JP6999760B2 - Game medium sorting device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a game medium sorting device.

Conventionally, there are devices that use a gaming medium typified by a gaming machine.

As the gaming medium used in such a gaming machine, a unique one with a stamp or the like is generally prepared, and such a unique gaming medium is used as a regular medium. A gaming machine, which is a type of device, is provided with a gaming medium sorting device for detecting the inserted gaming medium in the passage of the gaming medium, and makes it possible to detect an illegal gaming medium that is not a regular gaming medium. There is.

For example, in Patent Document 1, two proximity sensors for detecting a game medium are provided in the passage of the game medium, and whether or not the game medium for the game has passed through the passage of the game medium based on the output of each proximity sensor. A gaming machine that detects fraudulent activity using an instrument such as a plate-shaped body by making a judgment is described.

Further, for example, in Patent Document 2, an IC chip in which identification information is recorded in a game medium is used, and a game medium sorting device arranged in a passage of the game medium obtains identification information from the IC chip of the game medium. A gaming machine that eliminates an illegal gaming medium by reading and determining whether or not it is a legitimate gaming medium is described.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-342814 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-316679

By the way, in recent years, there is an event that a medium is mixed, which is not an original regular game medium. However, the conventional gaming medium sorting device is dedicated to a specific gaming machine and prevents only the route via the gaming machine, and is mixed in each path by being applied to or diverted to the device in various routes. Was difficult to prevent.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game medium sorting device that further reduces the disadvantage caused by mixing a non-regular game medium.

The invention according to the first embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
The game medium sorting device of the present invention
An insertion unit (for example, a medal insertion slot 211) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal), and
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
A guide unit (for example, a select plate 207, a medal rail 210, and an after medal) capable of guiding the game medium passing through the game medium passing unit in a first direction or a second direction different from the first direction. Pressure 218 etc.) and
An image pickup means (for example, CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the game medium passing portion.
A game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234) for determining whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data obtained via the image pickup means.
A distribution means (for example, a medal solenoid 208, a control circuit M100, etc.) for distributing the game medium to the first direction or the second direction based on the determination result by the game medium determination means. Prepare,
The game medium determination means is
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245) and
It has a feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator 249) that generates a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion.
The feature image generation means is
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) that stores a plurality of conversion parameters,
It has a third storage means (for example, register 283) for storing specific information (for example, specific information 290), and has.
Image data related to the image data after the format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, image processing including coordinate conversion is performed on the acquired image data, and the image data after the image processing is used as the first image data. Remember in the storage means,
Among the conversion parameters stored in the second storage means, a predetermined conversion parameter is specified based on the specific information, and the coordinate conversion is performed based on the specified conversion parameter.

According to the above configuration, it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate based on the imaging data of the game medium imaged in the game medium passing portion, and the game medium is the first based on the determination result. It is distributed in one direction or a second direction. Further, since the medal or the like can be determined by the image conversion or the feature image performed based on the captured image, the difference in the pattern of the medal or the like can be determined. Further, coordinate conversion can be performed based on the conversion parameters stored in the memory or the like, and the conversion parameters are specified based on the specific information. Since the conversion parameters are specified by the specific information, it is possible to execute different coordinate conversions among a plurality of control LSIs and medal selections by making the specific information used by the coordinate conversion circuit different by the control LSI and the medal selector. can.

The invention according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration.
The game medium sorting device of the present invention
The input section for inputting the game medium and
A game medium passing portion, which is a passage through which the game medium passes,
A guide unit capable of guiding the game medium passing through the game medium passing unit in a first direction or a second direction different from the first direction.
An imaging means for imaging a passing object, which is an object passing through the game medium passing portion,
A game medium determination means for determining whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data obtained via the image pickup means.
A distribution means for distributing the game medium to the first direction or the second direction based on the determination result by the game medium determination means is provided.
The game medium determination means is
A direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of data,
The first storage means for storing data,
The image data obtained via the image pickup means is subjected to the first to third format conversions, and the image data subjected to the first format conversion is stored in the first storage means by the direct transfer. Conversion means and
A feature image generation means for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data subjected to the first format conversion by the conversion means.
A counting means for counting the game medium based on the image data subjected to the second format conversion by the conversion means, and a counting means.
A color determination means for determining the color of the game medium based on the image data subjected to the third format conversion by the conversion means is provided.
The feature image generation means is
Image data related to the image data subjected to the first format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, image processing including coordinate conversion is performed on the acquired image data, and the image after the image processing is performed. The data is stored in the first storage means by the direct transfer.

According to the above configuration, it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate based on the imaging data of the game medium imaged in the game medium passing portion, and the game medium is the first based on the determination result. It is distributed in one direction or a second direction. Further, in addition to the image conversion performed based on the captured image, effective medals and the like can be determined by the feature image, count, and color determination of the game medium, and the determined medals and the like can be determined according to the determination result. Sorting is possible. Further, since the writing and reading of the image data to the storage means (SRAM or the like) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data, the host controller of the game medium determination means (in the data transfer). The processor) is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is shortened.

The invention according to the third embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration in the second embodiment.
The image processing includes at least two conversion processing modes.
In the first conversion processing mode, a plurality of converted image data are generated by individually performing different coordinate conversions on the one image data, and the plurality of converted image data are combined to form one processed image. It is a conversion processing mode that performs image processing to obtain data.
The second conversion processing mode is a conversion processing mode in which a plurality of coordinate transformations are sequentially and continuously superimposed on the one image data, and image processing for obtaining one processed image data is performed.

According to the above configuration, since the image processing for generating the feature image of the game medium used for determining the game medium has at least two conversion processing modes, the conversion processing is performed according to the characteristics and the situation of the game medium. You can switch modes.

According to the present invention, the disadvantage caused by the inclusion of a non-genuine game medium is further reduced.

It is explanatory drawing explaining the functional flow in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the appearance composition example in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It shows the internal structure in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention, and is the perspective view in the state which the middle door is closed. It shows the internal structure in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention, and is the perspective view in the state which the middle door is opened. It is explanatory drawing which shows the inside of the cabinet in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the back side of the front door in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which saw the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention from the oblique rear of the gaming machine. It is an exploded view of the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which saw the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention from the diagonal front of the gaming machine. It is a perspective view of the select plate of the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the path of the medal when the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention guides a medal to a hopper device. It is a figure which shows the path of the medal when the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of the invention guides a medal to a medal shoot. It is a block diagram which shows the control system in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the main control circuit in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the auxiliary control circuit in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure example of the medal selector in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure example of the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the camera unit in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the regular medal used for the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention, A is the figure which shows one side of the regular medal, B is the figure which shows the image data of the regular medal. It is a figure for demonstrating the generation (synthesis) of the processed image data about the regular medal used for the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure example of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the concept which coordinates conversion is performed with respect to the target image data, and image data is generated after conversion. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the coordinate conversion circuit of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the conversion parameter of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the specific information of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the example which the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention generates the image data after conversion by the conversion parameters which have different rotation angles. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of a coordinate conversion by a conversion parameter. It is a figure which shows the concept which generates the processed image data by synthesizing a plurality of converted image data. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline of the operation of the image processing circuit of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the image processing circuit of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the normal medal discrimination processing about the 1st medal in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the regular medal discrimination processing about the 1st to 6th medals in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation flow of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the image data of one side of the fraudulent medal and the fraudulent medal. It is a figure which shows the example of one side of the fraudulent medal, the image data of the fraudulent medal, and the processed image data of the fraudulent medal. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the captured image obtained through the image pickup apparatus of the camera unit in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the camera unit in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the feature image generation part in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention in more detail. It is a flowchart which shows the series of operations of the normal medal discrimination process performed in the camera unit in the gaming machine of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the medal area schematically. It is a figure which shows an example of the background image schematically. It is a figure which shows an example of the background subtraction image schematically. It is a figure which shows an example of an outline template schematically. It is a figure for demonstrating template matching. It is a figure for demonstrating the extraction process of a medal area. It is a figure which shows an example of an edge image schematically. It is a figure for demonstrating the generation method of the rotation composite image. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 1 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the concept of generating the processed image data by superimposing a plurality of coordinate transformations on the target image data. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 2 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the image processing circuit of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 2 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the conversion parameter of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 2 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the specific information of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 2 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 2 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 3 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the image processing circuit of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 3 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the circuit structure example of the image processing circuit of the image recognition accelerator circuit included in the control LSI in the modification 4 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the appearance composition example of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the appearance composition example of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the appearance composition example of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the example of the internal structure of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a partially disassembled perspective view which shows the example of the internal structure of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the cross-sectional view of the guide member of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure example of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the arrangement relation of the selector mechanism and the 1st discharge passage of the game medium sorting apparatus in the modification 5 of one Embodiment of this invention.

<< One Embodiment >>
Hereinafter, a pachi-slot machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 47.

<Functional flow>
First, the functional flow of the pachi-slot machine will be described with reference to FIG. In the pachislot machine of this embodiment, a medal is used as a game medium for playing a game. It should be noted that all the embodiments and modifications of the present invention are not limited to pachislot machines, but can be applied to other gaming machines (for example, pachinko machines) other than pachislot machines. Further, as the game medium, coins, game balls, point data for games, tokens, and the like can be targeted in addition to medals.

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 a random number in a predetermined numerical range (for example, 0 to 65535). Will be done.

The internal lottery means draws lots based on the extracted random number values, and determines the internal winning combination. The main control circuit, which will be described later, is responsible for this internal lottery means. By determining the internal winning combination, the combination of symbols that are allowed to be displayed along the winning determination line described later is determined. The types of symbol combinations are those related to "winning" in which benefits such as medal payout, re-gaming operation, bonus operation, etc. are given to the player, and those related to other so-called "loss". Is provided.

Further, when the start lever is operated, a plurality of reels are rotated. After that, when the stop button corresponding to the predetermined reel is pressed by the player, the reel stop control means controls to stop the rotation of the corresponding reel based on the internal winning combination and the timing when the stop button is pressed. conduct. The reel stop control means is carried by the main control circuit described later.

In pachislot, basically, control is performed to stop the rotation of the corresponding reel within a specified time (190 msec or 75 msec) from the time when the stop button is pressed. In the present embodiment, the number of symbols that move with the rotation of the reel within this specified time is referred to as "the number of sliding pieces". When the specified period is 190 msec, the maximum number of sliding pieces is set for 4 symbols, and when the specified period is 75 msec, the maximum number of sliding pieces is set for 1 symbol.

When the internal winning combination that permits the combination display of the symbols related to the winning is determined, the reel stop control means usually sets the combination of the symbols within the specified time of 190 msec (4 frames of the symbols) to be the winning determination line. Stop the rotation of the reel so that it is displayed as much as possible along. Further, the reel stop control means is specified for one or more reels, for example, when the challenge bonus (CB) which is a second type special accessory and the middle bonus (MB) which continuously operates the CB are operated. Within the time of 75 msec (for one symbol), 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. Further, the reel stop control means uses various specified times corresponding to the gaming state to rotate the reel so that the combination of symbols whose display is not permitted by the internal winning combination is not displayed along the winning determination line. Stop it.

In this way, when all the rotations of the plurality of reels are stopped, the winning determination means determines whether or not the combination of symbols displayed along the winning determination line is related to the winning. The main control circuit, which will be described later, is responsible for the winning determination means. When it is determined by the winning determination means that the prize is related to the prize, the player is given a privilege such as paying out a medal. In pachislot, the above series of flows is performed as one game.

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

When the start lever is operated, a random value for effect (hereinafter referred to as a random value for effect) is extracted in addition to the random value used for determining the internal winning combination described above. When the random value for the effect is extracted, the effect content determining means determines by lottery what to be executed this time from a plurality of types of effect contents associated with the internal winning combination. The sub-control circuit, which will be described later, is responsible for determining the content of the effect.

When the content of the effect is determined, the effect executing means executes the corresponding effect in conjunction with each opportunity such as when the rotation of the reels starts, when the rotation of each reel stops, and when it is determined whether or not there is a prize. In this way, in pachislot, by executing the production content associated with the internal winning combination, the player has an opportunity to know or anticipate the determined internal winning combination (in other words, the combination of symbols to be aimed at). It is provided and can improve the interest of the player.

<Structure of pachislot>
Next, the structure of the pachi-slot machine 1 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

[Appearance structure]
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external structure of the pachi-slot machine 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pachi-slot machine 1 includes an exterior body 2. The exterior body 2 has a cabinet 2a for accommodating a hopper device 51 and a medal auxiliary storage 52 (see FIG. 5), which will be described later, and a front door 2b that can be opened and closed with respect 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 recess for carrying the pachi-slot machine 1.

Inside the exterior body 2, three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R are provided side by side. Hereinafter, each reel 3L, 3C, and 3R will be referred to as a left reel 3L, a middle reel 3C, and a right reel 3R, respectively. Each reel 3L, 3C, 3R has a reel body formed in a cylindrical shape and a translucent sheet material mounted on the peripheral surface of the reel body. A plurality of (for example, 20) patterns are drawn on the surface of the sheet material at predetermined intervals along the circumferential direction.

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

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

The front panel 10 is arranged so as to be superimposed on 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 composed of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and the like, and turns on and off the light in a pattern corresponding to the content of the effect.

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

The symbol display area 4 is arranged on the front side superimposing on the three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R when viewed from the front, and is provided corresponding to the three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R. The symbol display area 4 functions as a display window, and has a configuration capable of transmitting the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R provided behind the display window 4. Hereinafter, the symbol display area 4 is referred to as a reel display window 4.

When the rotation of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R provided behind the reel display window 4 is stopped, the upper, middle, and lower stages of the plurality of types of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R in the frame thereof are shown. One symbol (three in total) is displayed in each area of. In the present embodiment, a pseudo line formed by combining any of three predetermined areas of the upper, middle, and lower stages of the reel display window 4 is a target for determining whether or not a prize is won. It is defined as a line (winning judgment line).

The reel display window 4 is formed by a frame member 13 provided on the pedestal portion 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 continuously provided at the lower part of the reel display window 4, and is open 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 with a transparent window cover 16.

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

Since the window cover 16 constituting the information sheet mounting portion is not removable from the front side of the front door 2b and has a smooth surface without unevenness or gaps, the pachi-slot machine 1 can be used by using the information sheet mounting portion. It is possible to prevent fraudulent activities that access the inside of the door.

The stop button mounting portion 15 is provided below the information display window 14, and is formed on a flat surface 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 each of the three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R, and are provided to stop the rotation adjustment 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 indicate an example of various devices to be operated by the player. Further, the pedestal portion 12 is provided with a medal insertion slot 21, a BET button 22, and a start lever 23 as various devices to be operated by the player.

The medal slot 21 is provided to receive medals dropped from the outside by the player. The medals accepted in the medal slot 21 will be inserted into one game up to a predetermined number (for example, 3), and the excess of the specified number will be deposited inside the pachislot machine 1. It becomes possible (so-called credit function).

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

Further, a 7-segment display 24 composed of 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 the number of medals to be paid out) and the number of medals deposited inside the pachislot machine (hereinafter referred to as the number of credits). ..

A checkout button 27 is provided on the left side of the pedestal portion 12 when the front door 2b is viewed from the front. The settlement button 27 is provided to pull out (discharge) to the outside stored inside the pachi-slot machine 1. A lumbar panel unit 31 is provided below the pedestal portion 12. 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 outlet 32, speaker holes 33L and 33R, and a medal tray unit 34 are provided. The medal payout outlet 32 guides the medals discharged from the medal selector 201 described later and the medals discharged by driving the hopper device 51 described later to the outside. The medals discharged from the medal payout port 32 are stored in the medal tray unit 34. The speaker holes 33L and 33R are provided to output sound effects, music, and the like according to the content of the production.

