JP6857900B2 - Game machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a game machine that controls on / off of a plurality of effect light emitting units for producing a game based on a data table including a lighting control data group including on / off information.

Conventionally, as this type of gaming machine, a plurality of light emitting units for production are divided into those with light emission restriction and those without light emission restriction, and those with light emission restriction are further divided into two groups, and the production of those groups is performed. It is known that the light emitting unit is forcibly turned off alternately in the first half portion and the second half portion of a predetermined reference cycle to reduce power consumption (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ..

Patent No. 500198 (Claim 1, FIG. 7)

However, in the above-mentioned conventional gaming machine, since all the control signals of the plurality of effect light emitting units are output in a cycle half of the reference cycle, there is a problem that the communication load increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game machine capable of suppressing a communication load while suppressing power consumption by a plurality of light emitting units for production.

The invention of claim 1 made to achieve the above object includes a plurality of effect light emitting units for producing a game and on / off information of the plurality of effect light emitting units for each predetermined reference cycle. It is a gaming machine provided with an illumination data table composed of lighting control data groups and an illumination control means for outputting a control signal based on the illumination data table to control lighting of each of the effect light emitting units. The illuminated data table has a plurality of fields corresponding to the plurality of effect light emitting units and a plurality of records corresponding to the plurality of reference cycles, and is one of the plurality of effect light emitting units. A power saving basic table in which the unit is set to a plurality of power saving light emitting units, the remaining power saving light emitting unit is set to a normal light emitting unit, and the plurality of power saving light emitting units are divided into a plurality of categories and stored, and the above. The reference period is divided into a plurality of division periods, the records of the plurality of power saving light emitting units in the illumination data table are subdivided for each division period, and the plurality of power saving light emitting units are divided into the records of each division period. The forcible extinguishing data for forcibly turning off the power saving light emitting unit is stored in the field of the power saving light emitting unit, and the lighting control data is stored in the field of the remaining plurality of power saving light emitting units. A control condition assigning means for creating a power saving data table for storing divided lighting control data for lighting the power saving light emitting unit is provided, and the lighting control means is a control signal for the normal light emitting unit. Is output for each reference cycle using the illuminated data table as it is, and in parallel with this, a control signal for the power saving light emitting unit is output for each divided period based on the power saving data table. is there.

The invention according to claim 2 is the gaming machine according to claim 1 , wherein the reference period is set to 16 [msec] or less.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, each of the lighting control data includes information on the on-time when each of the effect light emitting units is turned on, and the control condition imparting means divides the reference period equally by the number of divisions. Claim 1 or 2 is characterized in that each of the divided lighting control data includes information on the divided on time obtained by equally dividing the on time of each of the lighting control data by the number of divisions. It is a game machine described in.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the illumination control means starts lighting the normal light emitting unit according to the lighting control data every time the reference cycle elapses, while saving power according to the divided lighting control data. The gaming machine according to claim 3 , wherein the lighting of the light emitting unit is started every time the cycle in which the reference cycle is equally divided by the number of divisions elapses.

In the invention of claim 5, the plurality of power saving light emitting units are set in the power saving basic table separately in the first section and the second section, and the control condition imparting means sets the reference period as the first section. The first half division period and the second half division period corresponding to the second division are divided into two, and the records of the plurality of power saving light emitting units in the illumination data table are divided into the first half subdivision record corresponding to the first half division period and the first half subdivision record. It is subdivided into a second half subdivision record corresponding to the second half subdivision period, and in the field of the power saving light emitting unit of the first division, the division lighting control data is stored in the first half subdivision record, while the forced lighting control data is stored in the second half subdivision record. storing the off data, in the field of the power-saving light-emitting portion of the second section, while storing the forced off data to the first half subdivision record, 1 to claim storing the divided lighting control data in the second half subdivision record The gaming machine according to claim of any one of 4.

[Invention of claim 1]
In the gaming machine of claim 1, the reference cycle is divided into a plurality of division periods, and a power saving data table is generated so that a part of the plurality of power saving light emitting units is surely turned off at each division time. Power consumption can be suppressed.

By the way, as a method of generating a power saving data table, all the records in the illuminated data table are subdivided, that is, the records are subdivided also in the normal light emitting unit, and the control signal is divided for all the effect light emitting units. It is also conceivable to correspond to the record for each period. On the other hand, in the present invention, the record is subdivided only for the power saving light emitting unit, and the control signal corresponds to the record for each division period in the power saving light emitting unit, while every reference period in the normal light emitting unit. Since it corresponds to the record of, the amount of data related to lighting control per reference cycle is smaller than that of the above configuration, and the communication load can be suppressed.

[Invention of claim 2]
If the deviation of the lighting timing of the effect light emitting unit is 16 [msec] or less, the human eye cannot recognize the deviation. Therefore, in the configuration of claim 2 , since the reference cycle is set to 16 [msec] or less, even if the lighting period of the power saving light emitting unit is forcibly shifted within the reference cycle regardless of the content of the lighting control data, the deviation is achieved. The amount is 16 [msec] or less, which is difficult for humans to discriminate, and it is possible to suppress changes in the content of the illumination effect due to the forced shift of the lighting period.

