 510 appears can be appropriately divided into a plurality of uniform divided areas 582 according to the medal 510. Therefore, as compared with the case where the threshold value T is determined in advance, it is possible to acquire a medal feature amount that appropriately indicates the feature of the medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573. As a result, the accuracy of determining whether or not the medal 510 is legitimate is improved.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when medal feature amounts are acquired based on the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582, size information and distance information on the uniformly divided regions 582 are used. Therefore, it is possible to easily acquire the medal feature amount as compared with the case where the medal feature amount is acquired using the pixel value of each pixel of the uniformly divided region 582. Therefore, it can be easily determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the captured image 562B is a captured image obtained by capturing the rotating medal 510, the rotational attitude (rotation angle) of the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B is always the same. Not always. Therefore, the rotational attitude of the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573 is not always the same. On the other hand, the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided region 582 obtained from the medal region 573 are information that does not change even if the uniformly divided region 582 rotates around the center of the medal region 573. Therefore, even if the rotation attitude of the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573 varies, if the medal 510 is a regular one, the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided area 582 obtained from the medal area 573 vary. Hateful. Therefore, it can be said that each of the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided region 582 is information that is hardly affected by the rotational attitude of the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B. In the present embodiment, since the medal feature amount is obtained based on the information that is hardly affected by the rotational attitude of the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B, the captured image 562B is obtained by capturing the rotating medal 510. Even if the captured image is a captured image, it is possible to suppress the erroneous determination that the regular medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is not a legitimate one.

<Modification of Fourth Embodiment>
Hereinafter, various modifications of the present embodiment will be described.

[Modification 1 (medal characteristic amount acquisition method)]
In the above example, the feature amount obtaining unit 566 has obtained the medal feature amount based on both the size information of the uniformly divided region 582 and the distance information. Alternatively, the medal feature amount may be acquired based on one of the distance information and the distance information. For example, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 may acquire the medal feature amount based on the size information of the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565. In this case, for example, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating the distribution of the size information of the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565, and stores the one-dimensional histogram 592 in the medal It is a feature amount. FIG. 75 is a diagram illustrating an example of a one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating a distribution of size information of the uniformly divided region 582. The horizontal axis in FIG. 75 indicates size information. The vertical axis in FIG. 75 indicates the number of uniform divided areas 582 having the size information shown on the horizontal axis, that is, the frequency, in the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 generated by the area dividing unit 565.

  When the one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating the distribution of the size information of the uniformly divided area 582 is used as the medal feature amount, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 outputs the regular medal 510 when the gaming machine is not actually operating. A one-dimensional histogram (standard one-dimensional histogram 592A) of the size information of the uniformly divided region 582, which is generated in the same manner from the captured image 562B in which is shown, is set as the standard feature amount. Then, as in the case where the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 is used, the determination unit 567 compares the one-dimensional histogram 592 generated by the feature amount acquisition unit 566 with the standard one-dimensional histogram 592A, and compares the comparison result. It is determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is regular based on the.

  Note that generation of the standard one-dimensional histogram 592A by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, a standard one-dimensional histogram 592A may be generated in advance by a gaming machine or another device and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  In addition, when acquiring the medal feature amount based on the distance information of the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 sets the distance between the plurality of uniform divided regions 582. A one-dimensional histogram 592 indicating the distribution of information is generated, and the one-dimensional histogram 592 is set as a medal feature amount.

  As described above, even when the medal feature amount is obtained based on one of the size information and the distance information of the uniformly divided region 582, the pixel value of each pixel of the uniformly divided region 582 is obtained. , It is possible to easily acquire the medal feature amount as compared with the case where the medal feature amount is acquired based on. Therefore, it can be easily determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one.

  In addition, since the size information and the distance information of the uniform divided area 582 are information that is hardly affected by the rotation posture of the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B, the captured image 562B is also included in this modified example. It is possible to suppress the erroneous determination that the reflected regular medal 510 is not a legitimate one.

[Modification Example 2 (Authentication Decision Using Multiple Types of Standard Features)]
As described above, the size information and the distance information of the uniform divided area 582 are information that is hardly affected by the rotational attitude of the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573, but the rotational attitude of the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573. Some variation under the influence of. Hereinafter, this point will be described in detail.

  For example, consider four medal areas 573A to 573D where a regular medal 510 is shown as shown in FIG. In the following description, it is assumed that the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573A is stored as a standard feature amount in an SRAM or the like. Hereinafter, the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573A may be referred to as “a plurality of standard uniform divided areas 582A”.

  The rotation angle of the medal 510B shown in the medal area 573B is the same as the rotation angle of the medal 510A when the medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated counterclockwise by 90 ° around its center. The rotation angle of the medal 510C shown in the medal area 573C is the same as the rotation angle of the medal 510A when the medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated 180 ° counterclockwise around its center. The rotation angle of the medal 510D shown in the medal area 573D is the same as the rotation angle of the medal 510A when the medal 510A shown in the medal area 573A is rotated 270 ° counterclockwise around its center.