[Internal structure]
3 and 4 are perspective views showing the internal structure of the pachi-slot machine 1. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the front door 2b is opened and the middle door 41 provided on the back surface side of the front door 2b is closed with respect to the front door 2b. Further, FIG. 4 shows a state in which the front door 2b is opened and the middle door 41 is opened with respect to the front door 2b. Further, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the inside of the cabinet 2a. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the back surface 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 arranged on the upper side inside the cabinet 2a. The cabinet-side speaker 42 is attached to the back plate 20e of the cabinet 2a via the mounting brackets 43L and 43R. The cabinet-side speaker 42 is, for example, a speaker for outputting a sound effect.

When the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, the cabinet side relay board 44 is arranged on the left side of the cabinet side speaker 42. 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), which will be 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. Relays the wiring that connects to the count switch (not shown).

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

Further, when the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, an external centralized terminal board 47 is arranged on the right side of the amplifier board 45 (see FIG. 5). The external centralized terminal plate 47 is attached to the right side plate 20d of the cabinet 2a. The external centralized 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 pachi-slot machine 1.

When the inside of the cabinet 2a is viewed from the front, the sub power supply device 48 is arranged on the left side of the amplifier board 45. The sub power supply device 48 is attached to the left side plate 20c of the cabinet 2a. The sub power supply device 48 supplies electric power having an AC voltage of 100 V to a power supply device 53 described later. Further, the electric power having an AC voltage of 100V is converted into the electric power having a 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 arranged on the lower side inside the cabinet 2a.

The hopper device 51 is attached to the central portion of the bottom plate 20b in the cabinet 2a. The hopper device 51 has a structure capable of accommodating a large number of medals and ejecting them one by one. The hopper device 51, for example, ejects the stored medals for the number of credits when the settlement button 27 (see FIG. 2) is pressed to settle the medals deposited inside the pachi-slot machine. The medals paid out by the hopper device 51 are discharged from the medal payout outlet 32 (see FIG. 2).

The medal auxiliary storage 52 stores medals overflowing from the hopper device 51. The medal auxiliary storage 52 is arranged 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 removable 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 supply switch 53a and a power supply board 53b (see FIG. 13). The power supply device 53 converts the power of the AC voltage 100V supplied from the sub power supply device 48 into the power of the DC voltage required in each part, and supplies the converted power to each part.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 6, the middle door 41 is arranged at the center of the back surface of the front door 2b, and the reel display window 4 (see FIG. 4) can be opened and closed from the back side. Door stoppers 41a, 41b, 41c are provided on the upper part and the lower part 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, and 3R are attached to the middle door 41. A stepping motor is connected to the three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R via gears having a predetermined reduction ratio.

As shown in FIG. 6, the main control board case 55 is provided with a setting key type switch 56. This setting key type switch 56 is used when changing the setting of the pachi-slot slot 1 or confirming the setting of the pachi-slot slot 1. In the present embodiment, the main control board unit is composed of 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 pachi-slot machine 1, such as determining the internal winning combination, rotating and stopping the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R, and determining whether or not there is a prize. The specific configuration of the main control circuit 91 will be described later.

A sub-control board case 57 for accommodating the sub-control board 72 (see FIG. 13) is disposed above the middle door 41, and a center speaker 58 is disposed above the sub-control board case 57. 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 the 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 arranged on the right side of the sub-control board case 57 when the front door 2b is viewed from the back surface side. The sub-relay board 61 relays the wiring connecting the sub-control board 72 and the main control board 71. Further, it is a board that relays wiring connecting the sub-control board 72 and the boards arranged around the sub-control board 72. Examples of the substrate arranged around the sub-control substrate 72 include LED substrates 62A, 62B, and 62C, which will be described later.

The LED boards 62A, 62B, and 62C are arranged on both sides of the sub-control board case 57 when viewed from the back surface side of the front door 2b. These LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C have a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) 85 (see FIG. 13) showing a specific example of a light source according to the effect executed by the control of the sub control circuit 101 (see FIG. 15). ) Is emitted to display the blinking pattern. The gaming machine according to this embodiment includes a plurality of LED boards in addition to the LED boards 62A, 62B, and 62C.

A 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 is arranged below the sub-relay board 61. The 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 stores the open / close history 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 arranged. The board speaker 64 faces the lumbar panel unit 31 (see FIG. 2), and the lower speakers 65L and 65R face the speaker holes 33L and 33R (see FIG. 2), respectively.

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

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

The door open / close monitoring switch 67 is arranged on the left side of the medal selector 201 when the front door 2b is viewed from the back surface side. The door open / close monitoring switch 67 outputs a security signal for notifying the open / close of the front door 2b to the outside of the pachi-slot machine 1.

Further, a door relay terminal plate 68 is arranged below the reel display window 4 in a region opened and closed by the middle door 41 (see FIG. 4). The door relay terminal board 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. It is a board that relays wiring with 81 (see FIG. 13). Examples of various buttons and switches include a BET button 22, a settlement button 27, a door open / close monitoring switch 67, a BET switch 77 described later, a start switch 79, and the like.

<Composition of medal selector>
Next, a specific configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 12. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the medal selector 201 as viewed from diagonally rearward of the pachi-slot machine 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 diagonally from the front of the pachi-slot machine 1. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the select plate 207 described later of the medal selector 201. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a medal path when the medal selector 201 guides the medal to the hopper device 51. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a medal path when the medal selector 201 guides the medal to the medal shoot 202. The arrows X shown in FIGS. 7 to 12 indicate the left-right direction of the pachi-slot machine 1, the arrow Y indicates the front-back direction of the pachi-slot machine 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, and the like. It is equipped with.

The base plate portion 204 is a substantially plate-shaped member constituting the outer frame housing of the medal selector 201, and is molded so that both ends of the pachi-slot 1 in the left-right direction are bent behind the pachi-slot 1. The base plate portion 204 has a rear surface 204b, which is one plane orthogonal to the front-rear direction of the pachi-slot machine 1, and a front surface 204a (see FIG. 9), which is the other plane. On the rear surface 204b, the medal rail 210 is formed so as to be recessed in front of the pachi-slot machine 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 portion 204, a medal entrance portion 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 portion 211 move from above to below along the medal rail 210. A medal outlet portion 204c (see FIG. 8) is provided at the lower portion of the base plate portion 204. The medal that has moved in the medal selector 201 is ejected from the medal outlet portion 204c and is accommodated 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 the end portion 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 portion 214 provided on the front surface 204a of the base plate portion 204. A coil spring 215 is attached to the shaft portion 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 illegal medal that is not an appropriate material among the medals that move on the medal rail 210.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, an upper exposed hole 219 is formed in a substantially central portion of the downstream region of the medal rail 210, which penetrates in the front-rear direction and exposes the rear end portion of the after medal pressure 218 described later. .. Further, in the lower portion of the downstream region of the medal rail 210, a lower exposed hole 220 is formed which penetrates in the front-rear direction and exposes the medal stopper portion 227 described later of the select plate 207.

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

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the cancel shooter 206 is a substantially plate-shaped member, and is molded so that both ends of the pachi-slot 1 in the left-right direction are bent in front of the pachi-slot 1. The cancel shooter 206 is detachably fixed to the base plate portion 204 and covers the lower portion of the base plate portion 204 from the rear. The cancel shooter 206 guides the medal discharged without passing through the medal exit portion 204c to the medal shoot 202 (see FIG. 4). A notch 206a notched downward in a substantially rectangular shape is formed in the upper part of the 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 the rear. The sub-plate 205 has a flat plate-shaped main body portion 221 and a shaft portion 222 provided on the upper portion of the main body portion 221. A through hole 221a penetrating in the front-rear direction is provided in the substantially central portion of the main body portion 221, and a downstream region is exposed from the substantially central portion of the medal rail 210 from the through hole 221a.

The shaft portion 222 is supported by the base plate portion 204, and the sub-plate 205 is rotatably attached to the base plate portion 204 about the shaft portion 222. A coil spring 223 is attached to the shaft portion 222. Normally, the sub-plate 205 is pressed against the base plate portion 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 portion of the medal rail 210 covered by the sub-plate 205. That is, the sub-plate 205 functions as a guide plate for passing medals.

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

As shown in FIG. 8, the select plate 207 is a member that guides medals moving 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 has a substantially trapezoidal plate-shaped plate body 224 and a pair of bearing portions formed by bending both ends of the plate body 224 in the left-right direction toward the front of the pachi-slot machine 1. It has 225 and. Further, on the upper portion of the plate main body 224, a flange portion 226 formed by bending forward of the pachi-slot machine 1 and bending upward at the rear end portion is formed. Further, one bearing portion 225 is formed with a medal stopper portion 227 extending downward.

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

As shown in FIG. 9, the select plate 207 is rotatably supported by a shaft portion 228 provided on the front surface 204a of the base plate portion 204. A coil spring 229 is provided on the shaft portion 228, and the flange portion 226 is urged to the front of the pachi-slot machine 1. The flange portion 226 is in contact with one end of the medal solenoid 208. When the medal solenoid 208 is in the ON state, the flange portion 226 is pressed against one end of the medal solenoid 208 and moves to the rear of the pachi-slot machine 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 body 224 of the select plate 207 and the medal rail 210 at the guide position is set to a predetermined distance that can guide the medal to the hopper device 51 without ejecting the medal to the cancel shooter 206 side. At this time, the medal stopper portion 227 does not protrude from the lower exposed hole 220 (see FIG. 8).

Further, 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 to the front of the pachi-slot machine 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 ejection position and the medal rail 210 is set to be longer than a predetermined distance. At this time, it is pressed by the flange portion 226 that moves to the front of the pachi-slot 1, and one end of the medal solenoid 208 moves to the front of the pachi-slot 1. Along with this, the other end of the medal solenoid 208 moves to the rear of the pachi-slot machine 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 portion of the after medal pressure 218 is exposed from the upper exposed hole 219 (see FIG. 8).

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

As shown in FIG. 11, the select plate 207 in the guide position contacts the upper part of the moving medal when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 meets the standard dimensions, and the medal is moved to the medal outlet portion 204c (see FIG. 8). ). When the medal is guided by the select plate 207, the medal pressure 213 is pressed forward of the pachi-slot machine 1. In FIG. 11, the sub-plate 205 of the medal selector 201 and the cancel shooter 206 are not shown.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 12, the select plate 207 in the ejection position has a distance between the plate body 224 and the medal rail 210 even when the medal moving on the medal rail 210 meets the standard dimensions. Therefore, the medal cannot be guided to the medal exit portion 204c (see FIG. 8). Further, the medal is pushed out to the medal pressure 213, the after medal pressure 218 protruding from the upper exposed hole 219, or the medal stopper portion 227 protruding from the lower exposed hole 220, and discharged toward the cancel shooter 206. Note that, in FIG. 12, as in FIG. 11, the sub-plate 205 and the cancel shooter 206 of the medal selector 201 are not shown.

Further, in the present embodiment, the select plate 207 is normally positioned at the guide position, but under predetermined conditions (for example, when a predetermined number of medals are inserted, when an error occurs, when a game is started, etc.), the select plate 207 is positioned at the ejection position. It is positioned.

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

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the camera unit 209 is composed of a first substrate 230 and a second substrate 231 and is a unit for determining whether or not an object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal. Is. The first substrate 230 is provided with a CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 16) and an LED 233 (see FIG. 16). The second substrate 231 is provided with a control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16) that is communicatively and controllably connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233. The first board 230 and the second board 231 are connected by a BtoB (Board-to-Board) type connector (not shown), and are connected by legs 235 provided at the corners of the respective boards 230 and 231. It is fixed. The specific configuration of the circuit of the camera unit 209 will be described later. Further, in the present embodiment, the embodiment in which the camera unit 209 is composed of two boards 230 and 231 has been described, but instead of this, the camera unit is provided with one board 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 the first substrate 230 to the screw holes 206b provided around the notch 206a at the top of the cancel shooter 206. The CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 16) is provided in a substantially central portion of the first substrate 230. The CMOS image sensor 232 images a medal moving on the medal rail 210 and outputs the image data of the imaged 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 illuminates the medal moving on the medal rail 210. The control LSI 234 (see FIG. 16) determines whether or not 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 the determination result. That is, in the present embodiment, the control LSI 234 constitutes a game medium determination means for determining whether or not the medal moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal. In the present embodiment, the mode of fixing the camera unit 209 to the cancel shooter 206 by screwing it into the screw hole 206b formed around the notch 206a has been described, but the fixing mode of the camera unit is limited to this. Not done. For example, a mounting rail is provided between the first board 230 and the second board 231 and a recess is provided in the upper part of the cancel shooter 206, and the mounting rail is fitted in the recess, and then the mounting rail and the cancel shooter 206 are provided. May be fixed with screws or adhesive.

<Pachislot circuit configuration>
Next, the configuration of the circuit included in the pachi-slot machine 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 20. First, an outline of the entire circuit included in the pachi-slot machine 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a block configuration diagram of the entire circuit included in the pachi-slot machine 1.

The pachi-slot machine 1 has a main control board 71 arranged in the middle door 41 and a sub control board 72 arranged in the front door 2b. The main control board 71 includes a reel relay terminal board 74, a setting key type switch 56, an external centralized terminal board 47, a hopper device 51, a medal auxiliary storage switch 75, and a power supply board 53b 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. Since the external centralized terminal board 47 and the hopper device 51 have been described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

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

The medal auxiliary storage switch 75 penetrates the switch through hole (not displayed) 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 the power supply board 53b of the power supply device 53. The power switch 53a is turned on when supplying the necessary power to the pachi-slot machine 1.

Further, the main control board 71 has 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, and a game operation display board 81 via a door relay terminal board 68. And the sub-relay board 61 are connected. Since the door open / close monitoring switch 67 and the sub-relay board 61 have been described above, the 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 checkout switch 78 detects that the checkout 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 stoptable reel by 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, 19R is 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 the insertion of medals, when the three reels 3L, 3C, and 3R are rotatable and when the replay is performed. It is a substrate for making it. A 7-segment display 24 and an LED 82 are connected to the game operation display board 81. The LED 82, for example, lights 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 board 68 and the sub-relay board 61. The sound I / O board 84, the LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C, and the 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 are connected to the sub control board 72 via the sub relay board 61. Since the LED boards 62A, 62B, 62C and the 24h door open / close monitoring unit 63 have been described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

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

Further, the ROM cartridge board 86 and the 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 board 86 is a board for managing images (video) for directing, audio, LED boards 62A and 62B and other LED boards (not shown), and communication data. The liquid crystal relay board 87 is a board that relays the wiring connecting the sub-control board 72 and the liquid crystal display device 11.

[Main control circuit]
Next, the main control circuit 91 configured by the main control board 71 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the main control circuit 91 of the pachi-slot machine 1.

The main control circuit 91 has 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-mentioned hopper device 51 constitute the game medium payout device of the present invention.

The main ROM 94 is for transmitting various control commands (commands) to the control program executed by the main CPU 93 (for example, the program for executing the internal lottery process described above), the data table, and the sub control circuit 101. Data etc. 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 a 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 generation 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 random numbers in a predetermined range (for example, 0 to 65535). The sampling circuit 99 extracts one value from the generated random numbers.

The main CPU 93 counts the number of times a pulse is output to the stepping motors of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R after detecting the reel index. As a result, the main CPU 93 manages the rotation angles of the reels 3L, 3C, and 3R (mainly, how many symbols the reels have rotated). The reel index is information indicating that the reel has made one revolution. This reel index is provided, for example, with an optical sensor having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit, and is provided at a predetermined position on each reel 3L, 3C, 3R, and the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit are connected by rotation of each reel 3L, 3C, 3R. Detection is performed by a reel position detection unit (not shown) provided with a detection piece interposed between them.