[Invention of claim 3]
In the gaming machine of claim 3 , the total lighting time of the normal effect light emitting unit in each reference cycle does not change, and only the total lighting time of the power saving light emitting unit decreases. As a result, the amount of light of the normal light emitting unit for effect does not change for each reference cycle, only the amount of light of the power saving light emitting unit can be changed, and the change in the content of the illumination effect can be suppressed.

[Invention of claim 4]
In the gaming machine of claim 4 , since the lighting of the light emitting unit for effect is started every time the reference cycle elapses or every time the reference period is divided equally by the number of divisions, the control by the illumination control means is performed. It will be easier.

[Invention of claim 5]
The division of the reference period in the power saving basic table may be divided into three or more, or may be divided into two as in the invention of claim 5. With the configuration of claim 6, data processing is simplified and the burden on the illumination control means is reduced.

Front view of a gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention Front view of display device Block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the game machine Block diagram for explaining the details of the control system of the light emitting element Conceptual diagram of Illuminations data table X Conceptual diagram of power saving basic table A Conceptual diagram of data table for power saving (A) Conceptual diagram of lighting pattern of light emitting element when lighting is controlled according to illumination data table X, (B) Conceptual diagram of lighting pattern of light emitting element when lighting is controlled according to power saving data table. Flow chart of main control circuit main program Flow chart of main control circuit interrupt processing Flowchart of sub-control circuit main program Flow chart of receive interrupt processing Flowchart of 1ms timer interrupt processing Flowchart of lamp data output processing Flowchart of 10ms timer interrupt processing Flowchart of main command analysis process

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a pachinko gaming machine will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 16. As shown in FIG. 1, in the pachinko gaming machine 10 of the present embodiment (hereinafter, simply referred to as the gaming machine 10), a substantially circular gaming area R1 surrounded by a guide rail 12 is provided on the front surface of the gaming plate 11. ing.

The front surface of the game plate 11 is covered with a front frame 10Z that is openably attached to the front surface of the game machine 10, and the entire game area R1 can be visually recognized through the glass window 10W formed in the front frame 10Z. There is. Further, below the glass window 10W, an upper plate 26 and a lower plate 27 are provided in two upper and lower stages, and an operation knob 28 is provided at the right end of the lower plate 27. Then, when the operation knob 28 is rotated, the game ball housed in the upper plate 26 is ejected toward the game area R1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a substantially circular game area R1 surrounded by a guide rail 12 is formed on the game plate 11 of the game machine 10 of the present embodiment, and a display device 25 is provided at the center of the game area R1. It is equipped. Below the display device 25 in the game area R1, the starting winning opening 14, the large winning opening 15, and the out opening 16 are provided side by side at intervals from the top.

The starting winning opening 14 has a so-called pocket structure and opens upward, and movable wing pieces 14C and 14C are provided on both sides of the opening. These two movable wing pieces 14C and 14C are always in an upright state, and the opening width of the starting winning opening 14 sandwiched between the two movable wing pieces 14C and 14C is large enough to accommodate about one game ball. ing. Further, the large winning opening 15 is formed horizontally and is normally closed by a movable door 15T.

Starting gates 18 are provided on both the left and right sides of the game area R1 with the display device 25 and the like interposed therebetween. The start gate 18 has a built-in switch, and when the game ball passes through the start gate 18, a normal symbol hit / miss determination is performed, and the normal symbol display device 18X stops and displays the normal symbol after the fluctuation display. If the result of the normal symbol winning / failing judgment is a hit, the movable wing pieces 14C and 14C of the starting winning opening 14 are tilted sideways for a predetermined period, and the game ball is received by the movable wing pieces 14C and 14C and guided to the starting winning opening 14. Will be done.

When the game ball wins the starting winning opening 14, a special symbol winning / failing determination is performed, and the result is displayed on the display device 25. Specifically, on the display screen 34A of the display device 25, three special symbols 80, 81, and 82 are usually stopped and displayed side by side. Each of these special symbols is composed of, for example, a plurality of types of numbers "0" to "9", and usually, a predetermined type of symbol is stopped and displayed for each special symbol. Then, on condition that the game ball has won a prize in the start winning opening 14, these three special symbols are displayed in a variable manner (for example, scrolled in the vertical direction), and stopped and displayed after a predetermined time. Then, the result of the special symbol hit / fail judgment is displayed by the combination of the stopped special symbols. For example, when all the special symbols are the same symbol (doublet), it is shown that the special symbol is a hit, and the doublet is displayed. In the case of a combination other than the above, it is indicated that the combination is out of order.

When the special symbol win / fail judgment is successful, the movable door 15T of the large winning opening 15 is tilted forward for a predetermined period to open the large winning opening 15, and the movable door 15T is used as a guide to many large winning openings 15. A jackpot game in which the game ball of the door can be won is executed.