  In the above example, when the divided area of the medal area 573 is further divided, the divided area is equally divided into four square divided areas in a matrix. Therefore, the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 obtained from the medal region 573B are obtained by rotating the plurality of standard uniformly divided regions 582A obtained from the medal region 573A counterclockwise around the center of the medal region 573A. Matches the one. Similarly, the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 obtained from the medal region 573C coincide with the plurality of standard uniform divided regions 582A rotated 180 ° counterclockwise around the center of the medal region 573A. Then, the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573D match those obtained by rotating the plurality of standard uniform divided areas 582A counterclockwise by 270 ° around the center of the medal area 573A. Therefore, the size information and distance information of the plurality of standard uniform divided areas 582A, the size information and the distance information of the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573B, and the plurality of information obtained from the medal area 573C. , The size information and the distance information of the uniform divided area 582 and the size information and the distance information of the plurality of uniformly divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573D match each other. Therefore, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573B, the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573C, and the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573D are the medal feature quantity obtained from the medal area 573A, That is, it matches the standard feature amount.

  As described above, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in a certain medal region 573X is set such that the regular medal 510A reflected in the medal region 573A in which the standard feature amount is acquired is (90 × N) ° (N: If the rotation angle of the regular medal 510A when rotated counterclockwise matches the rotation angle of the regular medal 510A, the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X are divided into a plurality of standard uniform divided areas. This is the same as rotating the area 582A counterclockwise around the center of the medal area 573A by (90 × N) °. Therefore, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X matches the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573A. That is, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X matches the standard feature amount stored in the SRAM or the like. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately determine that the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X is a regular one.

  On the other hand, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in a certain medal region 573X is the regular angle when the regular medal 510A reflected in the medal region 573A is rotated (90 × N) ° counterclockwise around its center. If the rotation angle of the medal 510 does not match, the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 obtained from the medal region 573X are divided into a plurality of standard uniform divided regions 582A by any rotation angle around the center of the medal region 573A. May not coincide with the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A. In other words, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510A when the regular medal 510A is rotated counterclockwise around its center by γ ° (γ ≠ 90 × N, that is, γ is a value other than a multiple of “90”). When the number of the uniform divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X is the same as that of the medal area 573A, the standard uniform divided area 582A is rotated around the center of the medal area 573A at any rotation angle. May not match with the plurality of standard uniform division areas 582A. Therefore, the size information and the distance information of the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 obtained from the medal region 573X may not match the size information and the distance information of the plurality of standard uniform divided regions 582A. Therefore, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X may not match the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573A. That is, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X may not match the standard feature amount stored in the SRAM or the like. As a result, the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X may not be properly determined to be a regular one. In particular, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal region 573X is the regular medal 510A when the regular medal 510A shown in the medal region 573A is rotated (90 × N + 45) ° counterclockwise around its center. , The medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X may be significantly different from the standard feature amount. Therefore, in this case, there is a high possibility that the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573 is not properly determined to be a regular one.

  In addition, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in a certain medal region 573X is the regular medal when the regular medal 510A reflected in the medal region 573A is rotated (90 × N) ° counterclockwise around the center thereof. When the rotation angle of 510A does not match, how much the medal feature amount obtained from medal region 573X deviates from the medal feature amount obtained from medal region 573A is determined by how much the medal region 573X is divided into regions. It depends on whether the medal area 573X is finely divided. When the medal region 573X is finely divided in the region division, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X greatly deviates from the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573A.

  As described above, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in a certain medal region 573X is determined by rotating the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573A for which the standard feature amount is acquired by (90 × N) ° counterclockwise around the center thereof. If the rotation angle does not coincide with the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 when rotated, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X may be different from the standard feature amount. Therefore, the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X may not be properly determined to be a regular one. Therefore, in the medal determination process, not only one kind of standard feature amount acquired from the medal area 573X where the regular medal 510 is reflected, but also the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X around the center thereof ( The standard feature amount acquired from the medal region 573 where the regular medal 510 having a rotation angle that does not match the regular medal 510 when rotated counterclockwise by 90 × N) ° is also used. Is desirable.

  The description so far with reference to FIG. 76 is based on the premise that the center of the medal area 573 matches the center of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573. However, the center of the medal area 573 and the center of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573 may not match depending on the extraction accuracy of the medal area 573 by the extraction unit 564. FIG. 77 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which the center 573c of the medal region 573 does not match the center 510c of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573.

  When the center 573c of the medal region 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 does not match the center 510c of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in a certain medal region 573X is If the standard feature amount is different from the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573A, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573X is changed from the medal area 573X regardless of the rotation angle. The obtained plurality of uniform divided regions 582 is the same as the plurality of standard uniform divided regions 582A regardless of the rotation angle of the plurality of standard uniform divided regions 582A around the center of the medal region 573A. May not match. Therefore, in this case, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X is equal to the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573A around its center by (90 × N) ° counterclockwise. Even when the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 matches the rotation angle, the plurality of uniform divided areas 582 obtained from the medal area 573X divide the plurality of standard uniform divided areas 582A around the center of the medal area 573A ( 90 × N) ° may not match the one rotated counterclockwise. Therefore, the size information and the distance information of the plurality of uniform divided regions 582 obtained from the medal region 573X may not match the size information and the distance information of the plurality of standard uniform divided regions 582A. Therefore, the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573X may not match the medal feature amount obtained from the medal region 573A, that is, the standard feature amount.