Here, the management of the rotation angles of the reels 3L, 3C, and 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. Then, every time the output of a predetermined number of pulses (for example, 16 times) required for rotation of one symbol is counted by the pulse counter, the symbol counter provided in the main RAM 95 is added one by one. The symbol counter is provided according to each reel 3L, 3C, 3R. The value of the symbol counter is cleared when the reel index is detected by the reel position detection unit (not shown).

That is, 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 of each reel 3L, 3C, 3R is detected with reference to the position where the reel index is detected.

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

[Secondary control circuit]
Next, the sub-control circuit 101 configured by the sub-control board 72 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the sub-control circuit 101 of the pachi-slot machine 1.

The sub control circuit 101 is electrically connected to the main control circuit 91, and performs processing such as determination and execution of the effect content based on the command transmitted from the main control circuit 91. The sub-control circuit 101 is basically configured to include 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 the output of video, sound, and light according to the control program stored in the ROM cartridge board 86 in response to the command transmitted from the main control circuit 91. The ROM cartridge board 86 is basically composed of 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, in the control program, a main board communication task for controlling communication with the main control circuit 91 and an effect registration task for extracting an effect random value and determining and registering an effect content (effect data). Is included. Further, a drawing control task for controlling the display of an image by the liquid crystal display device 11 (see FIG. 2) based on the determined effect content, a lamp control task for controlling the output of light by a light source such as an LED 85, and speakers 58, 64, 65L. , 65R and the like include a voice control task for controlling the 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. Further, a storage area for storing sound data related to BGM and sound effects, a storage area for storing lamp data related to a pattern of turning on and off light, and the like are included.

The sub RAM 103 is provided with a storage area for registering the determined effect content 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 an image according to the animation data specified by the effect content, and display the created image on the liquid crystal display device 11.

Further, the sub CPU 102 outputs a sound such as BGM by a speaker such as a speaker 58, 64, 65L, 65R according to the sound data designated by the effect content. Further, the sub CPU 102 controls the lighting and extinguishing of a light source such as the LED 85 according to the lamp data specified by the effect content.

<Circuit configuration of medal selector>
Next, the circuit configuration of the medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing 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. Further, the medal selector 201 is connected to the main control board 71 via the 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) and an FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Array), and is electrically connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233. Has been done. The control LSI 234 controls the light emission of the LED 233. Further, the control LSI 234 determines whether or not the input 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 board 68. .. The CMOS image sensor 232 used in the present embodiment 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. It does not have to be (an imager other than CMOS can also be used). Further, a light emitting device other than the LED can also be used.

[Circuit configuration of control LSI]
Next, the circuit configuration of the control LSI 234 will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 to 20. FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of the control LSI 234. 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 side of the regular medal, and FIG. 19B is an image of the regular medal. Shows the data. Further, FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining the generation (composite) of the processed image data (gradient average image data) related to the regular medal. The camera unit 209 includes a light emitting unit including an LED or the like, but is not shown in FIG.

The control LSI 234 includes a host controller 241, an image recognition DSP (digital signal processor) circuit 242, a DMAC (Direct Memory Access Controller) 252, a SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) 243, a flash memory 244, and an ISP (Image). A signal processing) circuit 245 and a medal counting circuit 246 are provided. Further, 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 constituting these control LSIs 234 are connected to each other via a bus, and in the control LSI 234 of the present embodiment, AXI (Advanced eXtensible Interface) is adopted as a bus protocol.

Further, 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 image data to the ISP circuit 245.

The DMAC252 is a circuit that controls direct transfer (that is, DMA (direct memory access) transfer) that transfers data between memories and input / output devices without going through the host controller 241. In the present embodiment, when data is transferred between the memory of each of the above circuits included in the control LSI 234 and the SRAM 243, the DMA transfer is performed under the control of the DMAC252, if necessary. In the present embodiment, DMA transfer is performed under the control of DMAC252 for at least one transfer / storage of predetermined data as needed, but such DMA transfer is not performed and DMAC252 is deleted from the configuration. You can also. That is, in the present embodiment, the DMAC252 that controls the DMA that directly transfers the data transfer between each circuit and the SRAM 243 without going through the host controller 241 constitutes a direct transfer control means.

When the ISP circuit 245 receives the RGB bayer image from the ISI circuit 251, it outputs a VSYNC (Vertical Synchronization) interrupt signal to the host controller 241. Further, the ISP circuit 245 performs a format conversion process for converting the RGB bayer image output from the ISI circuit 251 into various formats. In the format 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 by, for example, DMA transfer. Further, the ISP circuit 245 converts the RGB bayer image into image data (YUV image data) corresponding to the YUV color space, and outputs the data related to the brightness 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 the data related to the hue and saturation in the HSV image data to the color recognition circuit 247.

Here, the CMOS image sensor 232 corresponds to the image pickup unit 261 shown in FIG. Further, a processing function for converting an ISI circuit 251 (and a host controller 241 that controls the ISI circuit 251) and a part of the ISP circuit 245 (at least, an RGB bayer image into image data (YUV image data) corresponding to the YUV color space). The unit) and the host controller 241 that controls the unit) correspond to the conversion unit 263 in FIG. The captured image 262 is sent from the imaging unit 261 to the conversion unit 263.

The medal counting circuit 246 performs counting processing based on the data related to the luminance output from the ISP circuit 245. In the counting process, the medal counting circuit 246 compares the data related to the brightness of the counting area, which is a predetermined area in the image, with the count threshold value, and determines whether or not the medal has passed by the background subtraction method. The count threshold value is a predetermined threshold value based on the 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 (thing other than the medal has passed) if the difference is large. Then, the medal count circuit 246 stores the determination result in the SRAM 243.

The count area can be arbitrarily set according to the medal used by the pachi-slot machine 1 as a regular medal, but it is preferable to set the count area in the area so that the rotation angle of the medal does not significantly affect the difference in brightness. For example, when a regular medal 400 having the same marking (pattern) on both sides as shown in FIG. 19A is used, in the image data 402 of the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 19B), one of the regular medals in the area is used. The place (area 403 in FIG. 19B) is set as the counting area so that the marking (pattern) on the surface of the medal does not change depending on the rotation angle of the medal, that is, the rotation angle of the medal does not significantly affect the difference in brightness. Is preferable. Further, the narrower the range of the count area, the faster the count process can be.

The color recognition circuit 247 performs color determination processing based on the data related to hue and saturation output from the ISP circuit 245. In the color determination process, the color recognition circuit 247 first expresses the integrated value of the data related to the hue and saturation near the center of the image data as a vector (vector conversion), and calculates the angle of the vector in the three-dimensional space. do. Next, the color recognition circuit 247 compares the calculated vector angle with a predetermined color threshold value, and determines whether or not the color matches the color of the regular medal. The predetermined threshold value is a predetermined threshold value based on the angle of the vector calculated by the same method as the above-mentioned processing for the image data related to the regular medal (for example, 3 related to the regular medal to be compared). Within ± 10 degrees of the angle on the individual coordinates (XYZ) of the vector in 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 an RGB Bayer image from SRAM 243 into Y (luminance of each pixel) by, for example, DMA transfer, and performs fisheye correction processing. In the fisheye correction process, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 performs fisheye correction (for example, bilinear interpolation) on the acquired image data to create reduced image data reduced to 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8. .. Then, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248 stores the created reduced image data in the SRAM 243 by, for example, DMA transfer.

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

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

Here, a part of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (the above-mentioned processing function unit that converts the acquired reduced image data into edge image data through a nonlinear diffusion filter) and the host controller 241 that controls this are shown in FIG. It is included in the conversion unit 263.

The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs image processing (for example, rotation integration processing here) for creating processed image data (for example, gradient average image data here). In this image processing, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 acquires edge image data from SRAM 243 by, for example, DMA transfer, and obtains the acquired edge image data (for example, image data 402 shown in FIG. 19B) in units of once, for example. The processed image data is generated by integrating (overlapping) the converted image data for 360 degrees generated by rotating with. The processed image data generated by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is stored in the SRAM 243 by, for example, DMA transfer. As an example in which the processed image data is generated (synthesized), the processed image data 405 of the regular medal 400 shown in FIG. 19A is shown in FIG. The processed image data 405 is image data (gradient average image data) in which edge image data having the shape of "A" is integrated (that is, integrated 360 times) while rotating 360 degrees, for example. Will be shown in a simplified manner.

The processing function unit that generates the processed image data of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 and the host controller 241 that controls the processing function unit correspond to the feature image generation unit 264 of 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 the processed image data created by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 in the image processing from the SRAM 243 by, for example, DMA transfer. Next, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 differs between the acquired processed image data and the template data for engraving determination processing (for example, the processed image data of the regular medal 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 medal marking matches the marking of the regular medal based on the calculated difference value and the threshold value for marking determination, and stores the determination result in the SRAM 243. .. For example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 compares the brightness of each pixel of the acquired processed image data and the template data, and determines whether or not they match (in the case of multiple tones, whether the difference is within a predetermined range). If there are more than a certain number of matching pixels (difference is within a predetermined range), it is determined that the medal marking (pattern) matches the marking of the regular medal, and if the matching pixels are less than a certain number, the medal marking (difference is within a predetermined range). It is determined that the pattern) does not match the engraving of the regular medal.

The processing function unit related to the marking determination process of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241 that controls the marking determination process correspond to the determination unit 265 shown in FIG. 18, and the template data is the template data 267. Corresponds to.

The image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241 that perform the above-mentioned marking determination processing and the like are operated by a program (sequence program), and the program is, for example, a memory (for example, a memory) arranged in the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the host controller 241. , DRAM). Further, these programs may be stored in the SRAM 243 or the flash memory 244. Further, the template data is stored in, for example, SRAM 243.

The host controller 241 includes a processor and controls each device, that is, a medal count circuit 246, a color recognition circuit 247, a fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, an image recognition DSP circuit 242, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and a GPIO250. Further, the host controller 241 outputs a signal related to a lighting instruction or an extinguishing instruction to the LED 233 via the GPIO 250. Further, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result related to the count process, the determination result related to the color determination process, and the determination result related to the marking determination process stored in the SRAM 243 via the GPIO 250.

The GPIO 250 that outputs the determination result related to the color determination process or the marking determination process and the host controller 241 that controls the GPIO 250 correspond to the input / output unit 266 shown in FIG. 18, and the determination result is the determination in FIG. Corresponds to result 268.

The host controller 241, the image recognition DSP circuit 242, the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 each have a memory (for example, DRAM), and the memory has parameters and data (for example, for example) used for various processes. Image data) is stored. Further, these parameters and data can be stored in the SRAM 243 or the flash memory 244.

[Configuration of image recognition accelerator circuit]
Next, the configuration of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 will be described with reference to FIG. 21. FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249.

As shown in FIG. 21, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 has an input frame buffer 271, a coordinate conversion circuit 272, an image processing circuit 273, and a memory 274 (the memory 274 is composed of, for example, a storage circuit such as a DRAM). It is equipped with. The target image data 275 generated based on the image data of the medal captured by the above-mentioned CMOS image sensor 232 and stored in the SRAM 243 or the like is input to the input frame buffer 271.

The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 can access the SRAM 243 without going through the host controller 241 and transfer the target image data 275 from the SRAM 243 to the input frame buffer 271 (DMA transfer) under the control of the DMAC252. That is, data transfer is performed between the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 and the SRAM 243 without going through the CPU of the host controller 241.

The input frame buffer 271 can store the target image data 275 for one frame. The DMAC252 controls to read the target image data 275 stored in the SRAM 243 and write the data to the input frame buffer 271. The DMAC252 repeats such control at a predetermined timing, reads out the target image data 275 stored in the SRAM 243, and sequentially stores the target image data 275 in the input frame buffer 271.

Further, the DMAC252 can be configured to have a buffer capable of storing image data composed of a plurality of pixel data. The buffer is composed of, for example, a FIFO (first in first out) buffer. In this case, the DMAC252 reads the target image data 275 stored in the SRAM 243 and temporarily stores the data in the buffer. Then, the DMAC252 writes the plurality of pixel data in the buffer into the input frame buffer 271. By repeating this process a plurality of times, the target image data 275 for one frame is written in the input frame buffer 271.

The coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs coordinate conversion of the image with respect to the target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271. The converted image data 276 that has undergone coordinate conversion is input to the image processing circuit 273. When the new target image data 275 is stored in the input frame buffer 271, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs coordinate conversion of the image with respect to the new target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271. In the present specification, the image data subjected to the coordinate conversion by the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is referred to as "converted image data", and the image data before the coordinate conversion is referred to as "target image data".

Further, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is provided with the conversion parameter 280 stored in the memory 274. The conversion parameter 280 is copied from the SRAM 243 at a timing such as the initial setting of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249.

The image processing circuit 273 performs predetermined image processing on the converted image data 276 obtained by the coordinate conversion circuit 272. For example, the image processing circuit 273 synthesizes a plurality of converted image data 276 obtained by the coordinate conversion circuit 272, and outputs the processed image data 277 obtained thereby. In this specification, image data generated as a result of image processing by the image processing circuit 273 (for example, image data obtained by integrating a plurality of converted image data and a plurality of coordinate conversions are executed for the target image data. Image data) is referred to as "processed image data".

The processed image data 277 generated by the image processing circuit 273 is transferred (DMA transfer) to the SRAM 243 under the control of the DMAC252. When the DMAC252 has a buffer, the DMAC252 temporarily stores a plurality of pixel data of the processed image data 277 output from the image processing circuit 273 in the buffer, and then writes the plurality of pixel data in the buffer to the SRAM 243. By repeating this process a plurality of times, one frame of processed image data is written to the SRAM 243.

[Operation and configuration of coordinate conversion circuit]
Here, first, the outline of the operation of the coordinate conversion circuit 272 will be described, and then the configuration and detailed operation of the coordinate conversion circuit 272 will be described.

[Outline of operation of coordinate conversion circuit]
The coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs a plurality of coordinate conversions using the target image data 275 for one frame stored in the input frame buffer 271. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 22, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs a plurality of coordinate conversions individually on the target image data 275, and performs a plurality of converted image data 276 (for example, 276-). 1 to 276-360) is generated.

In the present embodiment, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs coordinate transformation for performing affine transformation of the image on the target image data 275. Specifically, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs coordinate conversion for rotating the image on the target image data 275. As a result, in the coordinate conversion circuit 272, the target image data 275 is rotated, and the rotated image data is obtained as the converted image data 276. Here, the rotation of the image is the rotation of the subject reflected in the image, and even if the image is rotated, the outer shape of the image does not change. Hereinafter, the rotated image represented by the converted image data 276 may be simply referred to as a “rotated image”.

The coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs a plurality of coordinate conversions separately on the target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271 to generate a plurality of converted image data 276 having different rotation angles from each other. Each time the target image data 275 is written to the input frame buffer 271, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs a plurality of coordinate conversions separately for the target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271.

[Coordinate conversion circuit configuration]
FIG. 23 is a diagram mainly showing the configuration of the coordinate conversion circuit 272, and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 shown in FIG. 23 is a circuit similar to that shown in FIG. 21. As shown in FIG. 23, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 includes a conversion circuit 281 that performs coordinate conversion and a control circuit 282. The coordinate conversion circuit 272 according to the present embodiment is configured as hardware that operates without using software, unlike a configuration in which predetermined processing is performed by executing a program on a CPU, for example.

As shown in FIG. 23, the memory 274 stores the conversion parameter 280 used in the coordinate conversion. The conversion parameter 280 includes a plurality of conversion parameters 280 necessary for a plurality of coordinate transformations. The conversion parameter 280 is written from the SRAM 243 to the memory 274 by the host controller 241 as described later.

The conversion circuit 281 individually performs a plurality of coordinate conversions on one target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271 to generate a plurality of converted image data 276s.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of how the conversion parameter 280 is stored in the memory 274. As shown in FIG. 24, the conversion parameter 280 includes a plurality of conversion parameters (280-1 to 280-360) for performing a plurality of rotations with respect to the image. The conversion parameter 280 shown in FIG. 24 is, for example, 360 conversion parameters (280-1 to 280-360) for rotating the image from 1 ° to 360 °.