By the way, in the game machine 10, various effects are performed according to the progress of the game. As one of these effects, a lamp effect may be performed by a plurality of light emitting elements A1 to A8 (corresponding to the "light emitting unit for effect" of the present invention). These light emitting elements A1 to A8 are composed of LEDs, light bulbs, and the like, and are arranged on a display frame 23 provided in the display device 25. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, curved portions 23A curved in an arc shape and projecting portions 23B and 23B protruding downward from both ends of the curved portion 23A are provided on the upper side portion of the display frame body 23. The protruding portions 23B and 23B are provided with two light emitting elements A1, A3 and A2 and A4, respectively, and the curved portion 23A is provided with four light emitting elements A5, A6, A7 and A8. Further, as will be described in detail later, the peak current assigned to the entire light emitting elements A1 to A8 is limited to, for example, 600 mA.

Next, the electrical configuration of the game machine 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 50 in the figure is a main control circuit 50, which includes a one-chip microcomputer 51 in which a CPU 51A, a RAM 51B, and a ROM 51C are packaged together as a main part, and is connected to a sub control circuit 57, a payout control circuit 58, and the like. , The main control circuit main program PG1 (see FIG. 9), which will be described later, is run to perform main control related to the game.

The sub control circuit 57 includes a CPU 57A, a RAM 57B, and a ROM 57C, is connected to a display device 25, a voice control circuit 59, a lamp control circuit 52, and the like, and runs a sub control circuit main program PG2 (see FIG. 11) described later. Mainly controls the production. Further, the ROM 57C of the sub control circuit 57 stores control data for lighting the lamp, and the necessary control data is read from the ROM 57C according to the selected lighting mode and converted into a serial signal to be converted into the lamp control circuit 52. Output to.

The lamp control circuit 52 individually outputs a signal to a plurality of lamps including the light emitting elements A1 to A8 based on a signal (command) from the sub control circuit 57, and performs lighting control (see FIG. 4).

Each of the control circuits 50, 52, 57 to 59 operates by receiving power supply from the power supply board 60 (see FIG. 3).

By the way, in the game machine 10 of this embodiment, lighting control (lighting / extinguishing) of light emitting elements A1 to A8 is performed according to the illumination data table of the present invention. The illumination data table is composed of a lighting control data group including information on the on-time when each light emitting element is turned on for each reference cycle (corresponding to "on-off information" according to the present invention), and is a sub-control circuit 57. It is stored in the ROM 57C of. FIG. 5 shows an illumination data table X relating to the light emitting elements A1 to A8 of the present embodiment. In the illumination data table X, the reference period is set to 10 msec, and lighting control data for each of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 is set for 300 msec. That is, the illumination data table X has eight fields corresponding to the light emitting elements A1 to A8 and 30 records corresponding to the reference period.

In the lighting control data, the information on the on-time of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 during the reference cycle is "0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A, B, C, D". , E, F ”is set in 16 steps. When the lighting control data is "0", the on-time of the light emitting element is 0 msec, that is, off (turns off), and when it is "F", the on time of the light emitting element is set to be lit during the reference cycle, that is, 10 msec. ing. Then, the light emitting time is set to become longer from "0" to "F". As a result, it is possible to change the on-time of each light emitting element for each reference cycle and change the amount of light output by each light emitting element for each reference cycle, and it is possible to enhance the taste of the illumination effect.

By the way, in the gaming machine 10 of the present embodiment, the specifications of the peak current in the gaming machine 10 are determined from the equipment of the pachinko hall. The peak current is determined by allocating it to the display device 25, the driving accessory, and the like. In the present embodiment, as described above, the peak current assigned to the entire light emitting elements A1 to A8 is limited to, for example, 600 mA. Further, the current at the time of lighting each of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 is 100 mA. Therefore, the total current in the state where the light emitting elements A1 to A8 are fully lit is 800 mA, which exceeds the assigned peak current limit value.

Therefore, in order to prevent the peak current of the entire light emitting elements A1 to A8 from exceeding the limit value, some of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 are used as power saving light emitting parts, and the rest are used as normal light emitting parts. Further, the reference period in the illumination data table is divided into a first half division period and a second half division period, and lighting of some light emitting elements in the power saving light emitting part is permitted only in the first half division period, and the remaining light emitting elements in the power saving light emitting part are allowed to light. Is controlled to allow lighting only during the latter half of the division period.

Specifically, the ROM 57C of the sub-control circuit 57 stores the power saving basic table A shown in FIG. 6 together with the illumination data table X. In the power saving basic table A, the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5, and A7 are set as normal light emitting units that can always be lit, and the light emitting elements A4 and A8 are set as the "first category" power saving light emitting parts that are lit in the first half. The light emitting elements A2 and A6 are set as power saving light emitting units of the "second category" in which the light emitting elements A2 and A6 are lit in the latter half. Then, the reference cycle of 10 msec is divided into two division periods of "first half division period (first half 5 msec)" and "second half division period (second half 5 msec)" corresponding to the two divisions of the power saving light emitting unit, and the division period. The power saving control data of the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, and A8 of the power saving light emitting unit is set for each.