  As described above, when the center 573c of the medal region 573 extracted by the extraction unit 564 does not match the center 510c of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal region 573X, the rotation of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal region 573X is performed. If the angle is different from the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573A from which the standard feature value is acquired, the medal is obtained regardless of the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 shown in the medal area 573X. The medal feature obtained from the area 573X may be different from the standard feature. Therefore, the medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573X may not be properly determined to be a regular one. Therefore, in the medal determination process, not only one kind of standard feature amount acquired from the medal area 573 where the regular medal 510 is reflected, but also a rotation angle different from the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal area 573. It is desirable that the standard feature amount acquired from the medal region 573 in which the regular medal 510 having the following is also used.

  In view of the above, in the present modification, instead of using one type of standard feature amount in the medal determination process, a plurality of medal areas 573 in which the rotation angles of the regular medals 510 reflected on them are different from each other. Are used. A plurality of types of standard feature amounts respectively generated based on are used. The determination unit 567 compares the medal feature amount obtained from the captured image 562B with each of a plurality of types of standard feature amounts stored in an SRAM or the like, and determines the medal 510 reflected in the captured image 562B based on the comparison result. It is determined whether or not it is a regular one.

  In this modification, four types of standard feature values are used. The four types of standard feature amounts are respectively generated based on four medal regions 573R, 573α, 573β, and 573γ in which the rotation angles of the regular medals 510 reflected thereon are different from each other. FIG. 78 is a diagram illustrating an example of the medal areas 573R, 573α, 573β, and 573γ. The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573α is the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R when the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R rotates 45 ° counterclockwise around its center. Matches. The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573β is the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R when the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R rotates counterclockwise around its center by 90 °. Matches. The rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573γ is the same as that of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R when the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R rotates 135 ° counterclockwise around its center. Match the rotation angle.

  In the present modification, the medal areas 573α, 573β, 573γ are generated based on the medal area 573R. Hereinafter, the medal region 573R is referred to as a “reference medal region 573R”. The medal region 573α is an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 reflected in the reference medal region 573R by 45 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R. The medal region 573β is an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 reflected in the medal region 573R by 90 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R. The medal region 573γ is an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the normal medal 510 reflected in the reference medal region 573R by 135 ° counterclockwise around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R.

  In order to generate a plurality of types of standard feature amounts, a regular medal 510 is inserted into the gaming machine when the gaming machine is not actually operating. The conversion unit 563 generates a standard captured image 562C in which the inserted regular medals 510 are reflected. The extraction unit 564 extracts a reference medal region 573R in which a regular medal 510 is reflected from the standard captured image 562C, and the region dividing unit 565 performs region division on the reference medal region 573R. Then, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565. Accordingly, one type of standard feature amount, that is, one type of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A is generated based on the reference medal region 573R.

  Note that the generation of the standard feature value by such a gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, a standard feature amount may be generated in advance by a gaming machine or another device and stored in an SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  The extraction unit 564 generates medal areas 573α, 23β, and 23γ based on the reference medal area 573R. The extraction unit 564 sets an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 in the reference medal region 573R counterclockwise by 45 ° around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R as a medal region 573α. Further, the extraction unit 564 sets an image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 in the reference medal region 573R counterclockwise by 90 ° around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R as a medal region 573β. I do. Then, the extraction unit 564 converts the image obtained by rotating the image 584R of the regular medal 510 in the reference medal region 573R counterclockwise by 135 ° around the center 573Rc of the reference medal region 573R into a medal region 573γ. I do.

  When the medal regions 573α, 573β, and 573γ are generated by the extraction unit 564, the region dividing unit 565 performs region division on the medal regions 573α, 573β, and 573γ. The feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates a standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565 by dividing the medal region 573α. In addition, the feature amount obtaining unit 566 generates the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565 by dividing the medal region 573β. Then, the feature amount acquiring unit 566 generates the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A based on the plurality of uniformly divided regions 582 generated by the region dividing unit 565 by dividing the medal region 573γ. Thus, three types of standard feature amounts, that is, three types of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histograms 591A, are generated based on the medal regions 573α, 573β, and 573γ.

  The plurality of types of standard feature amounts (standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A) generated as described above are stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment). Can be.

  In the gaming machine in operation, the determination unit 567 compares the two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591 generated from the captured image 562B with each of a plurality of types of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histograms 591A stored in an SRAM or the like. . Specifically, for each of the plurality of types of standard two-dimensional evaluation value histograms 591A stored in the SRAM or the like, the determination unit 567 determines the standard two-dimensional evaluation value histogram 591A and the two-dimensional evaluation histogram generated from the captured image 562B. A Bhattacharyya distance from the value histogram 591 is obtained. Then, the determining unit 567 sets the minimum value of the obtained plurality of Bhattacharyya distances as the determination evaluation value. When the evaluation value is equal to or smaller than the threshold value, the determination unit 567 determines that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one. It is determined that the medal 510 shown in the image 562B is not regular.