In the memory 274, the conversion parameter 280 having a smaller rotation angle is stored in a storage area having a smaller address. Therefore, when the conversion parameters 280 of 360 stored in the memory 274 are viewed in ascending order of the address of the storage area in which they are stored, the conversion parameters 280 of 360 are arranged in order of decreasing rotation angle.

The conversion circuit 281 performs coordinate conversion for the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 stored in the memory 274. As a result, the target image data 275 is subjected to coordinate conversion processing so as to rotate by a rotation angle corresponding to the conversion parameter 280. In the present embodiment, the target image data 275 is converted so as to be rotated clockwise around the center of gravity of the figure represented by the target image data 275, for example.

The control circuit 282 sequentially reads out a plurality of conversion parameters 280 from the memory 274, and provides the conversion parameters 280 to the conversion circuit 281. As a result, a plurality of conversion parameters 280 stored in the memory 274 are sequentially input to the conversion circuit 281 by the action of the control circuit 282, and the conversion circuit 281 is input each time the conversion parameter 280 is input. The target image data 275 of the input frame buffer 271 is rotated based on the conversion parameter 280, and the converted image data 276 obtained thereby is output to the image processing circuit 273.

The control circuit 282 also has a register 283. The register 283 is specified to specify a plurality of conversion parameters 280 used in the conversion circuit 281 among the conversion parameters 280 (in the example of FIG. 24, the conversion parameters (280-1 to 280-360) of 360). Information 290 is stored. The control circuit 282 sequentially reads the conversion parameter 280 from the memory 274 based on the specific information 290 of the register 283. The specific information 290 is set in the register 283 by the host controller 241 as described later.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the specific information 290. As shown in FIG. 25, the specific information 290 includes, for example, the number of usage parameters 291, the usage start position 292, and the usage interval 293. In the present embodiment, as described above, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 sequentially and continuously performs the coordinate conversion of the target image data 275 based on the plurality of conversion parameters 280 that are sequentially input. Further, the conversion parameters 280 input in this way are provided, for example, in the order of the smaller rotation angles (for performing coordinate conversion).

The number of parameters used 291 indicates the number of conversion parameters 280 used in the coordinate conversion circuit 272 with respect to one target image data 275. In the present embodiment, since one conversion parameter 280 is used for one coordinate conversion for the target image data 275, the number of used parameters 291 is the number of coordinate conversions for one target image data 275. It can be said that it shows. When the number of parameters used 291 indicates, for example, "180", the conversion circuit 281 individually performs 180 coordinate conversions on one target image data 275, and 180 converted image data having different rotation angles from each other. 276 is continuously generated.

The use start position 292 indicates the storage position of the first used conversion parameter 280, that is, the address (in the storage area of the memory 274) where the first used conversion parameter 280 is stored. In the example of FIG. 25, when the use start position 292 indicates, for example, "0001h", the conversion parameter (280-2) for rotating the target image data 275 by 2 ° is used first.

The usage interval 293 determines how many conversion parameters 280 are used, which are separated from the conversion parameters 280 used in the previous coordinate conversion, in the plurality of conversion parameters 280 arranged in the order of the smallest rotation angle when performing coordinate conversion. Shows. For example, when the usage interval 293 indicates "2", the conversion parameter 280 used in the previous coordinate conversion (for example, the conversion parameter 280 for rotating the target image data 275 by 2 °) when performing the coordinate conversion is performed. A conversion parameter 280 (for example, a conversion parameter 280-4 for rotating the target image data 275 by 4 °) two distances from 2) is used.

From the above, when one target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271 is rotated by 2 ° from 2 ° to 360 °, the number of parameters used 291 is “180” and the start position 292 is “0001h”. , And the usage interval 293 is "2". In this case, by the control circuit 282, the conversion parameter 280-2 having a rotation angle of 2 °, the conversion parameter 280-4 having a rotation angle of 4 °, the conversion parameter 280-6 having a rotation angle of 6 °, ... The conversion parameter 280-358 having a rotation angle of 358 ° and the conversion parameter 280-360 having a rotation angle of 360 ° are sequentially read out and sequentially input to the conversion circuit 281. As a result, in the conversion circuit 281, as shown in FIG. 26, 180 converted image data 276 (276-1, 276-2, 276-3, ... 276-179, 276) having different rotation angles of 2 ° each. -180) are sequentially generated.

In addition, in the example of FIG. 25, when "360" is set for the number of used parameters 291, "0000h" is set for the used start position 292, and "1" is set for the used interval 293, the data is stored in the input frame buffer 271. The one target image data 275 is rotated by 1 ° from 1 ° to 360 °, and the converted image data 276 of 360 is generated.

Further, the number of used parameters 291 is set to "36", the used start position 292 is set to the address of the storage area in which the conversion parameter 280 having a rotation angle of 10 ° is stored, and the used interval 293 is set to "10". Then, one target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271 is rotated by 10 ° from 10 ° to 360 °, and 36 converted image data 276 is generated.

Further, the number of used parameters 291 is set to "18", the used start position 292 is set to the address of the storage area in which the conversion parameter 280 having a rotation angle of 270 ° is stored, and the used interval 293 is set to "5". Then, one target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271 is rotated by 5 ° from 270 ° to 360 °, and 18 converted image data 276 is generated.

The conversion circuit 281 outputs the converted image data 276 one by one to the image processing circuit 273. Further, the conversion circuit 281 outputs a plurality of pixels constituting the converted image data 276 to the image processing circuit 273 in units of a predetermined number of pixels or one pixel at a time (every time the pixel is generated). be able to.

In this way, in the coordinate conversion circuit 272, since the conversion parameter 280 is specified by the specific information 290, it is possible to determine what kind of coordinate conversion is to be performed by the coordinate conversion circuit 272 by the specific information 290. ..

Further, since the conversion parameter 280 is specified by the specific information 290, the specific information 290 used by the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is different by the control LSI 234 and the medal selector 201, so that the plurality of control LSIs 234 and the medal selector 201 can be used. It is possible to perform different coordinate transformations between them.

Further, a plurality of specific information 290s may be used in one control LSI 234 or the medal selector 201. In this case, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 uses the first specific information 290-1 when performing coordinate conversion on a certain target image data 275, and when performing coordinate conversion on another target image data 275'. The second specific information 290-2, which is different from the first specific information 290-1, is used. As a result, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 can perform different coordinate conversion for each target image data.

In the present embodiment, the specific information 290 is configured to include the number of usage parameters 291 and the usage start position 292, and the usage interval 293, but some information may be omitted (for example,). If the number of conversion parameters 280 stored in the memory 274 is known, the number of parameters used 291 can be omitted).

[Example of conversion parameters]
In the coordinate conversion of the target image data 275, as the pixel at a certain coordinate Z in the converted image data 276, the pixel at the coordinate CZ corresponding to the certain coordinate Z in the target image data 275 is adopted. In the target image data 275, when a pixel does not exist in the coordinate CZ corresponding to a certain coordinate Z in the converted image data 276, the pixel data in the corresponding coordinate CZ is a plurality of pixels around the corresponding coordinate CZ. It is obtained by interpolation using pixel data of a plurality of pixels existing in the coordinates PCZ of. For this pixel interpolation, for example, bilinear interpolation or bicubic interpolation is used.

FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining an example of coordinate conversion by the conversion parameter 280. In the present embodiment, the conversion parameter 280 is an image represented by the target image data 275, which corresponds to the coordinates A1, B1, C1, and D1 of the pixels at the four corners of the image represented by the converted image data 276, respectively. The four coordinates A0, B0, C0, D0 in are included.

When the conversion parameter 280 is input, the conversion circuit 281 is based on the four coordinates A0, B0, C0, and D0 included in the input conversion parameter 280, and the coordinates of a plurality of pixels constituting the converted image data 276. A plurality of coordinates in the target image data 275 corresponding to each of the above are obtained. Then, the conversion circuit 281 determines the pixel data at each of the plurality of coordinates obtained for the target image data 275 based on the pixel data of the plurality of pixels constituting the target image data 275. At this time, pixel interpolation is used as needed. After that, the conversion circuit 281 adopts the pixel data at the corresponding coordinates in the target image data 275 as the pixel data at each coordinate in the converted image data 276. As a result, in the conversion circuit 281, the image represented by the target image data 275 is rotated based on the input conversion parameter 280, and the rotated image is generated.

By performing a predetermined coordinate transformation on the target image data 275, it is possible to correct image distortion such as barrel distortion included in the target image data 275. Therefore, as the conversion parameter 280, the conversion parameter 280 corresponding to both the coordinate conversion for rotating the image and the coordinate conversion for performing distortion correction is stored in the memory 274, and the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is based on the conversion parameter 280. Therefore, the image may be rotated and the distortion may be corrected at the same time for the target image data 275. The above-mentioned Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a technique for correcting barrel distortion.

[Operation and configuration of image processing circuit]
Here, first, an outline of the operation of the image processing circuit 273 will be described, and then the configuration and detailed operation of the image processing circuit 273 will be described.

[Outline of operation of image processing circuit]
As shown in FIG. 28, the image processing circuit 273 synthesizes a plurality of converted image data 276 generated by the coordinate conversion circuit 272, and uses the processed image data 277 obtained thereby as output image data in the SRAM 243 (DMA). Output (by transfer). The image processing circuit 273 has a frame memory capable of storing image data for one frame, and generates the processed image data 277 using the frame memory.

FIG. 29 is a diagram for explaining an outline of the operation of the image processing circuit 273. The image processing circuit 273 generates processed image data 277 (processed image data 277- (N-1) shown in FIG. 29) by sequentially integrating N pieces of converted image data 276'.

As shown in FIG. 29, the image processing circuit 273 first generates the converted image data 276-1 in the conversion circuit 281 (for example, in the example of FIG. 26, the converted image data 276-1 having a rotation angle of 2 °). Corresponds to) is stored in the frame memory.

Next, the image processing circuit 273 corresponds to the converted image data 276-2 secondly generated by the conversion circuit 281 (for example, in the example of FIG. 26, it corresponds to the converted image data 276-2 having a rotation angle of 4 °). Is added to the first converted image data 276-1 in the frame memory to generate one-time processed image data 277-1. Here, the image processing circuit 273 stores the one-time processed image data 277-1 in the frame memory.

Next, the image processing circuit 273 corresponds to the converted image data 276-3 generated third by the conversion circuit 281 (for example, in the example of FIG. 26, it corresponds to the converted image data 276-3 having a rotation angle of 6 °). Is added to the once-processed image data 277-1 in the frame memory to generate the twice-processed image data 277-2. Here, the image processing circuit 273 stores the twice-processed image data 277-2 in the frame memory.

After that, the image processing circuit 273 repeats the same operation, and the converted image data 276-N finally generated by the conversion circuit 281 (for example, in the example of FIG. 26, the converted image data 276-180 having a rotation angle of 360 °). (Corresponding to) is added to (N-2) times processed image data 277- (N-2) in the frame memory to generate (N-1) times processed image data 277- (N-1). .. This (N-1) times processed image data 277- (N-1) becomes the processed image data 277. The image processing circuit 273 stores the processed image data 277 in the frame memory. After that, the processed image data 277 in the frame memory is output from the frame memory to the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer under the control of the DMAC252.

[Image processing circuit configuration]
FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image processing circuit 273. As shown in FIG. 30, the image processing circuit 273 includes a frame memory 309, a storage control unit 300, an addition processing unit 305, a write buffer 306, a read buffer 307, and an output control unit 308. The image processing circuit 273 in the present embodiment is hardware that operates without using software, unlike the one in which predetermined processing is performed by executing a program on the CPU, for example. Therefore, the storage control unit 300 can be called a storage control circuit, the addition processing unit 305 can be called an addition processing circuit, and the output control unit 308 can be called an output control circuit. The image processing circuit 273 is a kind of data processing device that processes image data.

The frame memory 309 is a kind of storage circuit, and is composed of, for example, an SRAM. The frame memory 309 can store image data for one frame (one sheet), for example. Further, the frame memory 309 may be configured to be able to store image data for a plurality of frames.

The output control unit 308 inputs the data read from the frame memory 309, and further controls the data to be output to the SRAM 243 (by DMA transfer). Further, the output control unit 308 can be configured to have a DMA output mode in which the input data is output by DMA transfer and a non-DMA output mode in which the input data is output regardless of the DMA transfer as the operation mode. .. In the present embodiment, the output control unit 308 basically operates in the non-DMA output mode, and operates in the DMA output mode only when the output target data is read from the frame memory 309. As a result, the output target data read from the frame memory 309 is output from the output control unit 308 by DMA transfer.

The storage control unit 300 controls the frame memory 309, the write buffer 306, the read buffer 307, and the output control unit 308. By controlling the frame memory 309 by the storage control unit 300, data is written to the frame memory 309 and data is read from the frame memory 309. The output control unit 308 controls the output by DMA transfer of the data read from the frame memory 309 according to the control by the storage control unit 300. The memory control unit 300 will be described in detail later.

The addition processing unit 305 adds the converted image data generated by the conversion circuit 281 to the image to be added read from the frame memory 309 under the control of the storage control unit 300. For example, as shown in FIG. 29, the image to be added for the second converted image data 276-2 is the first converted image data 276-1, and the mth (m is a variable, 3 ≦ m ≦). The image to be added for the converted image data 276-m in N) is (m-2) times processed image data 277- (m-2).

Here, one of the two image data to be added is referred to as "first image data", and the other is referred to as "second image data". Each of the plurality of pixel data constituting the first image data is referred to as "first pixel data", and each of the plurality of pixel data constituting the second image data is referred to as "second pixel data".

The addition processing unit 305 uses the first pixel data and the second image data at the same positions (coordinates) as the first pixel data for each of the plurality of first pixel data constituting the first image data. By adding the two-pixel data, the first image data and the second image data are added.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 outputs a plurality of pixel data constituting the image data of the converted image data 276 for each pixel. When the pixel data of the first converted image data 276 is input for one pixel, the addition processing unit 305 writes the input pixel data as it is to the write buffer 306 without performing the addition processing. The write buffer 306 can store pixel data for, for example, four pixels. When the pixel data for four pixels is accumulated in the write buffer 306, the pixel data for four pixels in the write buffer 306 is written to the frame memory 309 at once by the control of the frame memory 309 by the storage control unit 300. By repeating such writing processing, pixel data is repeatedly written in the frame memory 309 in units of 4 pixels.

In the frame memory 309, the pixel data for four pixels in the write buffer 306 is stored in the frame memory 309 and written in the storage area of the same address of the read original image data. When the data in the write buffer 306 is written to the frame memory 309, the written data is erased from the write buffer 306. In this way, when the image data after image processing is written to the frame memory 309, the image data is erased from the write buffer 306. Therefore, immediately after the image data is written, the write request output unit 302 sends the image data. The request becomes possible, and as a result, the efficient writing of the image data to the write buffer 306 is performed sequentially.

By controlling the frame memory 309 by the storage control unit 300, pixel data is read out from the frame memory 309 in units of 4 pixels. That is, pixel data for four pixels is read from the frame memory 309 with one read access to the frame memory 309. The pixel data for four pixels read at one time from the frame memory 309 is written in the read buffer 307.

When the pixel data input from the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is the pixel data of the Lth (L is a variable, 2 ≦ L ≦ N) converted image data 276-L, the addition processing unit 305 uses the read buffer 307. Read the pixel data to be added. Then, the addition processing unit 305 adds the input pixel data to the pixel data read from the read buffer 307. As a result, the addition processing unit 305 can obtain the pixel data of the (L-1) times processed image data 277- (L-1).