The power saving control data is set to "0" and "1". In the power saving light emitting unit of the "first division", "1" is set as the power saving control data for permitting lighting in the "first half division period" corresponding to the "first division", while the "second half division period" is set. , "0" is set as the power saving control data for prohibiting lighting. Further, in the power saving light emitting unit of the "second division", "0" is set as the power saving control data for prohibiting lighting in the "first half division period", while the "second half division period" corresponding to the "second division". , "1" is set as the power saving control data for permitting lighting.

Then, the CPU 57A of the sub control circuit 57 subdivides the record of the power saving light emitting part in the illuminated data table by the power saving basic table A, and the first half subdivided record corresponding to the "first half division period" and the "second half division period" A power saving data table including lamp data (corresponding to the “divided lighting control data” according to the present invention) including the latter half subdivided records corresponding to the above is generated and stored in the RAM 57B of the sub control circuit 57.

Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a part of the power saving data table generated from the illumination data table X and the power saving basic table A. For example, consider the lighting period of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 of "80 to 90 msec". First, in the record of "80 to 90 msec" of the illumination data table X shown in FIG. 5, "8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8" is used as the lighting control data of the light emitting elements A1 to A8. Is set. That is, according to the illumination data table X, as shown in FIG. 8A, the light emitting elements A1 to A8 are set to light for 5 msec from the first 80 msec in the period of "80 to 90 msec". There is.

On the other hand, in the power saving basic table A shown in FIG. 6, the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5 and A7 are set as normal light emitting units, and in the light emitting elements A4 and A8, the power saving control data of the "first half division period" is set to "1". , The power saving control data of the "second half division period" is set to "0", and in the light emitting elements A2 and A6, the power saving control data of the "first half division period" is "0" and the power saving control data of the "second half division period" is It is set to "1". When the record of "80 to 90 msec" in the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, and A8 of the power saving light emitting part in the lighting data table X is subdivided by this power saving basic table A, the lighting control data and the power saving control data are obtained. The arithmetic processing is performed, and the lamp data of "80 to 85 msec" (first half subdivided record) of "8,8,0,0" and the lamp data of "85 to 90 msec" of "0,0,8,8" (second half). Subdivision records) are generated (see FIG. 7). In this way, a power saving data table having a first half subdivision record and a second half subdivision record for 300 msec is generated.

Here, in the lamp data of the power saving data table, the information on the on-time of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 for every half (5 msec) of the reference cycle is "0, 1, 2, 3," similar to the above-mentioned lighting control data. It is set in 16 stages of "4,5,6,7,8,9, A, B, C, D, E, F". However, the on-time of the light emitting element is a two-division on-time (corresponding to the "divided on-time" of the present invention) obtained by halving the on-time of the lighting control data. In the case of "F", the on-time of the light-emitting element Is set to 5 msec, which is equivalent to the lighting control data "8", during half of the reference cycle. Therefore, when the lamp data is “8”, the on-time is set to 2.5 msec, which is equivalent to the lighting control data “4”.

According to the lamp data generated from the illumination data table X and the power saving basic table A, as shown in FIG. 8B, the light emitting elements A4 and A8 which are the power saving light emitting parts of the "first category" are "80". Of the period of "~ 90 msec", it is set to light only 2.5 msec from the first 80 msec of the period of "80 to 85 msec" of the first half division period. Further, the light emitting elements A2 and A6, which are the power saving light emitting parts of the "second division", are only 2.5 msec from the first 85 msec of the "85 to 90 msec" period of the latter half division period in the "80 to 90 msec" period. It is set to light up.

That is, in the power saving data table, in the field of the power saving light emitting unit (for example, the light emitting elements A4 and A8 in the power saving basic table A) of the "first division", the lamp data is stored in the first half subdivision record, while the second half subdivision. The record stores the forced off data for forcibly turning off the power saving light emitting unit. Further, in the field of the power saving light emitting unit of the "second division" (for example, the light emitting elements A2 and A6 in the power saving basic table A), the forced off data is stored in the first half subdivision record, while the lamp data is stored in the second half subdivision record. Stored.

Then, the sub-control circuit 57 is lit, which is stored in the record of the reference cycle in the field of the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5, A7 of the normal light emitting unit every 10 msec which is the reference cycle based on the illumination data table X. The control data is output, and based on the power saving data table, the first half subdivision record and the second half subdivision record in the field of the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, A8 of the power saving unit are set every 5 msec, which is half of the reference cycle. The stored lamp data is output to the lamp control circuit 52. The lighting control data of the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5, and A7 and the lamp data of the first half subdivided records in the fields of the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, and A8 are collectively output as one serial signal every 10 msec. A serial signal including the lamp data of the latter half subdivided record in the fields of the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, and A8 is output at a period deviated from the output of the serial signal by 5 msec.

The lamp control circuit 52 receives the serial signal from the sub control circuit 57 and outputs a control signal in parallel to the light emitting elements A1 to A8 to light the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5 and A7 of the normal light emitting unit. Starting every 10 msec, which is the reference cycle, the light emitting elements A4 and A8, which are the power saving light emitting parts of the "first division", or the light emitting elements A2, A6, which are the power saving light emitting parts of the "second division", are turned on in the reference cycle. It starts every half cycle.