  As described above, in the medal determination process according to the present modified example, a plurality of types of standard feature amounts generated respectively are used based on a plurality of images having different rotation angles of the regular medals 510 reflected thereon. Regardless of the rotation angle of the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B, it can be appropriately determined whether or not the medal 510 is legitimate. Therefore, the determination accuracy is improved.

  In the above example, four types of standard feature values are used, but the number of types of standard feature values is not limited to this. Further, the rotation angle of the regular medal 510 reflected on each of the plurality of images (the plurality of medal regions 573) in which the plurality of types of standard feature amounts are generated is not limited to the above rotation angle.

[Modification 3 (authentication determination using a plurality of types of determination methods)]
In the medal determination process, the determination method described above may be used in combination with another determination method to determine whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is authentic. As another determination method of whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a legitimate one, for example, a template matching method using an image of a legitimate medal as a template image can be considered. In this template matching method, it is determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one by specifying whether or not an image similar to the template image exists in the captured image 562B. Hereinafter, a case will be described in which the above-described determination method and the template matching method are used together in the medal determination processing. Note that a matching method other than the template matching method may be used.

  In the template matching method as well, similarly to the above-described determination method, a determination evaluation value (also referred to as an “output value”) indicating the likelihood that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one is generated. In the template matching method, a region most similar to the template image is specified in the captured image 562B including the medal 510, and a value indicating the degree of similarity between the region and the template image is used as a determination evaluation value. Hereinafter, the judgment evaluation value obtained by the processing described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. 61 is referred to as “first judgment evaluation value EV1”, and the judgment evaluation value obtained by the template matching method is referred to as “second judgment evaluation value EV2”. ". Here, the smaller the value of the second determination evaluation value EV2, the higher the possibility that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is correct.

When the first judgment evaluation value EV1 is obtained for the captured image 562B, and further the second judgment evaluation value EV2 is obtained (using the template matching method), the judgment unit 567 makes an overall evaluation value using the following Expression 8. Find EV0.
EV0 = z1 × EV1 + z2 × EV2 (Expression 8)

  In Equation 8, z1 and z2 are constants. As shown in Expression 8, the overall evaluation value EV0 becomes a small value when both the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 are small.

  When the comprehensive evaluation value EV0 is equal to or smaller than the threshold th0, the determining unit 567 determines that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one. On the other hand, when the overall evaluation value EV0 is larger than the threshold th0, the determination unit 567 determines that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is not a regular one. The threshold value th0 and the constants z1 and z2 can be stored in, for example, an SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment).

  Here, the captured image 562B in which the regular medals 510 appear is referred to as “positive captured image 562B1”, and the captured image 562B in which the false medals 510 (non-regular medals 510) appear is referred to as “negative captured image 562B2”. The threshold value th0 and the constants z1 and z2 are the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 for the plurality of positive captured images 562B1 and the first determination evaluation values EV1 and EV2 for the plurality of negative captured images 562B2. 2 can be determined based on the evaluation value EV2. Hereinafter, a method of determining the threshold value th0 and the constants z1 and z2 will be described.

  FIG. 79 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 obtained for each of the plurality of positive captured images 562B1 and the plurality of negative captured images 562B2. The x-axis shown in FIG. 79 indicates the second determination evaluation value EV2. The y-axis illustrated in FIG. 79 indicates the first determination evaluation value EV1 of the captured image 562B from which the second determination evaluation value EV2 illustrated on the x-axis has been obtained. The black triangles in FIG. 79 indicate the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 for the positive captured image 562B1, and the white circles in FIG. 79 indicate the first determination evaluation values EV1 and EV1 for the negative captured image 562B2. The second determination evaluation value EV2 is shown. Hereinafter, a pair of the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 obtained for the captured image 562B may be referred to as an “evaluation value pair”. FIG. 79 shows an evaluation value scatter diagram 593 showing the distribution of the evaluation value pairs of the plurality of captured images 562B.

  In this example, when the first determination evaluation value EV1 is small, there is a high possibility that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular medal. When the second determination evaluation value EV2 is small, there is a high possibility that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one. Therefore, in the evaluation value scatter diagram 593 shown in FIG. 79, the black triangle indicating the evaluation value pair of the positive captured image 562B1 is located in a region where both the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 are small, that is, in the lower left corner. concentrate.