The addition processing unit 305 stores the pixel data of the (L-1) times processed image data 277- (L-1) in the write buffer 306. The pixel data of the write buffer 306 is stored in the frame memory 309. The addition processing unit 305 performs the same processing each time pixel data is input from the coordinate conversion circuit 272. As a result, the image data of the processed image data 277 (that is, the (N-1) times processed image data 277- (N-1)) is stored in the frame memory 309. When data is read from the read buffer 307, the read data is erased from the read buffer 307. As described above, when the image data to be image-processed is read out for image processing, the image data is erased from the read buffer 307. Therefore, immediately after the image data is read out, the first image data is first read. The request from the read request output unit 301 becomes possible, and as a result, the image data is efficiently read into the read buffer 307 in sequence.

As described above, the addition processing unit 305 adds the pixel data of the Lth converted image data 276-L to the pixel data to be added in the read buffer 307, and processes (L-1) times. Pixel data of image data 277- (L-1) is generated.

For example, when the pixel data of the second converted image data 276-2 is input from the coordinate conversion circuit 272, the pixel data to be added for the input pixel data is the first converted image data 276-1. It becomes the pixel data at the same position as the input pixel data in. Further, when the pixel data of the third converted image data 276-3 is input from the coordinate conversion circuit 272, the pixel data to be added for the input pixel data is in the one-time processed image data 277-1. , The pixel data is at the same position as the input pixel data. The pixel data to be added is stored in the read buffer 307 when the input pixel data is provided to the addition processing unit 305 by the control of the frame memory 309 by the storage control unit 300.

In the present embodiment, the frame memory 309 is, for example, a 1-port memory. Therefore, when the data is being read from the frame memory 309, the data cannot be written to the frame memory 309.

Further, in the image processing circuit 273, read-modify-write is performed on the frame memory 309. For example, after the pixel data stored in the storage area of a certain address of the frame memory 309 is read from the frame memory 309, the addition processing unit 305 executes the addition processing, and the (L-1) times processed image data. The pixel data of 277- (L-1) is generated and stored in the write buffer 306. After that, the pixel data thus added is written back from the write buffer 306 to the storage area of the same address in the frame memory 309.

In other words, when the pixel data of the processed image data stored in the write buffer 306 is written to the frame memory 309, the pixel data of the processed image data is the storage position of the frame memory 309 in which the pixel data to be added is stored. Is stored in the same position as.

In the present embodiment, pixel data for four pixels at a time is read from the frame memory 309 and stored in the read buffer 307. Further, the pixel data for four pixels of the write buffer 306 stored by the addition process is also written to the frame memory 309 at one time.

In the image processing circuit 273, the pixel data for four pixels stored in the storage area of the address of the frame memory 309 is read from the frame memory 309, temporarily stored in the read buffer 307, and then added. The addition process is executed in the unit 305. Then, the pixel data for the four pixels subjected to the addition processing is temporarily stored in the write buffer 306, and then written back to the frame memory 309 (a storage area having the same address as the address).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the frame memory 309 is a 1-port memory, and read-modify-write is performed on the frame memory 309. Therefore, with such a configuration, the circuit scale of the frame memory 309 can be reduced, and as a result, the circuit scale of the image processing circuit 273 can be reduced.

The final processed image data 277 stored in the frame memory 309 is output from the output control unit 308 to the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer. For example, when the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is read from the frame memory 309 by the control of the storage control unit 300 with respect to the frame memory 309, the output control unit 308 outputs the read pixel data to the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer. do. Since the pixel data for four pixels is read from the frame memory 309 at one time, the output control unit 308 outputs the processed image data 277 read from the frame memory 309 in units of four pixels. The pixel data of the processed image data 277 read from the frame memory 309 is not stored in the read buffer 307 due to the control of the read buffer 307 by the storage control unit 300.

When the DMAC252 has a buffer, the DMAC252 temporarily stores the pixel data input from the image processing circuit 273 in the buffer. The buffer can store pixel data for a plurality of pixels. The DMAC252 controls to transfer the pixel data of a plurality of pixels in the buffer to the SRAM 243 when the buffer is full. As a result, the processed image data 277 generated by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is stored in the SRAM 243. In the DMAC252, when the data in the buffer is transferred to the SRAM 243, the transferred data is erased from the buffer. Further, the DMAC252 can be configured to transfer the data in the buffer to the SRAM 243 when the amount of data in the buffer becomes a predetermined amount or more.

[Detailed operation in the memory control unit of the image processing circuit]
The storage control unit 300 executes the first read process of reading the pixel data to be added processed by the addition process unit 305 from the frame memory 309. Further, the storage control unit 300 performs a writing process of writing the pixel data of the processed image data 277 generated by the addition processing unit 305 to the frame memory 309. It can be said that the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is the pixel data added by the addition processing unit 305. Then, the storage control unit 300 executes a second read process of reading the pixel data of the processed image data 277, which is the final output target data, from the frame memory 309.

The storage control unit 300 includes a first read request output unit 301, a write request output unit 302, a second read request output unit 303, and an arbitration unit 304.

The first read request output unit 301 outputs a first read request, which is an execution request for the first read process. The write request output unit 302 outputs a write request, which is a write request execution request. The second read request output unit 303 outputs a second read request, which is an execution request for the second read process.

The output of the first read request by the first read request output unit 301 is, for example, to output the first read request signal indicating the first read request. The first read request signal includes the address of the storage area in which the pixel data to be read is stored in the frame memory 309.

The output of the write request by the write request output unit 302 is, for example, to output a write request signal indicating a write request. The write request signal includes the address of the storage area for writing the pixel data to be written in the frame memory 309.

The output of the second read request by the second read request output unit 303 is to output the second read request signal indicating the second read request. The second read request signal includes the address of the storage area in which the pixel data to be read is stored in the frame memory 309.

The first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303 output the first read request, the write request, and the second read request, respectively, based on independent criteria. do.

The first read request output unit 301 outputs, for example, a first read request (first read request signal) when the read buffer 307 is empty. As described above, when the read buffer 307 is empty, the first read request output unit 301 outputs a request to read the image data to be image processed from the frame memory 309, so that the circuit scale of the read buffer 307 is increased. It can be made smaller, and the timing of reading the image data will be determined by independent and effective criteria.

The write request output unit 302 writes when a predetermined amount of data is written to the write buffer 306 (for example, when the write buffer 306 is full, that is, when the same amount of data as the capacity of the write buffer 306 is written). Outputs a write request (write request signal). In this way, the write request output unit 302 outputs a request for writing the image data after image processing from the write buffer 306 to the frame memory 309 when the write buffer 306 is full, for example. The circuit scale of the 306 can be reduced, and the timing of writing the image data will be determined by an independent and effective criterion.

When the second read request output unit 303 reads the processed image data 277 stored in the frame memory 309 and transfers the data to the SRAM 243 under the control of the DMAC252, the second read request (second read request) is performed at a predetermined timing. It controls to output a signal).

Further, when the DMAC252 includes a buffer, the second read request output unit 303 outputs a second read request (second read request signal) based on, for example, the availability of the buffer of the DMAC252. For example, the second read request output unit 303 outputs a second read request when the buffer is empty. Alternatively, the second read request output unit 303 outputs a second read request when the free space of the buffer is a predetermined amount or more (for example, when the data amount of pixel data for four pixels or more). In other words, the second read request output unit 303 outputs a second read request when the amount of data that can be stored in the buffer is a predetermined amount or more.

However, when the output target data, that is, the processed image data 277 is not stored in the frame memory 309, the storage control unit 300 cannot read the output target data from the frame memory 309. Therefore, the second read request output unit 303 outputs the second read request when the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is stored for four or more pixels in the frame memory 309 and the buffer is empty. do. Alternatively, the second read request output unit 303 is the case where the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is stored for 4 pixels or more in the frame memory 309, and the free space of the buffer is a predetermined amount or more. 2 Output a read request.

As described above, the first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303 are based on independent criteria for the first read request, the write request, and the second read. Since each request is output, at least two requests, a first read request, a write request, and a second read request, may conflict with each other. That is, at least two of the first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303 may output the request at the same time.

Therefore, the storage control unit 300 is provided with an arbitration unit 304 that arbitrates at least two competing requests when at least two requests, a first read request, a write request, and a second read request, conflict with each other. There is.

When the first read request, the write request, and the second read request do not conflict with each other, the arbitration unit 304 performs processing according to the input request to the frame memory 309. On the other hand, when at least two requests, a first read request, a write request, and a second read request, conflict with each other, the arbitration unit 304 mediates at least two competing requests to obtain the two requests. Select one. Then, the arbitration unit 304 performs processing according to the selected request on the frame memory 309.

In the present embodiment, each of the first read request, the write request, and the second read request (or the first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303). The processing priority is assigned to the output section). For example, the highest priority is assigned to the first read request, the second highest priority is assigned to the write request, and the lowest priority is assigned to the second read request. Then, the arbitration unit 304 arbitrates the request based on the priority of the conflicting request. The arbitration unit 304 selects the request having the highest priority among the conflicting requests, and performs processing according to the selected request. Therefore, for example, when the three requests of the first read request, the write request, and the second read request conflict with each other, the first read request is selected. If the two requests, the write request and the second read request, conflict with each other, the write request is selected.

When the arbitration unit 304 performs processing in response to the first read request, the arbitration unit 304 outputs the address included in the first read request signal input from the first read request output unit 301 and the read signal to the frame memory 309. do. As a result, pixel data for four pixels is read from the storage area of the address included in the first read request signal in the frame memory 309, and the read pixel data is written in the read buffer 307. Since the output control unit 308 is operating in the non-DMA output mode when the arbitration unit 304 performs processing in response to the first read request, the data read from the frame memory 309 is read from the output control unit 308. It is not output to SRAM 243 or the like.

When the arbitration unit 304 performs processing in response to a write request, the arbitration unit 304 reads pixel data for four pixels from the write buffer 306 and outputs the pixel data to the frame memory 309, and at the same time, a book input from the write request output unit 302. The address included in the input request signal and the write signal are output to the frame memory 309. As a result, the pixel data for four pixels output from the write buffer 306 is written to the storage area of the address included in the write request signal in the frame memory 309.

When the arbitration unit 304 performs processing in response to the second read request, the arbitration unit 304 outputs the address included in the second read request signal input from the second read request output unit 303 and the read signal to the frame memory 309. At the same time, the operation mode of the output control unit 308 is changed from the non-DMA output mode to the DMA output mode. As a result, the pixel data for 4 pixels is read from the storage area of the address included in the second read request signal in the frame memory 309, and the read pixel data for the 4 pixels is collected from the output control unit 308 to the DMAC252. Is output to SRAM 243 by the control of.

In the above example, the processing time in the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is relatively long, and the pixel data of the converted image data 276 cannot be obtained immediately in the coordinate conversion circuit 272. As a result, the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is obtained. In order to improve the processing speed of the entire control LSI 234, the priority of the first read request and the write request required for generating the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is set to the second. It is higher than the priority of the read request. However, the method of assigning the priority to the first read request, the write request, and the second read request is not limited to this.

For example, in the case where the processed image data 277 of the frame memory 309 is DMA-transferred to the SRAM 243 by the control of the DMAC252, the usage rate of the bus of the control LSI 234 is always high, and it is difficult to transfer the data to the SRAM 243. If the transfer rate of the processed image data 277 does not increase, the output target data (pixel data of the processed image data 277) is likely to be accumulated in the frame memory 309. In this case, if the priority of the first read request and the write request is higher than the priority of the second read request, the processed image data 277 stored in the frame memory 309 will not be output from the image processing circuit 273 indefinitely. there is a possibility. Therefore, in such a case, the priority of the second read request for reading the processed image data 277 from the frame memory 309 is set higher than the priority of the first read request and the write request, thereby setting the priority. , The processing speed of the entire control LSI 234 can be improved.

Further, for example, when the DMAC252 includes a buffer, the usage rate of the bus of the control LSI 234 is always high, it is difficult to transfer data from the DMAC252 to the SRAM 243, and as a result, the buffer of the DMAC252 is unlikely to become empty. Is a situation in which output target data (pixel data of processed image data 277) is likely to be accumulated in the frame memory 309. In this case, if the priority of the first read request and the write request is higher than the priority of the second read request, the processed image data 277 stored in the frame memory 309 will not be output from the image processing circuit 273 indefinitely. there is a possibility. Therefore, in such a case, the priority of the second read request for reading the processed image data 277 from the frame memory 309 is set higher than the priority of the first read request and the write request, thereby setting the priority. , The processing speed of the entire control LSI 234 can be improved.

As described above, in the storage control unit 300, when at least two requests, a first read request, a write request, and a second read request, conflict with each other, the at least two requests are arbitrated. Therefore, the first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303 can operate independently of each other. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the processing in the specific output unit of the first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303 from becoming a bottleneck. As a result, the processing speed of the entire control LSI 234 can be improved.

The processing priority can be configured to be changeable. For example, the control LSI 234 may be configured so that the priority of processing can be changed by a user's operation or automatically. Further, the image processing circuit 273 may change the processing priority according to the operating status of the control LSI 234. For example, a bus usage rate calculation circuit for obtaining a bus usage rate is provided in the control LSI 234, and the image processing circuit 273 changes the processing priority based on the bus usage rate obtained by the bus usage rate calculation circuit. It may be configured. Specifically, when the bus usage rate is higher than the predetermined value, the priority of the second read request is set higher than the priority of the first read request and the write request, and the bus usage rate becomes higher. If it is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the priority of the first read request and the write request is set higher than the priority of the second read request. By dynamically changing the processing priority in this way, the processing speed of the entire image processing circuit 273 can be further improved.

[Flow of regular medal discrimination processing by control LSI 234]
Next, with reference to FIGS. 31 to 33, a process performed by the control LSI 234 for determining whether or not the object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal (hereinafter referred to as “regular medal discrimination process”). There is).

31 and 32 are diagrams for explaining the normal medal discrimination process of the control LSI 234. 31 and 32 show the processing relationship in each device constituting the control LSI 234 in chronological order, and the relatively thick line portion in the vertical line extending below each device name is the device. It shows that the above-mentioned various processes are being performed. Further, the broken line arrow extending from the line corresponding to each device toward the vertical line extending below "IN" in the host controller indicates the interrupt signal output from each device to the host controller 241.

Further, a broken line 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. Further, the solid line arrow between the vertical line extending below "IN" and the vertical line extending below "OUT" in the host controller is from the interrupt signal detected by the host controller 241 and the host controller 241. It shows the correspondence with the output signal.

Note that FIG. 31 shows, with respect to the regular medal discrimination process when six medals are continuously inserted into the medal insertion slot 21 (see FIG. 2), the discrimination process relating to the first medal is extracted. Shows the entire regular medal discrimination process (including the discrimination process for the first medal) when six medals are inserted in succession. In addition, a number indicating the order in which medals are inserted is added to the beginning of the code attached to each signal so that it is clear which signal is related to the medal. For example, the VSYNC interrupt signal output from the ISP circuit 245 described later related to the first medal to the host controller 241 is designated by the reference numeral "1IH", and the same VSYNC interrupt signal related to the second medal is assigned. The signal is designated by the reference numeral "2IH".

First, when the CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 17) captures an object (the first medal in this example) moving on the medal rail 210 and outputs the image data to the control LSI 234, the ISP circuit 245 is an ISI circuit. Image data is acquired (received) via 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 converted image data and the hue, saturation, and luminance data related to the image data are output to the SRAM 243, the medal count circuit 246, and the color recognition circuit 247. The detailed description of the conversion process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the color recognition circuit 247 receives data from the ISP circuit 245, it 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). The detailed description of the color determination process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the medal count circuit 246 receives data from the ISP circuit 245, it 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). The detailed description of the counting process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the host controller 241 detects the color determination interrupt signal, it acquires the determination result of the color determination process from the SRAM 243 and outputs it to the allocation PORT of the GPIO250 (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 the host controller 241 detects the count interrupt signal, it acquires the determination result of the count process from the SRAM 243 and outputs it to the allocation PORT of the GPIO250 (1HG2). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the count process to the main control board 71 (main control circuit 91) via the GPIO 250. When the determination result of the counting process is "passed medals", 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. Add 1 to it. When the value of the inserted number counter is the maximum value (for example, 3), 1 is added to the value of the credit counter, which is a counter provided for the main CPU 93 to count the number of credited medals. When the credit counter has a 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 medal inserted after the credit counter reaches the maximum value is guided to the medal shoot 202 and discharged from the medal payout port 32 to the medal tray unit 34. In the present embodiment, when the start lever is operated when the value of the input number counter is a specified value (for example, 2 or 3), the main CPU 93 performs the above-mentioned internal lottery process.