The description other than the configuration related to the internal information processing (signal processing) of the game machine 10 of the present embodiment has been described above. Before explaining the information processing, the operation, action and effect of the game machine 10 of the present embodiment will be described below.

In the game machine 10 of the present embodiment, for example, when a hit is made in the special symbol winning / failing determination, a lamp effect may be executed. When the lamp effect is selected, a power saving data table is generated from the lighting data table X and the power saving basic table A, and lighting control is performed based on the lighting data table X and the power saving data table.

In the lamp effect, the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5, and A7 of the normal light emitting unit are continuously lit for the on-time of the lighting control data. On the other hand, the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, and A8 of the power saving light emitting unit were continuously lit for the on-time of the lighting control data if there was no record subdivision processing. Only in one of the first half division period and the second half division period in the cycle, the light is continuously lit for the two division on time. Specifically, the lighting of the power saving light emitting part (light emitting elements A4, A8) of the "first division" is permitted only in the "first half division period" corresponding to the "first division", while it is prohibited in the "second half division period". Will be done. Further, lighting of the power saving light emitting part (light emitting elements A2, A6) of the "second division" is prohibited in the "first half division period", but is permitted only in the "second half division period" corresponding to the "second division". It will be.

As a result, regardless of the content of the lighting control data, the maximum number of light emitting elements A1 to A8 that light up at the same time is a combination of light emitting elements A1, A2, A3, A5, A6, and A7, or light emitting elements A1 and A3. , A4, A5, A7, A8, and the peak current is 600mA at the maximum. That is, the peak current limit value of 600 mA in the light emitting elements A1 to A8 is not exceeded.

That is, by generating the power saving data table, the total lighting time of the normal light emitting elements in each reference cycle does not change, and only the total lighting time of the power saving light emitting unit is halved. With respect to the plurality of power saving light emitting units, the lighting period is forcibly shifted within the reference cycle regardless of the content of the lighting control data in the illumination data table, and the number of light emitting elements that are lit at the same time is reduced. As a result, the peak current of the entire light emitting element is suppressed, the amount of light of the normal light emitting element does not change for each reference cycle, only the amount of light of the power saving light emitting part is changed, and the content of the illumination effect accompanying the reduction of the peak current Change can be suppressed.

Further, even when the peak current of the entire light emitting elements A1 to A8 is not defined, the lamp effect may be performed at the same time as the accessory effect or the display effect, and if the power consumption in the lamp effect is large, the accessory effect is produced. And, the power consumption of the display effect is limited, and there may be a problem that the degree of freedom in designing the accessory effect and the display effect is reduced. However, according to the present embodiment, some of the light emitting elements are surely turned off. It is possible to suppress the power consumption of the light emitting elements A1 to A8 as a whole.

Further, in the present embodiment, the reference cycle is set to 10 msec, which is 16 msec or less. Therefore, regardless of the content of the lighting control data, even if the lighting period of the light emitting element is forcibly shifted within the reference cycle, the deviation amount is 16 msec or less. It is difficult for humans to distinguish between them, and it is possible to suppress changes in the illumination effect due to the forced shift of the lighting period.

By the way, as a method of generating the power saving data table, all the records in the illuminated data table X are subdivided, that is, the records are also subdivided in the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5 and A7 of the normal light emitting unit. Is also possible. However, in this case, even for the light emitting element that is not forcibly turned off, it becomes necessary to transmit the lamp data of both the first half subdivided record and the second half subdivided record, which increases the communication load. Further, the amount of serial signal data output from the sub control circuit 57 to the lamp control circuit 52 also increases, and the communication time becomes long, so that there is a problem that the necessary information cannot be output within the limited communication time. obtain.

On the other hand, in the game machine 10 of the present embodiment, among the plurality of light emitting elements A1 to A8, a power saving data table in which records are subdivided only for the light emitting elements A2, A4, A6, and A8 of the power saving light emitting unit is generated. Since the light emitting elements A1, A3, A5, and A7 of the normal light emitting unit are controlled by using the lighting control data of the illumination data table X as they are, all the records of the plurality of light emitting elements A1 to A8 are subdivided. The amount of control data per reference cycle is smaller than in the case, and the communication load can be suppressed. In addition, since the amount of control data is reduced, it is possible to shorten the communication time.

In order to realize the operation of the game machine 10 of the present embodiment described above, the main control circuit 50, the sub control circuit 57, etc. (see FIG. 3) include the above-mentioned main control circuit main program PG1, the sub control circuit main program PG2, and the like. Running and processing information. Hereinafter, information processing in the main control circuit 50 and the sub control circuit 57 will be described.

When the power of the game machine 10 is turned on, the one-chip microcomputer 51 provided in the main control circuit 50 takes out the main control circuit main program PG1 shown in FIG. 9 from the ROM 51C and runs it. As shown in the figure, when the main control circuit main program PG1 is run, first, initial settings such as stack setting, constant setting, CPU51A setting, SIO, PIO, and CTC setting are performed (S1). The initial setting (S1) is executed only when the main control circuit main program PG1 is run for the first time after the power is turned on, and is not executed thereafter.