  As in the above example, when the authenticity of the medal 510 is determined only by determining whether the first determination evaluation value EV1 is equal to or less than the threshold th1, the first determination evaluation value EV1 is reduced. With respect to the negative captured image 562B2 in which the second determination evaluation value EV2 is large, the medal 510 reflected in the negative captured image 562B2 is erroneously determined to be correct. In the evaluation value scattergram 593 shown in FIG. 79, a negative captured image in which an evaluation value pair indicated by a white circle below and above the straight line 595 along the x-axis indicating the threshold th1 is obtained. The medal 510 shown in 562B2 is erroneously determined to be legitimate. In the evaluation value scattergram 593, the distribution of the evaluation value pair (black triangle) of the positive captured image 562B1 and the distribution of the evaluation value pair (white circle) of the negative captured image 562B2 are appropriately represented by a straight line 594 along the x-axis direction. Difficult to separate.

  When the authenticity of the medal 510 is determined only by determining whether or not the second determination evaluation value EV2 is equal to or less than the threshold th2, the second determination evaluation value EV2 decreases, but the first determination evaluation value EV2 decreases. Regarding the negative captured image 562B2 in which the EV1 becomes large, the medal 510 reflected in the negative captured image 562B2 is erroneously determined to be regular. In the evaluation value scattergram 593 illustrated in FIG. 79, the negative captured image 562B2 in which the evaluation value pair indicated by the white circle on the straight line 595 along the y-axis indicating the threshold value th2 and the left side thereof is obtained. Is incorrectly determined to be valid. In the evaluation value scattergram 593, it is difficult to appropriately separate the distribution of the evaluation value pair of the positive captured image 562B1 and the distribution of the evaluation value pair of the negative captured image 562B2 along the straight line 595 along the y-axis direction.

In this modification, when the gaming machine is not actually operating, a plurality of regular medals 510 and a plurality of illegal medals 510 are inserted into the gaming machine, and a plurality of positive captured images 562B1 and a plurality of negative An evaluation value pair for each of the images 562B2 is determined. Then, in an evaluation value scattergram 593 showing a plurality of evaluation value pairs, a separation straight line 596 (see FIG. 79) separating the distribution of the evaluation value pairs of the positive captured image 562B1 and the distribution of the evaluation value pairs of the negative captured image 562B2. ) Is obtained. The separation line 596 can be represented by the following equation 9. Note that A1, A2, and B in Equation 9 are constants.
y = − (A1 / A2) x + B (Equation 9)

  Note that the acquisition of the evaluation value pair by the gaming machine can be performed when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Alternatively, an evaluation value pair may be acquired in advance by a gaming machine or another device and stored in the SRAM or the like of each gaming machine.

  In the evaluation value scattergram 593, the area on the separation line 596 and the area below the separation line 596 are areas where both the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 are small. Therefore, in the case where the evaluation value pair obtained for the captured image 562B is shown in the evaluation value scatter diagram 593, when the position of the evaluation value pair exists on or below the separation line 596, the imaging is performed. The medal 510 shown in the image 562B can be considered to be authentic.

In the evaluation value scattergram 593, the region on the line of the separation straight line 596 and the region below the line are expressed by the following Expression 10.
y ≦ − (A1 / A2) x + B (Equation 10)

Also, Equation 10 can be transformed into Equation 11 below.
A1x + A2y ≦ A2 × B (Equation 11)

  When the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 obtained for the captured image 562B are substituted for x and y in Expression 11, respectively, if Expression 11 is satisfied, the image is displayed in the captured image 562B. The medal 510 can be considered to be regular.

  For example, in the SRAM (corresponding to the SRAM 243 of the camera unit 209 according to the first embodiment), constants A1 and A2 of Expression 9 and constants z1 and z2 of Expression 8 are stored. The constants A1 and A2 in Expression 9 may be stored as the constants z1 and z2 in Expression 8, respectively. “A2 × B” may be stored as the threshold th0.

  The determination unit 567 determines the overall evaluation value EV0 for the captured image 562B using the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2 for the captured image 562B and the constants z1 and z2 stored in an SRAM or the like. Ask. Then, the determination unit 567 determines that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one if the obtained overall evaluation value EV0 is equal to or smaller than the threshold th0, and if the medal 510 is larger than the threshold th0, It is determined that the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is not regular. Thus, the authenticity of the medal 510 can be more correctly determined.

  The expression 9 may be calculated manually by a person who has viewed the evaluation value scattergram 593, or may be determined by a predetermined computer device based on the first determination evaluation value EV1 and the second determination evaluation value EV2. It may be obtained by using a machine learning function of a machine or the like. In the latter case, the gaming machine in which the machine learning function is mounted may obtain Expression 9.

  As described above, in the present modified example, it is determined whether or not the medal 510 shown in the captured image 562B is a regular one based on a plurality of determination evaluation values obtained by different determination methods. Can be improved.

  Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a gaming machine and a game medium discriminating apparatus having the following configurations.