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 created reduced image data in the SRAM 243, and also stores the created reduced image data in the SRAM 243, and the host controller 241 saves the reduction end. A built-in signal is transmitted (1SH). The detailed description of the fisheye correction process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the host controller 241 detects the reduction end interrupt signal, the host controller 241 refers to the SRAM 243, and the judgment result of the count processing is "the medal has passed", and the judgment result of the color judgment processing "matches the color of the regular medal". The image recognition DSP circuit 242 is instructed to start the preprocessing on the condition that the above is performed (1HD).

The image recognition DSP circuit 242 performs preprocessing in response to an instruction from the host controller 241, stores edge image data in SRAM 243, and outputs a preprocessing end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH1). The detailed description of the preprocessing will be omitted because it has been described above. Further, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the present embodiment acquires the reduced image data from the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer, and further stores the edge image data generated as a result of the preprocessing in the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer. Compared with the same circuit that does not use DMA transfer, the processing time of preprocessing is shortened.

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

The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs image processing in response to an instruction from the host controller 241, stores the processed image data in the SRAM 243, and outputs an image processing end interrupt signal to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (1AD). The detailed description of the rotation integration processing, which is an example of image processing, will be omitted because it has been described above. Further, since the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the present embodiment acquires edge image data from the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer and stores the generated processed image data in the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer, such DMA transfer is not used. Compared with the circuit, the processing time of image processing is shortened.

When the image recognition DSP circuit 242 detects the image processing end interrupt signal, it acquires the processed 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 the marking determination end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH2). Further, since the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the present embodiment acquires the processed image data created by image processing from the SRAM 243 by, for example, DMA transfer, the marking determination is made as compared with the same circuit that does not use such DMA transfer. The processing time of processing is shortened.

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

As shown in FIG. 31, in the present embodiment, the pre-processing and the marking determination processing by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image processing by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 are shortened in time by DMA transfer as described above. However, it takes a relatively long time. Therefore, when the medals are continuously inserted, when the host controller 241 detects the reduction end interrupt signal (1SH or the like), the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is processing (at this time). It is confirmed whether or not it is in a busy state, and if none of the processing is in progress, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 controls the preprocessing and the marking determination processing, and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 instructs the start of the image processing.

Next, with reference to FIG. 32, the entire regular medal discrimination process when six medals are continuously inserted will be described. FIG. 32 includes all the discrimination processes related to the first medal shown in FIG. 31.

In the example shown in FIG. 32, in order to continuously perform the regular medal discrimination process for the medals that are continuously inserted, the reduction end interrupt signal (2SH and 4SH) related to the second and fourth medals is hosted. When the controller 241 detects, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is processing (busy state), so that the host controller 241 gives an instruction to start the above-mentioned image processing (pre-processing, image processing, and). Instruction to start the marking judgment process) is not performed. Therefore, for the second and fourth medals, count processing, color determination processing, and fisheye correction processing are performed, but preprocessing, image processing, and engraving determination processing are not performed. On the other hand, when the host controller 241 detects the reduction end interrupt signal (3SH) related to the third medal, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 are not in the process of processing (busy state). Therefore, for the third medal, in addition to the count processing, the color determination processing, and the fisheye correction processing, the pre-processing, the image processing, and the engraving determination processing are performed.

Further, here, an ISP circuit 245 is used between the output of the count processing determination result by the host controller 241 to the GPIO250 (1HG2) and the transmission of the preprocessing end interrupt signal by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (1DH1). The output (2IH) of the VSYNC interrupt signal related to the second medal is generated. However, since the storage area of the SRAM 243 for storing the determination results of various processes (count process, color determination process, stamp determination process, etc.) related to each medal is individually set, data overwriting does not occur. .. Such a situation is the same in the processing of the third and subsequent medals.

By speeding up the pre-processing and marking determination processing by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image 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. May be done.

Various signals related to the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth medals shown in FIG. 32 (codes start with "2", "3", "4", "5". , "6") are the same as the various signals related to the first medal (the first of the reference numerals is "1"), which differ only in the first number, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted. The processing timing of each device in the normal medal discrimination processing of the control LSI 234 shown in FIG. 32 is merely an example. Regular medal discrimination processing can be performed at various processing timings according to the processing capacity, processing content, and processing procedure of each device.

Next, with reference to FIG. 33, the flow of image processing by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 will be described in more detail.

FIG. 33 is a diagram showing an operation flow of the host controller 241 and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and basically corresponds to a part of the process of FIG. 32 described above. First, when the power of the pachi-slot machine 1 is turned on (although omitted in FIG. 32), the host controller 241 performs initial setting of each circuit including the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 (step S0).

The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is provided with various setting registers (not shown). In the initial setting, the host controller 241 sets data in various setting registers of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249. For example, the host controller 241 sets the address of the storage area on the SRAM 243 in which the target image data 275 is stored in the first setting register, or the SRAM 243 to which the processed image data 277 obtained by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is written. The address of the storage area of is set in the second setting register, and the image size of the target image data 275 processed by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is set in the third setting register.

Further, in the initial setting of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, the host controller 241 sets the conversion parameter 280 in the memory 274 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249. The host controller 241 reads, for example, the conversion parameters 280 from the SRAM 243 and writes these conversion parameters 280 to the memory 274. The host controller 241 may create a conversion parameter 280 at the time of initial setting, and write the conversion parameter 280 thus created to the memory 274 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249.

After the initial setting is completed, the host controller 241 instructs the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 to start image processing regarding the first target image data 275 (step S1). By this instruction, the signal (1HA) shown in FIG. 32 is transmitted to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249. Here, the host controller 241 sets the specific information 290 used in the image processing regarding the first target image data 275 in the register 283 of the control circuit 282 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249.

When the specific information 290 is set in the register 283, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 starts with the first target image data 275 from the address (address of the SRAM 243) set in the first setting register described above based on the control of the DMAC252. Is read by DMA transfer and written to the input frame buffer 271 (step S1-1). The coordinate conversion circuit 272 reads the conversion parameter 280 to be used first from the memory 274 based on the specific information 290 in the register 283, and the target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271 based on the read conversion parameter 280. The first coordinate transformation is performed on the data (step S1-1). As a result, the first converted image data 276-1 is obtained. The first converted image data 276-1 is stored in the frame memory 309 of the image processing circuit 273.

When the coordinate conversion circuit 272 generates the first converted image data 276-1, it reads out the conversion parameter 280 to be used second from the memory 274 based on the specific information 290, and inputs it based on the read conversion parameter 280. The second coordinate conversion is performed on the target image data 275 stored in the frame buffer 271 (step S1-2). As a result, the second converted image data 276-2 is obtained. On the other hand, the image processing circuit 273 performs image processing in which the second converted image data 276-2 is added to the first converted image data 276-1 to generate the one-time processed image data 277-1. (Step S1-2).

Here, each time the coordinate conversion circuit 272 generates the pixel data of the converted image data 276, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 outputs the generated pixel data to the image processing circuit 273. Further, when the pixel data is input from the coordinate conversion circuit 272, the image processing circuit 273 adds the input pixel data to the pixel data to be added read from the read buffer 307. Therefore, in the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, after the converted image data 276-2 is generated, the one-time processed image data 277-1 is not generated, but the converted image data 276- in the coordinate conversion circuit 272. The generation process of 2 and the generation process of the one-time processed image data 277-1 in the image processing circuit 273 are executed in parallel.

When the second converted image data 276-2 is generated, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 reads out the conversion parameter 280 to be used third from the memory 274 based on the specific information 290, and based on the read conversion parameter 280, The third coordinate conversion is performed on the target image data 275 stored in the input frame buffer 271. As a result, the third converted image data 276-3 is obtained. On the other hand, the image processing circuit 273 performs image processing to add the third converted image data 276-3 to the one-time processed image data 277-1 to generate the two-time processed image data 277-2. ..

After that, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 operates in the same manner, and the coordinate conversion circuit 272 generates the Nth converted image data 276-N (step S1-N). On the other hand, the image processing circuit 273 performs image processing for adding the Nth converted image data 276-N to the (N-2) times processed image data 277- (N-2), and performs image processing (N-). 1) Processed image data 277- (N-1), that is, processed image data 277 is generated (step S1-N). After that, the image processing circuit 273 outputs the processed image data 277 to the SRAM 243 under the control of the DMAC252 (steps S1-N).

The processed image data 277 is written to the storage area of the address set in the second setting register described above (step S1-N). As described above, since the first read request output unit 301, the write request output unit 302, and the second read request output unit 303 operate independently of each other, the addition in the addition processing unit 305 in the image processing circuit 273 The processing and the output processing in the output control unit 308 are executed in parallel. Therefore, in the image processing circuit 273, after all the pixel data constituting the processed image data 277 are generated, the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is not output, but the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is generated. And the output processing of the pixel data of the processed image data 277 is executed in parallel.

When the writing of the processed image data 277 to the SRAM 243 is completed, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 notifies the host controller 241 of the completion of the image processing for the first target image data 275 (step S1). -E). For the completion notification from the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 to the host controller 241, for example, the interrupt function of the host controller 241 is used.

Upon receiving the completion notification, the host controller 241 instructs the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 regarding the second target image data 275 (step S2). Specifically, the host controller 241 sets the specific information 290 used in the processing for the second target image data 275 in the register 283 of the control circuit 282 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249. The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 operates in the same manner as the processing for the first target image data 275, generates the processed image data 277 based on the second target image data 275, and writes the processed image data 277 to the SRAM 243. After that, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 also processes the third and subsequent target image data 275 in the same manner.

The specific information 290 used in the processing for the p-th (p is a variable, p ≧ 2) target image data 275 is specified to be used in the processing for the (p-1) th target image data 275. If it is the same as the information 290, the host controller 241 receiving the completion notification for the (p-1) th target image data 275 registers the specific information 290 used in the processing for the pth target image data 275. Instead of setting to 283, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 may be instructed to start processing for the pth target image data 275.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 31 and 32, when the image processing for one target image data 275 is completed by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, the image processing end interrupt signal is transmitted to the image recognition DSP circuit 242. (1AD, etc.) is output, and when the image recognition DSP circuit 242 detects the image processing end interrupt signal, the processed image data 277 stored in the SRAM 243 is acquired, and then the engraving determination processing is performed. However, in the example shown in FIG. 33, the processing is different from such processing. That is, when the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 finishes the image processing, the host controller 241 is configured to notify the completion (step S1-e). As described above, when the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 finishes the image processing for one target image data 275, the next processing may be started according to various operation patterns.

As described above, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 continuously performs a plurality of coordinate conversions using one target image data 275 based on the plurality of conversion parameters 280. That is, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 generates a plurality of converted image data 276 from one target image data 275 without exchanging data with the host controller 241 based on the plurality of conversion parameters 280. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the processing time of a plurality of coordinate conversions as compared with the case where the coordinate conversion circuit 272 receives the conversion parameter 280 used in the coordinate conversion from the host controller 241 each time the coordinate conversion is performed.

Further, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 generates a plurality of converted image data 276 from one target image data 275 without exchanging data with the host controller 241 based on the plurality of conversion parameters 280, thereby generating the host controller. The processing load of 241 can be reduced. Further, when the host controller 241 and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 are connected by a bus as in the present embodiment, it is possible to secure a larger band for the bus.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the host controller 241 sets the conversion parameter 280 in the memory 274 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 at the time of initial setting of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, so that the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is initially set. After that, the conversion parameter 280 can be read from the memory 274. Therefore, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 does not need to receive the conversion parameter 280 to be used from the host controller 241 every time the conversion parameter 280 is used, so that the processing time in the coordinate conversion circuit 272 can be shortened. ..

The SRAM 243 may include only the conversion parameter 280 used by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the control LSI 234. For example, when the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs coordinate conversion for any target image data 275 to be rotated by 2 ° from 2 ° to 360 °, only the conversion parameter 280 having an even rotation angle is stored. Can be configured as follows. At this time, the SRAM 243 stores the conversion parameters 280 relating to all the rotation angles, and the conversion parameters 280 actually used at the time of initial setting of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 (that is, the conversion parameters 280 having an even rotation angle). ) Can also be configured to be stored in the memory 274.

Further, a common conversion parameter 280 may be stored in each of the plurality of image recognition accelerator circuits 249 that perform coordinate conversions different from each other for the target image data 275. For example, the first image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs a process of rotating the target image data 275 from 1 ° to 90 ° by 1 °, and the second image recognition accelerator circuit 249 rotates the target image data 275 from 91 ° to 180 °. The third image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs a process of rotating the target image 110 by 1 ° from 181 ° to 270 °, and the fourth image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs a process of rotating the target image 110 by 1 ° from 181 ° to 270 °. When the target image data 275 is rotated by 1 ° from 271 ° to 360 °, the same conversion parameter 280 (that is, the above example) is used for each of the first to fourth image recognition accelerator circuits 249. Similarly, 360 types of conversion parameters 280) for rotating the target image data 275 from 1 ° to 360 ° are stored. This eliminates the need to individually prepare the conversion parameter 280 for each image recognition accelerator circuit 249, so that it is possible to prevent the erroneous conversion parameter 280 from being stored.

Although an example of storing a common conversion parameter 280 in a plurality of image recognition accelerator circuits 249 is shown here, the same applies to a plurality of control LSIs 234 and medal selectors 201 (with different specifications) incorporated in the pachi-slot machine 1. Can store a common conversion parameter 280.

Further, in the above example, the image processing circuit 273 outputs the processed image data 277 under the control of the DMAC252, but the converted image data 276 obtained by the coordinate conversion circuit 272 may be output. In this case, the image processing circuit 273 does not require the addition processing unit 305, the read buffer 307, and the first read request output unit 301. Then, the pixel data of the converted image data 276 output from the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is temporarily stored in the write buffer 306, and the pixel data of the converted image data 276 stored in the write buffer 306 is written in the frame memory 309. .. The pixel data stored in the frame memory 309 is output (DMA transfer) from the output control unit 308 to the SRAM 243 under the control of the DMAC252.

Further, the conversion parameter 280 may be configured to include a conversion parameter for instructing coordinate conversion other than rotation, in addition to the parameter for specifying the rotation angle or in addition to the parameter for specifying the rotation angle.

For example, the conversion parameter 280 may include a transformation parameter for enlargement necessary for coordinate transformation for enlarging the image. In this case, the conversion parameter 280 may include a plurality of conversion parameters 280 required for each of the plurality of coordinate transformations having different enlargement ratios. The coordinate conversion circuit 272 expands the target image data 275 at an enlargement ratio according to the conversion parameter 280 by performing coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 related to such image enlargement. Can be done.

For example, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 expands 1.1 times by performing coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 instructing to enlarge the image at an enlargement ratio of 1.1 times. The converted image data 276 is obtained. Here, the enlargement of the image is an enlargement of the image (subject) represented by the target image data 275, and does not increase the number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the image.