As shown in FIG. 9, each process of the following steps S2 to S4 loops in the remaining time until the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) described later is executed after the initial setting (S1). It is said. Specifically, first, interrupts are prohibited (S2), and even if a timer interrupt comes in, interrupt processing is not performed until the interrupt is enabled. Subsequently, the normal symbol / special symbol main random number update process (S3) is executed. In this process (S3), the random number counter used for the jackpot determination or the like is updated, and the updated counter value is stored in the storage area of the RAM 51B of the main control circuit 50 one by one. When the normal symbol / special symbol main random number update process (S3) is completed, the interrupt is enabled (S4), and the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) can be executed.

When an interrupt pulse is input to the CPU 51A, the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) is repeatedly executed, for example, in a cycle of 4 ms. Then, during the residual processing period from the end of the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) to the start of the next main control circuit interrupt process (S5), the normal symbol / special symbol main random number update process (S3) The update process of various counter values by is repeatedly executed over a plurality of times. If an interrupt pulse is input to the CPU 51A in the interrupt disabled state, the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) is not started immediately, but is started after the interrupt is enabled (S4).

Next, the main control circuit interrupt processing (S5) will be described. As shown in FIG. 10, in the main control circuit interrupt process (S5), first, the output process (S10) is performed. In the output process (S10), each command (control signal) stored in the output buffer of the main control circuit 50 is output to the sub control circuit 57 by each process described below. Examples of the command (control signal) output here include a fluctuation pattern command and the like.

After the output process (S10), the input process (S11) is performed. In the input process (S11), signal input is performed mainly when various sensors (for example, a normal symbol start switch, a start port sensor, other sensors, switches, etc.) attached to the game machine 10 detect. In the subsequent operation timer subtraction process (S12), the operation timer is subtracted.

The next normal symbol / special symbol main random number update process (S13) is the same as the normal symbol / special symbol main random number update process (S3) performed in the loop process of the main control circuit main program PG1 described above. is there. That is, in the random number counter update processing, the execution period of the main control circuit interrupt processing (S5) and the remaining processing period (after the end of the main control circuit interrupt processing (S5)), the next main control circuit interrupt processing (S5) is performed. It is done in both (the period until it starts).

Following the normal symbol / special symbol main random number update process (S13), the winning detection process (S15) is executed. In the winning detection process (S15), it is determined whether or not the game ball has been won in the starting winning opening 14, and if a winning is made, the number of special symbol reserved balls is updated as appropriate.

When the winning detection process (S15) is completed, the normal operation process (S16) is performed. By this process (S16), the main control circuit 50 determines the normal symbol hit, changes and stops the normal symbol on the normal symbol display device 18X (see FIG. 1), and is movable at the start winning opening 14 based on the normal symbol hit. The opening and closing of the blade pieces 14C and 14C is directly controlled without going through the sub control circuit 57, and processing related to normal symbol contact is performed.

The special operation process (S17), which is performed after the normal operation process (S16), indirectly controls the display screen 34A and the like via the sub control circuit 57, and directly controls the movable door 15T and the like.

When the special operation process (S17) is completed, the hold ball number process (S18) and other processes (S19) not deeply related to the present invention are executed to exit the main control circuit interrupt process (S5). Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the processes of steps S2 to S4 are repeatedly executed until the interrupt pulse is input to the CPU 51A next time, and the main control is performed again due to the input of the interrupt pulse (after about 4 ms). The circuit interrupt process (S5) is executed. Then, as described above, the control data set in the output buffer of the RAM 51B when the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) was executed last time is the output process of the main control circuit interrupt process (S5) executed next. It is output in (S10). The above is the description of the main control circuit main program PG1 executed by the main control circuit 50.

Next, the processing of the sub-control circuit main program PG2 executed by the sub-control circuit 57 will be described. As shown in FIG. 11, in the sub-control circuit main program PG2, first, the CPU initialization process (S20) is performed, and when the stack setting, the constant setting, the CPU 57A setting, and the SIO, PIO, and CTC are turned on, the power is turned on. A power cutoff signal is transmitted from the power supply board 60 to the sub control circuit 57. When this power cutoff signal is transmitted, it is determined whether or not the contents of the backup data of the RAM 57B are normal (S21). If it is normal (yes in S21), the process proceeds to step S23. If the contents of the RAM 57B are not normal (no in S21), the RAM 57B is initialized, various flags and counter values are reset (S22), and the process proceeds to step S23. .. In step S23, the watchdog timer counter is initialized (S23). Note that these steps S20 to S23 are executed only when the sub-control circuit main program PG2 is run for the first time after the power is turned on, and are not executed thereafter.

When the initial setting is completed in steps S20 to S23, the interrupt is prohibited (S24) and the random number seed update process (S25) is executed. In this process (S25), a random number value required when selecting an effect to be performed on the display screen 34A from a plurality of effect candidates is updated.