The invention according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
An insertion slot (for example, a medal insertion slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal 510);
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 501 including a camera unit 509) for detecting a game medium inserted from the insertion port,
The game medium detection means,
A game medium passage portion (e.g., a medal rail 511) serving as a passage through which the game medium passes;
An imaging unit (for example, a unit including a CMOS image sensor or the like included in the camera unit 509) for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
By performing image processing based on image data (for example, a captured image 562B) obtained through the imaging unit, a game medium determination unit (for example, a game medium determination unit that determines whether or not the game medium is genuine) A control LSI included in the camera unit 509).
The game medium determination means,
The image data is converted into first color space image data (for example, YUV image data converted by the ISP circuit 245) corresponding to a color space, and the game is performed based on data relating to the luminance of the first color space image data. Counting means for counting the medium (for example, a medal counting circuit 246);
The image data is converted into second color space image data (for example, HSV image data converted by the ISP circuit 245) corresponding to a color space, and the image data is converted based on the hue and saturation data of the second color space image data. Color determination means (for example, a color recognition circuit 247) for determining the color of the game medium
Extracting means (for example, an extracting unit 564) for converting the image data to grayscale image data and extracting an area (for example, a medal area 573) in which the game medium is reflected from the grayscale image data;
An area dividing unit (for example, an area dividing unit 565) for dividing an area in which the game medium is reflected into a plurality of divided areas (for example, divided areas 580, 581, and the like);
The area dividing means,
Based on the entropy of the luminance histogram in the entire area where the game medium is reflected, determine a threshold value used to determine whether to perform area division,
Regardless of the threshold value, an initial division is performed on an area where the game medium is reflected,
It is configured to calculate the entropy of the luminance histogram for each of the divided areas subjected to the initial division.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, the area is divided according to the luminance distribution, the threshold value is determined based on the entropy of the luminance histogram over the entire area where the game medium is reflected, and the initial division is performed. The entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions. Thus, whether to further divide the divided area is determined based on the threshold value and the calculated entropy of the luminance histogram, and as a result, the accuracy of determining the effective game medium is improved.

The invention according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
A game medium passage portion that becomes a passage through which the game medium passes;
Imaging means for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
A game medium determining device (e.g., a game medium determining device) configured to perform image processing based on image data obtained through the image capturing device, thereby determining whether the game medium is genuine. , A medal selector 501),
The game medium determination means,
Counting means for converting the image data into first color space image data corresponding to a color space, and counting the game medium based on data relating to the luminance of the first color space image data;
A color determination unit that converts the image data into second color space image data corresponding to a color space, and determines a color of the game medium based on hue and saturation data of the second color space image data;
Extraction means for converting the image data into grayscale image data, and extracting, from the grayscale image data, an area where the game medium is reflected,
Region dividing means for dividing the region in which the game medium is reflected into a plurality of divided regions,
The area dividing means,
Based on the entropy of the luminance histogram in the entire area where the game medium is reflected, determine a threshold value used to determine whether to perform area division,
Regardless of the threshold value, an initial division is performed on an area where the game medium is reflected,
It is configured to calculate the entropy of the luminance histogram for each of the divided areas subjected to the initial division.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, the area is divided according to the luminance distribution, the threshold value is determined based on the entropy of the luminance histogram over the entire area where the game medium is reflected, and the initial division is performed. The entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions. Thus, whether to further divide the divided area is determined based on the threshold value and the calculated entropy of the luminance histogram, and as a result, the accuracy of determining the effective game medium is improved.

The invention according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
An insertion slot (for example, a medal insertion slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal 510);
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 501 including a camera unit 509) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot,
Start operation detecting means (for example, a start switch 79 for detecting an operation of the start lever 23) for detecting a start operation by a player based on the detection of the game medium by the game medium detecting means;
An internal winning combination determining unit (for example, a main control circuit 91 that performs an internal lottery process) that determines an internal winning combination with a predetermined probability based on the detection of the starting operation by the starting operation detecting unit;
Based on the detection of the start operation by the start operation detecting means, a symbol required for the game is displayed on a display means constituted by a plurality of display columns (for example, reels 3L, 3C, 3R displayed on the reel display window 4). A variable display control means (for example, a stepping motor provided for each reel) for controlling the variable display;
A stop operation detecting means for detecting a stop operation by the player (for example, a stop switch for detecting that each of the stop buttons 19L, 19C, and 19R is pressed by the player);
A stop control unit (for example, a main control circuit 91 for performing reel stop control) for stopping the variable display of the symbol based on a determination result of the internal winning combination determination unit and detection of a stop operation by the stop operation detection unit; ,
By stopping the variable display in the plurality of display columns, a predetermined privilege (for example, payout of a medal) is given based on a symbol combination displayed along a winning determination line extending over the plurality of display columns. A bonus machine (for example, a main control circuit 91).
The game medium detection means,
A game medium passage portion (e.g., a medal rail 511) serving as a passage through which the game medium passes;
An imaging unit (for example, a unit including a CMOS image sensor or the like included in the camera unit 509) for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
By performing image processing based on image data (for example, a captured image 562B) obtained through the imaging unit, a game medium determination unit (for example, a game medium determination unit that determines whether or not the game medium is genuine) A control LSI included in the camera unit 509).
The game medium determination means,
Configured as an LSI dedicated to image processing control,
Extracting means (for example, an extracting unit 564) for extracting an area (for example, a medal area 573) in which the game medium is reflected from an image related to the image data;
An area dividing unit (for example, an area dividing unit 565) for dividing an area in which the game medium is reflected into a plurality of divided areas (for example, divided areas 580, 581, and the like);
A feature amount obtaining unit (for example, a feature amount obtaining unit 566) configured to obtain a feature amount indicating a feature of an area in which the game medium is reflected, based on the plurality of divided areas;
A determination unit (for example, a determination unit 567) that determines whether or not a game medium corresponding to an image of the game medium included in the image data is genuine based on the feature amount;
The area dividing means,
Based on the entropy of the luminance histogram in the entire area where the game medium is reflected, determine a threshold value used to determine whether to perform area division,
Regardless of the threshold value, an initial division is performed on an area where the game medium is reflected,
For each of the divided areas subjected to the initial division, calculate the entropy of the luminance histogram,
After the initial division, the entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions, and if the calculated entropy of the luminance histogram is equal to or larger than the threshold, the corresponding divided region is calculated. It is further divided into multiple sub-regions,
The feature amount obtaining means obtains the feature amount based on a two-dimensional histogram related to predetermined information for each of the plurality of divided regions, and the predetermined information includes information indicating a size of the corresponding divided region (size Information) and information (distance information) indicating the distance from the center of the area where the game medium is reflected to the corresponding divided area,
The determination means compares each of a plurality of types of standard feature quantities indicating features of a legitimate game medium with the feature quantity, and, based on the comparison result, determines that the game medium related to the image data is a regular one. It is determined whether or not there is, and each of the plurality of types of standard feature amounts is configured to be generated based on an image in which a regular game medium is reflected at different rotation angles.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, a plurality of types of standard feature amounts related to regular game media having different rotation angles are prepared, and these standard feature amounts and image data captured by the imaging unit are determined by the determination unit. Are compared with each other. As a result, due to the rotation of the game medium, even if the game medium is a regular game medium, the feature amount related to the game medium related to the image data and the standard feature amount are different, and the game medium is determined to be an irregular game medium. It is possible to reduce the possibility that a situation will occur.