When the conversion parameter 280 includes a conversion parameter related to image rotation and a conversion parameter related to image enlargement, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 enlarges the rotated image obtained by rotating the target image data 275 and the target image data 275. The enlarged image obtained by the above can be generated as the converted image data 276. Similar to the conversion parameter 280 regarding image rotation, the conversion parameter 280 regarding image enlargement includes, for example, the coordinates of the four pixels in the target image data 275 corresponding to the pixels at the four corners in the enlarged image (that is, the coordinates of the mapping source. The coordinates of the four pixels) are included.

Further, the conversion parameter 280 may include a conversion parameter for reduction necessary for coordinate conversion for reducing the image. In this case, the conversion parameter 280 may include a plurality of conversion parameters 280 required for each of the plurality of coordinate transformations having different reduction ratios. The coordinate conversion circuit 272 reduces the target image data 275 at a reduction ratio according to the conversion parameter 280 by performing coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 related to such image reduction. Can be done.

For example, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 reduces the target image data 275 to 0.9 times by performing coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 instructing the reduction of the image to be 0.9 times. The converted image data 276 is obtained. Here, the image reduction is a reduction of the image (subject) represented by the target image data 275, and does not reduce the number of vertical and horizontal pixels of the image.

When the conversion parameter 280 includes a conversion parameter related to image rotation and a conversion parameter 280 related to image reduction, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 uses the rotated image obtained by rotating the target image data 275 and the target image data 275. The reduced image obtained by reducing the image can be generated as the converted image data 276. Similar to the conversion parameter 280 regarding image rotation, the conversion parameter 280 regarding image reduction includes, for example, the coordinates of the four pixels in the target image data 275 corresponding to the pixels at the four corners in the reduced image (that is, the coordinates of the mapping source. The coordinates of the four pixels) are included.

Furthermore, the transformation parameter 280 may include transformation parameters necessary for coordinate transformation for translating the image. In this case, the conversion parameter 280 may include a plurality of conversion parameters 280 required for each of the plurality of coordinate transformations having different moving directions. Further, the conversion parameter 280 may include a plurality of conversion parameters required for each of a plurality of coordinate transformations in which the movement amounts of the parallel movements are different from each other.

The coordinate conversion circuit 272 moves the target image data 275 in the movement direction according to the conversion parameter 280 by performing coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 related to such translation. Further, when the conversion parameter 280 specifies the movement amount of the parallel movement, the target image data 275 can be moved in parallel by the specified movement amount.

For example, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 performs coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 instructing translation with the movement direction as "right" and the movement amount as "1 pixel". As a result, the converted image data 276 that has been translated to the right by one pixel is obtained. Here, the translation of the image is the translation of the image (subject) represented by the target image data 275.

When the conversion parameter 280 includes a conversion parameter related to image rotation and a conversion parameter 280 related to image translation, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 includes a rotated image obtained by rotating the target image data 275 and the target image data 275. The translated image obtained by translating the image can be generated as the converted image data 276. The translation parameter 280 for translation includes, for example, the coordinates of the four pixels in the target image data 275 (ie, the mapping source) corresponding to the pixels at the four corners in the translation image, similar to the translation parameter 280 for image rotation. The coordinates of the four pixels) are included.

[Detection of fraudulent medals]
In the gaming machine (pachi-slot machine 1) according to the present embodiment, the control LSI 234 of the medal selector 201 performs a regular medal discrimination process including a color determination process, a count process, and a stamp determination process. When an illegal device other than 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 that "the medal has not passed". Therefore, it is possible to detect fraudulent acts in which the pachi-slot machine 1 is misunderstood that a regular medal is used and the game is played.

In addition, the fraudulent medal 310 shown in FIG. 34A (a medal having the same diameter and color as the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 19A) but different only in the marking (pattern) on the surface of the medal) moves on the medal rail 210. If so, in the color determination process, it is determined that "the color matches the color of the regular medal". However, in the counting process, the engraved (pattern) in the count area (area 313 surrounded by the dotted line) of the image data 312 of the fraudulent medal shown in FIG. 34B and the count area of the image data of the regular medal (dotted line in FIG. 19B). Since the marking (pattern) in the enclosed area 403) is significantly different, it is determined that "the medal has not passed". Therefore, it is possible to detect fraudulent acts in which the pachi-slot machine 1 is misunderstood that a regular medal is used and the game is played.

Further, on the medal rail 210, the fraudulent medal 315 shown in FIG. 35A (another medal having the same diameter and color as the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 19A) but different only in the engraving (pattern) on the surface of the medal) is placed. When it is moved, it is determined in the color determination process that it "matches the color of the regular medal". Further, in the counting process, the marking (pattern) in the count area (area 318 surrounded by the dotted line) of the image data 317 of the fraudulent medal shown in FIG. 35B and the counting area of the image data of the regular medal (dotted line in FIG. 19B). Since the difference from the marking (pattern) in the enclosed area 403) is small, it is determined that the medal has passed. However, in the engraving determination process, the processed image data 319 of this fraudulent medal shown in FIG. 35C and the processed image data 405 of the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 20) are significantly different. It does not match the stamp. " Therefore, it is possible to detect fraudulent acts in which the pachi-slot machine 1 is misunderstood that a regular medal is used and the game is played.

Further, a medal having a different diameter (slightly smaller or larger than the diameter of the regular medal and guided by the select plate 207) and a medal of the same color as the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 19A) moved on the medal rail 210. In this case, in the color determination process, it is determined that "the color matches the color of the 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 counting area, "the medal has not passed" in the counting process. Is determined. Further, even if it is determined in the counting process that "the medal has passed", the processed image data of this medal and the processed image data 405 of the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 20) due to the difference in diameter between this medal and the regular medal 400. ) Will be very different. Therefore, in the engraving determination process, it is determined that "the engraving (pattern) of the medal does not match the engraving of the regular medal". Therefore, it is possible to detect fraudulent acts in which the pachi-slot machine 1 is misunderstood that a regular medal is used and the game is played.

Further, when a medal having the same diameter and a different color as the regular medal 400 (see FIG. 19A) 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. Therefore, it is possible to detect fraudulent acts in which the pachi-slot machine 1 is misunderstood that a regular medal is used and the game is played.

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 composed of the main control board 71 via GPIO. Therefore, it is possible to cause the main control circuit 91 to perform various processes when there is an illegal act. Here, the various processes when there is a fraudulent act include, for example, the main control circuit 91 forcibly interrupting the game and notifying the fact that the fraudulent act has occurred via the sub control circuit 101 (for example). , Displaying to the effect that fraudulent activity has occurred on the liquid crystal display device 11).

Further, when a fraudulent 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 the OFF state. As a result, the select plate 207 is positioned at the "discharging position", so that the fraudulent medal can be guided to the medal chute 202 and ejected from the medal payout outlet 32. The main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208, which is set to the OFF state by detecting the fraudulent activity by the color determination process and the counting process, to the ON state after guiding the fraudulent medal related to the fraudulent activity to the medal chute 202. You may.

Further, even when a fraudulent act is detected by the marking 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. 32, the VSYNC interrupt signal (3IH) related to the third medal is output from the ISP circuit 245 to the main control circuit 91, and then the VSYNC interrupt signal related to the fourth medal is interrupted. Before the signal (4IH) is output, the determination result of the marking determination process relating to the first medal is output to the main control circuit (1HG3). Therefore, when fraudulent medals are continuously inserted, the fraudulent medals inserted after the fourth one can be guided to the medal chute 202 and ejected from the medal payout outlet 32.

As a result, it is possible to suppress the spread of damage caused by fraudulent activities. If the marking determination process can detect fraudulent activity by the time the medal captured by the camera unit 209 passes over the after medal pressure 218 or the medal stopper portion 227 by speeding up the marking determination process. By immediately setting the medal solenoid 208 to the OFF state by the main control circuit 91, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of damage due to fraudulent activity. Further, the main control circuit 91 sets the medal solenoid 208 to the OFF state by detecting fraudulent activity by the marking determination processing, and the determination result of the next marking determination process is "the medal marking (pattern) matches the marking of the regular medal." If it is, it may be set to the ON state. As a result, since the fraudulent medal was accidentally mixed, if the player unintentionally inserts the fraudulent medal and the medal solenoid 208 is set to the OFF state and the game becomes impossible, the player is regular. If you insert a medal, you can resume the game.

The gaming machine according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, including its action and effect. However, the gaming machine of the present invention is not limited to the above-described 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 of using a medal having the same marking (pattern) on both sides as a game medium has been described, but instead, different markings are used on one side and the other side of the medal. You may use the medal that has been given. In this case, data related to each surface of the medal may be prepared in advance as data related to the threshold value in the count process, the color determination process, and the stamp determination process.

Further, as a method of setting the data related to the threshold value, a fixed unit game period (for example, 100 games) is set as the data collection period related 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 medals may be adopted.

The gaming machine according to the above-described embodiment can determine medals and the like by image conversion and image recognition processing performed based on the image captured by the image pickup unit 261 including the CMOS image sensor 232 and the like. Therefore, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of medals and the like. 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 suppressed. Further, since the control LSI 234 is provided in a packaged state such as an ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidating the regular medal discrimination process or stealing the processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process). It is possible to prevent the act of making a medal), and it has a remarkable advantage in terms of security.

<Outline of the configuration of the camera unit and the regular medal discrimination process according to this embodiment>
FIG. 36 is a diagram schematically showing an example of an image captured image 362A obtained via an image pickup device (CMOS image sensor 232) of the camera unit 209 of the present embodiment. The captured image 362A shown in FIG. 36 includes an image of the captured medal 410. Further, the medal rails 351a and 351b, which are the backgrounds, are imaged, and the images are included in the captured image 362A. The medal rails 351a and 351b correspond to the above-mentioned medal rail 210, but here, the shape of the rail is shown in a simplified manner.

For example, the pattern of the alphabet "A" is shown on one main surface 410a of the medal 410. This shows the pattern of the regular medal, but other patterns may be used. In addition, patterns may be attached to both main surfaces of the regular medal.

In the present embodiment, the medal 410 moves along the medal rails 351a and 351b while rotating around a rotation axis along the thickness direction passing through the centers of both main surfaces thereof. Then, the imaging unit 361, which will be described later, images the medal 410 from one main surface 410a side of the medal 410. Therefore, the captured image 362A includes an image of one main surface 410a of the medal 410. Further, 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. 37 is a functional block diagram of such a camera unit 209, and corresponds to the functional block diagram shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 37, the camera unit 209 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. The camera unit 209 includes a light emitting unit including an LED or the like, but is not shown in FIG. 37.

The image pickup unit 361 includes the CMOS image sensor 232, and outputs the image data captured by the CMOS image sensor 232 (performing predetermined conversion as necessary) as the captured image 362A.

The conversion unit 363 (corresponding to, for example, the ISP circuit 245) converts the captured image 362A input from the imaging unit 361 from a color image to a grayscale image, and outputs the converted captured image as the captured image 362B.

The feature image generation unit 364 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 and the image recognition DSP circuit 242) generates a feature image 362C showing the features of the medal 410 based on the captured image 362B in which the medal 410 is captured. do. The determination unit 365 is based on the feature image 362C generated by the feature image generation unit 364, and the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 362B (that is, the medal 410 corresponding to the image of the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B) is regular. It is determined whether or not it is a product, and the determination result 368 is output via the input / output unit 366 (for example, corresponding to GPIO250).

The determination unit 365 (corresponding to, for example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242) compares the feature image 362C generated by the feature image generation unit 364 from the captured image 362B with the template data (template feature image) 367 showing the features of the regular medal. Then, based on the comparison result, it is determined whether or not the medal 410 related to the captured image 362B is a legitimate one. The template data 367 is stored in the SRAM 243 or the flash memory 244.

FIG. 38 is a diagram showing the configuration of the feature image generation unit 364 in more detail. As shown in FIG. 38, the feature 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 showing the medal 410 based on the captured image 362B. The second image generation unit 380 integrates (combines) a plurality of rotated images (corresponding to the above-mentioned converted image data 276) obtained by rotating the first image 374 generated by the first image generation unit 370. At least a part of the composite image (corresponding to the processed image data 277 described above) is generated as a feature image 362C (second image).

The first image generation unit 370 includes an extraction unit 371 and an edge image generation unit 372. The extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 in which the medal 410 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 to generate an edge image (first image 374).

In the present embodiment, the first image generation unit 370 is realized by, for example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242, and the second image generation unit 380 is realized by, for example, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249.

When the power of the gaming machine according to the present embodiment is turned on, the host controller 241 performs initial settings of the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249. In the initial setting, as described above, the host controller 241 sets the conversion parameter 280 in the memory 274 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249. The specific information 290 is set in the register 283 of the coordinate conversion circuit 272 by the host controller 241 for each target image data 275, for example.

When the initial setting is completed, the imaging unit 361 starts imaging and performs imaging at a predetermined frame rate. The captured image 362A sequentially generated by the imaging unit 361 is stored in the SRAM 243, and based on the captured image 362A read from the SRAM 243, the conversion unit 363, the feature image generation unit 364, and the determination unit 365 determine the regular medal. Processing is done.

<Flow of regular medal discrimination processing in the camera unit>
Next, with reference to FIG. 39, a series of operations of the regular medal discrimination process performed by the camera unit 209 in the present embodiment will be described.

First, the conversion unit 363 reads the captured image 362A stored in the SRAM 243 by the imaging unit 361 from the SRAM 243, converts the read captured image 362A from a color image to a grayscale image, and obtains the captured image 362B. It is stored in the SRAM 243 as the target of the discrimination process (step S11).

Next, in step S12, the extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 in which the medal 410 is reflected from the captured image 362B, which is the target of the discrimination process (see FIG. 40). After that, in step S13, the edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 to generate an edge image as the first image 374 showing the medal 410.

Next, in step S14, the second image generation unit 380 synthesizes a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the edge image (first image 374) generated by the edge image generation unit 372 (processing). At least a part of the image data 277) is generated as the feature image 362C.

Next, in step S15, the determination unit 365 compares the feature image 362C generated by the second image generation unit 380 with the feature image included in the template data 367, and based on the comparison result, the processing target It is determined whether or not the medal 410 shown in the captured image 362B is a legitimate one. In other words, in the determination unit 365, based on the comparison result between the feature image 362C and the feature image included in the template data 367, is the medal 310 shown in the image captured image 362A generated by the image pickup unit 261 legitimate? Judge whether or not.

Then, in step S16, the determination unit 365 corresponds to the determination result 368 to the main control circuit (corresponding to the main control circuit 91 in the gaming machine of the above embodiment) via the input / output unit 366 (corresponding to the GPIO 250 of the above embodiment). ). In this way, when the medal 410 shown in the captured image 362A is not a regular one, the main control circuit forcibly interrupts the game, for example, and the sub control circuit (sub control circuit 101 in the gaming machine of the above embodiment). It is possible to notify that there was a fraudulent act through (corresponding to). For example, it is possible to issue a warning 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.

After that, when a new captured image 362A is input, the above-mentioned regular medal discrimination process is executed with the captured image 362B obtained from the captured image 362A as the target of the new discrimination process. After that, every time the captured image 362A is input, the same regular medal discrimination process is executed.

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

[Extractor]
FIG. 40 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a 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 that utilizes the fact that the outer shape of the medal 410 is circular. In this first extraction method, first, edge detection is performed on the captured image 362B to generate an edge image. As a method for generating an edge image, for example, a Sobel method, a Laplacian method, a Canny method, or the like is used. Next, a circular region is extracted from the generated edge image. As a method for extracting a circular region, for example, a Hough transform is used. The circular region in the captured image 362B that exists at the same position as the position of the circular region in the edge image is referred to as the medal region 373.

As another method, there is a second extraction method of extracting the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B by using the background subtraction method and labeling. In this second extraction method, first, a background subtraction image showing the difference between the captured image 362B and the background image (an image showing only the background of the captured image 362B) is generated, and the generated background difference image is binarized. To. Then, labeling such as 4-linking is performed on the binary background subtraction image. Then, the partial region of the captured image 362B existing at the same position as the position of the connected region (independent region) obtained as a result of labeling in the binary background subtraction image is referred to as the medal region 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. The operation of the extraction unit 371 according to the present embodiment will be described below. The extraction unit 371 may extract the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B by using either of the above two methods.