Next, a command transmission process (S26) for transmitting various commands to the display device 25, the voice control circuit 59, and the lamp control circuit 52 (see FIG. 3) is executed, the watchdog timer counter is initialized (S27), and interrupts are enabled (see FIG. 3). S28) is performed. Then, these processes (S24 to S28) are repeated in an infinite loop.

In the sub-control circuit main program PG2, the reception interrupt process (S29), the 1 ms timer interrupt process (S30), and the 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31) are interrupted and executed in the infinite loop of steps S24 to S28 described above. When the sub control circuit 57 receives the strobe signal from the main control circuit 50, the reception interrupt processing (S29) is executed in preference to the other interrupt processing (S30, S31). Further, the 1 ms timer interrupt process (S30) is executed with priority over the 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31), and the 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31) is executed by interrupting the remaining time between the 1 ms timer interrupt processes (S30). To.

As shown in FIG. 12, in the reception interrupt process (S29), first, the strobe signal is checked (S291), and if the strobe signal is not ON (No in S291), this process (S29) is exited as it is. If the strobe signal is ON (Yes in S291), the control signal (data related to the variation mode and the determination of whether or not the special symbol is correct, a command, etc.) transmitted from the main control circuit 50 to the sub control circuit 57 is taken in and stored in the RAM 57B (Yes). S292).

The 1 ms timer interrupt process (S30) is executed every time an interrupt pulse having a 1 ms cycle is input to the sub control circuit 57. As shown in FIG. 13, in this process (S30), the lamp data output process (S301) and other processes (S302) that are not deeply related to the present invention are executed.

The lamp data output process (S301) shown in FIG. 14 is a power saving generated by the illumination data table X and the main command analysis process (S311) of the 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31) described later according to the progress of the counter. A serial signal to be output to the lamp control circuit 52 is generated and set from the data table.

Specifically, first, it is determined whether or not the lamp is being produced (S401), and if the lamp is not being produced (No in S401), another process (S407) is performed to exit this process (S301). When the lamp is being produced (Yes in S401), it is determined whether or not the counter is 0 (S402). When the counter is 0 (Yes in S402), the record of the corresponding period of the normal light emitting unit is taken out from the illumination data table X, and the corresponding first half subdivided record of the power saving light emitting unit of the "first division" is taken out from the power saving data table. Is taken out and a serial signal including those data is set (S403).

On the other hand, when the counter is not 0 (No in S402), it is determined whether or not the counter is 5. (S408). When the counter is 5 (Yes in S408), the corresponding latter half subdivided record of the power saving light emitting unit of the "second division" is taken out from the power saving data table, and the serial signal including those data is set (S409).

When the counter is not 5 (No in S408) and after the execution of steps S403 and S409, 1 is added to the counter (S404), and it is determined whether or not the counter has reached 10 (S405). When the counter becomes 10 (Yes in S405), 0 is set in the counter (S406), and when the counter is not 10 (No in S405), the counter is left as it is and other processing (S407). After performing the above, the process (S301) is exited.

That is, in the 1 ms timer interrupt process (S30), the lamp data for the normal light emitting unit and the lamp data for the power saving light emitting unit of the "first division" are set in a cycle of 10 msec, and the "second division" is set in a cycle deviated by 5 msec. The lamp data of the power saving light emitting unit is set. Then, the set lamp data is transmitted to the lamp control circuit 52 by the command transmission process (S26), and each light emitting element is turned on and off. When 300 msec has elapsed, the data table is returned to the top and output. The CPU 57A of the sub control circuit 57 and the lamp control circuit 52 when the lamp data output process (S301) and the command transmission process (S26) are being executed correspond to the "illumination control means" of the present invention. ..

The 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31) is executed every time an interrupt pulse having a cycle of 10 ms is input to the sub control circuit 57. As shown in FIG. 15, in the 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31), first, the main command analysis process (S311) is performed. In this process (S311), the analysis process and the operation of the command received in the above-mentioned receive interrupt process (S30) are set.

Specifically, when the main command analysis process (S311) is executed, as shown in FIG. 16, first, it is determined whether or not the received command is a variable command (S411). If it is a variable command (Yes in S411), the effect to be performed during the variable is selected (S412). Then, it is determined whether or not the lamp effect is selected (S413), and when the lamp effect is selected (Yes in S413), a power saving data table is created from the illumination data table X and the power saving basic table A. (S414). The CPU 57A of the sub control circuit 57 at this time corresponds to the "control condition imparting means" of the present invention.

After the execution of step S414, if the command received in step S411 is not a variable command (No in S411), or if the lamp effect is not selected in step S413 (No in S413), other processing (S415) is performed. The process (S311) is exited.

When the main command analysis process (S311) is completed, other processes (S312) not deeply related to the present invention are executed, and then the 10 ms timer interrupt process (S31) is exited. The above is the description of the sub-control circuit main program PG2.

[Other Embodiments]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and for example, embodiments as described below are also included in the technical scope of the present invention, and various other than the following within a range that does not deviate from the gist. It can be changed and implemented.