The invention according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
An insertion slot (for example, a medal insertion slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal 510);
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 501 including a camera unit 509) for detecting a game medium inserted from the insertion port,
The game medium detection means,
A game medium passage portion (e.g., a medal rail 511) serving as a passage through which the game medium passes;
An imaging unit (for example, a unit including a CMOS image sensor or the like included in the camera unit 509) for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
By performing image processing based on image data (for example, a captured image 562B) obtained through the imaging unit, a game medium determination unit (for example, a game medium determination unit that determines whether or not the game medium is genuine) A control LSI included in the camera unit 509).
The game medium determination means,
A conversion unit (for example, a conversion unit 563) for converting the image data into grayscale image data;
Extracting means (for example, an extracting unit 564) for extracting an area (for example, a medal area 573) in which the game medium is reflected from the grayscale image data;
An area dividing unit (for example, an area dividing unit 565) for dividing an area in which the game medium is reflected into a plurality of divided areas (for example, divided areas 580, 581, and the like);
The area dividing means,
Determine the entropy of the luminance histogram over the entire area where the game medium is reflected,
Based on the entropy, determine a threshold used to determine whether to perform region division,
Regardless of the threshold value, an initial division is performed on an area where the game medium is reflected,
For each of the divided areas subjected to the initial division, calculate the entropy of the luminance histogram,
After the initial division, the entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions, and if the calculated entropy of the luminance histogram is equal to or larger than the threshold, the corresponding divided region is calculated. Further, it is configured to be divided into a plurality of divided areas.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, a threshold value used for determining whether or not to divide an area is determined based on the entropy of the luminance histogram over the entire area where the game medium is reflected. The entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions obtained by the initial division performed, and the entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions after the initial division, and the calculated luminance is calculated. When the entropy of the histogram is equal to or larger than the above-described threshold, the corresponding divided region is further divided into a plurality of divided regions. This makes it possible to appropriately divide the game medium into a plurality of uniform divided areas in accordance with the imaged game medium, and to determine whether the game medium is regular in comparison with the case where the threshold value is predetermined. The accuracy of the judgment when judging is improved.

The invention according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
A game medium passage portion that becomes a passage through which the game medium passes;
Imaging means for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
A game medium determining device (e.g., a game medium determining device) configured to perform image processing based on image data obtained through the image capturing device, thereby determining whether the game medium is genuine. , A medal selector 501),
The game medium determination means,
Conversion means for converting the image data to grayscale image data,
Extracting means for extracting, from the grayscale image data, an area in which the game medium is reflected;
Region dividing means for dividing the region in which the game medium is reflected into a plurality of divided regions,
The area dividing means,
Determine the entropy of the luminance histogram over the entire area where the game medium is reflected,
Based on the entropy, determine a threshold used to determine whether to perform region division,
Regardless of the threshold value, an initial division is performed on an area where the game medium is reflected,
For each of the divided areas subjected to the initial division, calculate the entropy of the luminance histogram,
After the initial division, the entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions, and if the calculated entropy of the luminance histogram is equal to or larger than the threshold, the corresponding divided region is calculated. Further, it is configured to be divided into a plurality of divided areas.

  According to such a configuration of the present invention, a threshold value used for determining whether or not to divide an area is determined based on the entropy of the luminance histogram over the entire area where the game medium is reflected. The entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions obtained by the initial division performed, and the entropy of the luminance histogram is calculated for each of the divided regions after the initial division, and the calculated luminance is calculated. When the entropy of the histogram is equal to or larger than the above-described threshold, the corresponding divided region is further divided into a plurality of divided regions. This makes it possible to appropriately divide the game medium into a plurality of uniform divided areas in accordance with the imaged game medium, and to determine whether the game medium is a regular one in comparison with the case where the threshold value is predetermined. The accuracy of the judgment when judging is improved.

1,300,400,500 Pachislot 3L Left reel 3C Middle reel 3R Right reel 4 Reel display window 21 Medal slot 23 Start lever 32 Medal payout port 51 Hopper device 71 Main control board 72 Sub-control board 79 Start switch 80 Stop switch board 91 Main Control Circuit 101 Sub Control Circuit 201 Medal Selector 202 Medal Shoot 203 Slope 204 Base Plate 205 Sub Plate 206 Cancel Shooter 207 Select Plate 208 Medal Solenoid 209 Camera Unit 210 Medal Rail 211 Medal Entrance 212 Central Hole 213 Medal Pressure 217 Magnet 218 After-medal pressure 227 Medal stopper 230 First substrate 231 Second substrate 232 CMOS image sensor 2 3 LED
234 Control LSI
235 Leg 241 Host controller 242 Image recognition DSP circuit 243 SRAM
244 Flash memory 245 ISP circuit 246 Medal count circuit 247 Color recognition circuit 248 Fisheye correction scaler circuit 249 Image recognition accelerator circuit 250 GPIO
251 ISI circuit 266 Input / output unit 268 Judgment result 310, 410, 510 Medal 361 Imaging unit 362A, 362B Imaged image 362C Feature image 363 Conversion unit 364 Feature image generation unit 365 Judgment unit 366 Input / output unit 367 Template data 368 Judgment result 371 Extraction Unit 372 edge image generation unit 374 first image 380 second image generation unit 461 imaging unit 462A, 462B captured image 463 conversion unit 464 extraction unit 465 specification unit 466 fitting unit 467 determination unit 467A standard feature amount 468 input / output unit 469 determination result 561 imaging unit 562A, 562B captured image 563 conversion unit 564 extraction unit 565 region division unit 566 feature amount acquisition unit 567 determination unit 567A standard feature amount 568 input / output unit 569 determination result

Claims (3)

An input port for inputting game media,
A game medium detecting means for detecting a game medium inserted from the insertion port,
The game medium detection means,
A game medium passage portion serving as a passage through which the game medium passes;
Imaging means for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
By performing image processing based on image data obtained via the imaging unit, a game medium determination unit that determines whether the game medium is genuine,
The game medium determination means,
A characteristic image generating unit configured to generate a characteristic image indicating a characteristic of the game medium based on the image data;
Determining means for determining whether or not the game medium corresponding to the image of the game medium included in the image data is genuine based on the characteristic image,
The feature image generating means includes:
A first image generation unit that extracts an image of the game medium based on the image data, performs a specific image process on the extracted image, and generates a first image;
E Bei a second image generating unit which at least a portion of the rotary composite image obtained by combining the plurality of rotated image obtained by rotating the first image to generate as the feature image,
The first image generation unit extracts an image of the game medium by performing template matching with an outline template indicating an outline of the game medium,
The gaming machine , wherein the feature image is an image having the same size as the first image . The first image generator, the image data of the outline template is raster scanned, the template matching to extract an image of the game medium, extracted first image an edge image generated by performing edge detection on the image age,
The second image generation unit includes, when generating the rotated composite image, an image in which the rotation angle of the first image is 0 °, and converts the first image into a total rotation angle in a predetermined angle unit. There by number rotate not exceed 360 °, the gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the benzalkonium generate the feature image. A game medium passage portion that becomes a passage through which the game medium passes;
Imaging means for imaging a passing object that is an object passing through the passage;
By performing image processing based on image data obtained via the imaging unit, a game medium determination unit that determines whether the game medium is genuine,
The game medium determination means,
A characteristic image generating unit configured to generate a characteristic image indicating a characteristic of the game medium based on the image data;
Determining means for determining whether or not the game medium corresponding to the image of the game medium included in the image data is genuine based on the characteristic image,
The feature image generating means includes:
A first image generation unit that extracts an image of the game medium based on the image data, performs a specific image process on the extracted image, and generates a first image;
E Bei a second image generating unit which at least a portion of the rotary composite image obtained by combining the plurality of rotated image obtained by rotating the first image to generate as the feature image,
The first image generation unit extracts an image of the game medium by performing template matching with an outline template indicating an outline of the game medium,
The game medium discriminating apparatus , wherein the feature image is an image having the same size as the first image .

Images