(1) In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a pachinko gaming machine is shown, but it may be applied to a slot machine.

(2) In the above embodiment, the illumination data table and the power saving basic table are provided one by one, but one or both of the illumination data table and the power saving basic table are provided, and the game situation, etc. It may be the configuration selected by. In this case, the variety of lamp production is increased and the taste is improved.

(3) In the above embodiment, all of the power saving light emitting units are configured to allow light emission while both the "first half division period" and the "second half division period", but the "first half division period" and the "second half". The configuration may include a power saving light emitting unit whose lighting is prohibited in both the "division period" and the "division period". In this case, it is preferable to provide a plurality of power saving basic tables, and to configure each power saving basic table so that the power saving light emitting unit for which lighting is prohibited is different in both the "first half division period" and the "second half division period".

(4) The division of the power saving light emitting unit is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more.

(5) The division period is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more. Further, the number of divisions of the power saving light emitting unit and the number of divisions of the reference period do not have to be the same.

(6) In the above embodiment, the lamp data of the division period includes the information of the two division on time obtained by halving the on time of the lighting control data. For example, the lighting control data is set to "8" or less. For the power saving light emitting unit that has been set, the lamp data does not have to be half the time of the lighting control data, such as being collectively set to "0".

(7) In the above embodiment, the light emitting element of the normal light emitting unit is configured to be continuously lit for the on-time of the lighting control data at each start of the reference cycle, but at every start of a cycle half of the reference cycle. It may be configured to light for half the on-time. In this case, only the on-time information is output from the sub-control circuit 57 to the lamp control circuit 52, and the lamp control circuit 52 creates lighting data (division of the on-time, etc.) based on the on-time information, and the normal light emitting unit. It is preferable to have a configuration that controls the lighting of.

(8) In the above embodiment, the lamp data for 300 msec is generated at one time in the creation of the power saving data table, but for example, the lamp data may be generated at any time every 10 msec. In this case, the lamp data for the corresponding period may be generated every time the 10 ms timer interrupt process is executed, or a counter or the like may be provided in the 1 ms timer interrupt process to be appropriately generated. Good.

10 Game machine 11 Game board 50 Main control circuit 52 Lamp control circuit 57 Sub control circuit A1 to A8 Light emitting element PG1 Main control circuit Main program PG2 Sub control circuit Main program

Claims (5)

An illumination data table consisting of a plurality of effect light emitting units for producing a game, a lighting control data group including on / off information of the plurality of effect light emitting units for each predetermined reference cycle, and the illumination. A gaming machine provided with an illumination control means that outputs a control signal based on a data table to control lighting of each of the effect light emitting units.
The illumination data table has a plurality of fields corresponding to the plurality of effect light emitting units, and a plurality of records corresponding to the plurality of reference cycles.
A part of the plurality of effect light emitting units is set to a plurality of power saving light emitting units, the remaining effect light emitting unit is set to a normal light emitting unit, and the plurality of power saving light emitting units are divided into a plurality of categories. The power saving basic table that I remembered
The reference period is divided into a plurality of division periods, the records of the plurality of power saving light emitting units in the illumination data table are subdivided for each division period, and the plurality of power saving light emission in the records of each division period. The forced extinguishing data for forcibly turning off the power saving light emitting unit is stored in the field of the power saving light emitting unit of any one of the units, and the lighting control is performed in the field of the remaining plurality of power saving light emitting units. A control condition assigning means for creating a power saving data table for storing divided lighting control data for lighting the power saving light emitting unit based on the data is provided.
The illumination control means outputs a control signal for the normal light emitting unit as it is for each reference cycle using the illumination data table as it is, and in parallel with this, outputs a control signal for the power saving light emitting unit for power saving. A game machine that outputs data for each division period based on a data table. The gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the reference period is set to 16 [msec] or less. Each of the lighting control data includes information on the on-time when each of the effect light emitting units is turned on.
The control condition assigning means divides the reference period into equal parts by the number of divisions, and divides the on-time of each of the lighting control data into the divided lighting control data by the number of divisions. The gaming machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the on-time information is included. The illumination control means starts lighting the normal light emitting unit according to the lighting control data every time the reference cycle elapses, while lighting the power saving light emitting unit according to the divided lighting control data. The gaming machine according to claim 3, wherein the reference cycle is started every time the cycle is divided equally by the number of divisions. In the power saving basic table, the plurality of power saving light emitting units are set separately in the first section and the second section.
The control condition imparting means
The reference cycle is divided into two, a first half division period and a second half division period corresponding to the first division, and the records of the plurality of power saving light emitting units in the illumination data table are divided into the first half division. The first half subdivided record corresponding to the period and the second half subdivided record corresponding to the second half division period are subdivided.
In the field of the power saving light emitting unit of the first division, the divided lighting control data is stored in the first half subdivision record, while the forced extinguishing data is stored in the second half subdivision record.
According to any one of claims 1 to 4, in the field of the power saving light emitting unit of the second category, the forced off data is stored in the first half subdivision record, and the divided lighting control data is stored in the second half subdivision record. The gaming machine described in the claims.

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