First, the extraction unit 371 generates a background subtraction image showing the difference between the captured image 362B and the background image 375 (an image in which only the background of the captured image 362B is reflected), and binarizes the generated background subtraction image. FIG. 41 is a diagram schematically showing a background image 375, and FIG. 42 is a diagram schematically showing a binary background difference image 376. In the binary image schematically shown in FIG. 42 and the figure described later in the present embodiment, the region where the pixel value is “1” (high-luminance region) is shown in black, and the pixel value is “0”. Area (low brightness area) is shown in white. Further, the background image 375 can be stored in, for example, SRAM 243 or the like.

Next, the extraction unit 371 performs template matching using the binary outline template 377 showing the outline of the medal 410 against the binary background difference image 376. That is, the extraction unit 371 specifies where a region similar to the outer shape template 377 exists in the background subtraction image 376. In other words, the extraction unit 371 specifies where in the background subtraction image 376 there is a region that matches the outer shape of the medal 410 indicated by the outer shape template 377. FIG. 43 is a diagram schematically showing the outer shape template 377. The outer shape template 377 can be stored in, for example, SRAM 243 or the like.

In template matching, as shown in FIG. 44, the extraction unit 371 moves the outline template 377 on the background subtraction image 376 little by little (for example, one pixel at a time) in the raster scan direction. In other words, the extraction unit 371 causes the outline template 377 to be raster-scanned on the background subtraction image 376. At this time, the extraction unit 371 generates an AND image of the outer shape template 377 and the partial area of the background subtraction image 376 that overlaps the outer shape template 377 at each position of the outer shape template 377. As a result, a plurality of binary AND images are generated. Then, the extraction unit 371 uses the background subtraction image 376 of the outline template 377 used in the generation of the AND image having the largest number of pixels (high-brightness pixels) having a pixel value of "1" among the generated plurality of AND images. Identify the upper position. This position is a position in the background subtraction image 376 where a region similar to the outer shape template 377 exists.

Then, as shown in FIG. 45, 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 placed in the captured image 362B at the same position as the specified position, the extraction unit 371 extracts the partial area 378 in the captured image 362B that overlaps with the outer shape template 377 as the medal area 373. .. At this time, in the partial region 378, the medal region 373 may be the one in which the pixel value of each pixel outside the circle indicated by the outer shape template 377 is zero. The medal area 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 is a grayscale image. In the present embodiment, the outer shape of the medal region 373 is a quadrangle, but it may have another shape such as a circle.

[Edge image generator]
The edge image generation unit 372 performs edge detection on the medal region 373 extracted by the extraction unit 371 using, for example, the Sobel method, the Laplacian method, the Canny method, etc., and obtains an edge image (first image 374). Generate. In the present embodiment, the edge image generation unit 372 uses, for example, the Sobel method, which is light in processing. The edge image is a binary image. FIG. 46 is a diagram schematically showing an edge image.

[Second image generator]
The second image generation unit 380 uses at least a part of the rotation composite image obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 generated by the edge image generation unit 372 as the feature image 362C. Generate. In the present embodiment, the second image generation unit 380 uses, for example, a rotation composite image (that is, the processed image data 277 described above) obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374. It is generated as a feature image 362C. Here, it is assumed that the rotation of the first image (edge image) 374 includes the case where the rotation angle is 0 °. The method of generating the rotation composite image will be described below.

FIG. 47 is a diagram for explaining a method in which the second image generation unit 380 generates a rotation composite image 381, and corresponds to FIGS. 20 and 28 described above. 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. 47. Here, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by a predetermined angle α. In the present embodiment, the second image generation unit 380, for example, rotates the first image (edge image) 374 by 2 ° as shown in FIG. 26 (α = 2 °) to obtain 180 rotated images 374a. Generate. The above-mentioned angle α can be adjusted to various angles such as 1 ° and 4 °.

Then, the second image generation unit 380 synthesizes the generated plurality of rotation images 374a to generate the rotation composite image 381. Specifically, the second image generation unit 380 adds and averages a plurality of rotated images 374a so that their centers coincide with each other, and the added and averaged image obtained by the addition and averaging is referred to as a rotation composite image 381. The second image generation unit 380 uses the generated rotation composite image 381 as a feature image 362C showing the features of the medal 310 shown in the captured image 362B.

In addition, when the second image generation unit 380 synthesizes a plurality of rotation images 374a, in each rotation image 374a, the rotation image 374a having a total rotation angle of 0 ° (that is, the first image that is not rotated (that is, the first image that is not rotated (that is,)) The area protruding from the outer shape of the edge image) 374) can be prevented from being used. Therefore, in this case, the rotation composite image 381 is a gray scale image having the same size as the first image (edge image) 374.

As described above, the imaging unit 361 images the rotating medal 410 and generates an image captured image 362A in which the medal 410 is reflected. Therefore, the rotation angle of the medal 410 of the captured image 362B generated by the conversion unit 363 (the rotation angle of the pattern attached to the medal 410) is not always the same. On the other hand, since the rotation composite image 381 is a composite of a plurality of rotation images 374a obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 showing the medal 410 of the captured image 362B, the medal of the captured image 362B. Even if the rotation angle of the 410 varies, if the medal 410 is a regular one, the rotation composite image 381 obtained from the captured image 362B hardly changes. Therefore, it can be said that the rotation composite image 381 is a feature image 362C showing the characteristics of the medal 410, which is not easily affected by the rotation angle of the medal 410 of the captured image 362B.

[Judgment unit]
The determination unit 365 compares the rotation composite image 381 (feature image 362C) generated by the second image generation unit 380 with the feature image of the template data 267 showing the features of the regular medal 410, and is based on the comparison result. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B is a legitimate one. As the feature image of the template data 267, the feature image 362C (rotation) showing the features of the regular medal 410 generated by the feature image generation unit 364 in the same manner as above from the captured image 362B including the image of the regular medal 410. The composite image 381) is used.

The feature image of the template data 367 can be obtained by inserting the medal 310 into the gaming machine. For example, when a regular medal 410 is inserted into a gaming machine equipped with the camera unit 209 of the present embodiment, a captured image 362B (this captured image 362B is referred to as a "standard image 391") is imaged, and then the captured image 362B is imaged. The feature image generation unit 364 generates a feature image 362C (rotational composite image 381) showing the features of the regular medal 410 included in the standard image 391 based on the standard image 391. This feature image 362C is called a "standard feature image 392". In the present embodiment, the standard feature image 392 becomes the feature image of the template data 367. Such template data 367 is stored in SRAM 243 or the like of the camera unit 209 as described above. Hereinafter, the feature image 362C (feature image 362C generated for discriminating the regular medal) generated during the actual operation of the gaming machine is referred to as "target feature image 362C" in order to distinguish it from the standard feature image 392. There is.

The determination unit 365 compares the two by, for example, obtaining the degree of similarity (degree of difference) between the rotation composite image 381 (target feature image 362C) and the feature 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 degree of similarity. A large SAD means a low similarity, and a small SAD means a high similarity. As a value indicating the degree of similarity, another value such as SSD (Sum of Squared Difference) or NCC (Normalized Correlation Coffiecient) may be used.

When the degree of similarity between the rotation composite image 381 and the feature image of the template data 367 is high, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B is legitimate, and the degree of similarity is high. If it is low, it is determined that the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B is not a legitimate one. Specifically, the determination unit 365 determines that the medal 410 of the captured image 362B is legitimate when the SAD between the rotation composite image 381 and the feature image of the template data 367 is equal to or less than the threshold value. If the SAD is larger than the threshold value, it is determined that the medal 410 of the captured image 362B is not a legitimate one. Then, the determination unit 365 outputs the determination result 368.

The threshold value used by the determination unit 365 is determined by using, for example, a plurality of medals 410. Specifically, when the gaming machine is not in operation, 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. The determination unit 365 obtains SAD between the rotation composite image 381 generated by the feature image generation unit 364 and the feature image of the template data 367 from the captured image 362B for each of the generated plurality of captured images 362B. Then, the maximum value among the plurality of SADs obtained by the determination unit 365 is determined as the threshold value. The determined threshold value is stored in, for example, SRAM 243 or the like.

It should be noted that such a threshold value can be determined by the gaming machine when a predetermined mode is selected in the gaming machine. Further, 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.

By determining the threshold value used by the determination unit 365 in this way, when the type of the regular medal 410 is changed, the changed medal 410 is inserted into the non-operating gaming machine. By doing so, the threshold value according to the changed medal 410 is determined. Therefore, even when the type of the medal 410 is changed, it can be appropriately determined whether or not the medal 410 inserted in the gaming machine is a legitimate one.

In the above example, the binary first image (edge image) 374 was input to the second image generation unit 380 as the first image 374 showing the medal 310 of the captured image 362B, but the medal of the grayscale image. The image showing the region 373 may be input to the second image generation unit 380 as the first image. In this case, the feature image 362C is a rotation composite image obtained by synthesizing a plurality of rotation images obtained by rotating the medal region 373.

As described above, in the pachi-slot machine 1 according to the present embodiment, at least one of the rotation composite images 381 obtained by rotating the first image (edge image) 374 showing the medal 410 and synthesizing a plurality of rotation images. The part is generated as a second image (feature image 362C). This feature image 362C is not easily affected by the rotation angle of the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B. Therefore, even if the rotation angle (rotational posture) of the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B varies, the medal 410 included in the captured image 362B using the feature image 362C (target feature image 362C, standard feature image 392). Can be more accurately determined whether or not is a legitimate one, and the determination accuracy is improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the binary edge image is the first image 374, the brightness of the image pickup region in the image pickup unit 361 is higher than that in the case where the medal region 373 of the gray scale image is the first image 374. It is possible to suppress the influence of the change in the first image 374. Therefore, the feature image 362C can be suppressed from being affected by the change in the brightness of the image pickup region in which the medal 410 is imaged, and as a result, the discrimination accuracy of the regular medal is improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the extraction unit 371 extracts the medal region 373 from the captured image 362B by using template matching, the above-mentioned first extraction method in which the Hough transform is used and the labeling are used. The extraction process is simplified as compared with the second extraction method.

Further, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 365 compares the feature image 362C generated from the captured image 362B with the feature image of the template data 367 using SAD or the like, and based on the comparison result, the captured image 362B. Since it is determined whether or not the medal 410 according to the above is legitimate, the determination process is simplified.

The second image generation unit 380 determines the number of rotation images (for example, the value of N shown in FIG. 29) used when generating the feature image 362C (rotational composite image 381) of the camera unit 209 of the present embodiment. It may be changed according to the operating condition of the gaming machine in which the is incorporated. For example, it is assumed that the speed of the medal 410 moving on the medal rail 210 differs depending on the gaming machine or the like. In such a situation, when the moving speed of the medal 410 is high, the second image generation unit 380 gives priority to the processing time over the determination accuracy, and the number of rotated images used when generating the feature image 362C. Can be configured to reduce. For example, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the edge image (first image 374) by 10 ° from 0 ° to 350 ° to generate 36 rotated images 374a, and synthesizes these rotated images 374a. To generate a feature image 362C.

On the other hand, when the moving speed of the medal 410 is high, the second image generation unit 380 gives priority to the determination accuracy over the processing time, and increases the number of rotated images used when generating the feature image 362C. Can be configured. For example, the second image generation unit 380 rotates the edge image (first image 374) by 1 ° from 0 ° to 359 ° to generate 360 rotated images 374a, and synthesizes these rotated images 374a. To generate a feature image 362C.

Further, as shown in FIG. 32, when the host controller 241 detects a reduction end interrupt signal (2SH, 4SH, etc.) indicating the end of the fisheye correction process by the fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, the image recognition DSP circuit. Even when the 242 or the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is in the process of processing (busy state) and a situation occurs in which the engraving determination process (regular medal determination process) is skipped, the regular medal determination for more medals 410 is performed. The number of rotated images used when generating the feature image 362C can be reduced so that the processing can be performed, and the processing time can be shortened.

Further, in the gaming machine in which the camera unit 209 of the present embodiment is incorporated, when the medal 410 is thrown into the gaming machine by moving on the medal rail 210 without changing its posture, the captured image 362B is displayed. Although the posture of the reflected medal 410 is constant, the position of the reflected medal 410 in the left-right direction may vary. For example, one captured image 362B may display the medal 410 on the left side, another captured image 362B may display the medal 410 in the center, and another captured image 362B may display the medal 410 on the right side.

In such a case, the conversion parameter 280 includes a plurality of translation parameters (the above-mentioned conversion parameter 280 related to translation), and the captured image 362B or the like is used as the second image instead of the edge image (first image 374). It is input to the generation unit 380. Therefore, the second image generation unit 380 individually performs coordinate transformation on the captured image 362B and the like based on the plurality of translation parameters, and generates a plurality of translation images. For example, the second image generation unit 380 generates a plurality of right translation images in which the captured image 362B is moved by two pixels in the right direction, and the captured image 362B is moved by two pixels in the left direction. Generate multiple left translation images. Then, the second image generation unit 380 synthesizes a plurality of right parallel movement images and a plurality of parallel movement images including the plurality of left parallel movement images thus generated to generate a composite image. Further, it is also possible to generate a plurality of such parallel movement images for the edge image (first image 374) and combine these parallel movement images to generate a composite image.

The determination unit 365 uses this composite image as a feature image to determine whether or not the medal 410 is a regular medal. Thereby, even if the position of the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 362B in the left-right direction varies, it can be appropriately determined whether or not the medal 410 is a regular medal.

Further, in the gaming machine in which the camera unit 209 of the present embodiment is incorporated, when the medal 410 is imaged, the size of the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 362B may vary. For example, if the distance between the medal 410 and the CMOS image sensor 232 is not kept constant due to a slight margin in the passage path of the medal 410, the size of the medal 410 displayed in the captured image 362B varies slightly. Sometimes.

In such a case, the conversion parameter 280 includes a plurality of enlargement parameters (conversion parameter 280 relating to image enlargement described above) and a plurality of reduction parameters (conversion parameter 280 relating to image reduction described above). Then, the second image generation unit 380 individually performs a plurality of coordinate transformations on the edge image (first image 374) based on the plurality of enlargement parameters, and generates a plurality of enlarged images. Further, the second image generation unit 380 individually performs a plurality of coordinate transformations on the edge image (first image 374) based on the plurality of reduction parameters to generate a plurality of reduced images. Then, the second image generation unit 380 generates a composite image by synthesizing a plurality of enlarged images and a plurality of images composed of a plurality of reduced images.

The determination unit 365 uses this composite image as a feature image to determine whether or not the medal 410 is a regular medal. Thereby, even if the size of the medal 410 reflected in the captured image 362B varies, it can be appropriately determined whether or not the medal 410 is a regular medal.

Further, when a plurality of types of medals 410 are used in the gaming machine into which the camera unit 209 of the present embodiment is incorporated, a plurality of conversions used in the second image generation unit 380 are used according to the types of medals 410. The set of parameters 280 may be changed. For example, when a medal 410 of a certain type is used and imaged by the CMOS image sensor 232, the second image generator 380 uses a plurality of rotation parameters included in the conversion parameter 280 to create an edge image (first image). A plurality of coordinate conversions are individually performed for 374) and the like. On the other hand, when another type of medal 410 is used, the second image generation unit 380 uses a plurality of translation parameters included in the conversion parameter 280 for the edge image (first image 374) and the like. Perform multiple coordinate transformations individually.

<Modified example of this embodiment>
Hereinafter, various modifications of the camera unit 209 (particularly, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249) according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[Modification 1]
FIG. 48 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image recognition accelerator circuit 449 according to this modification. The image recognition accelerator circuit 449 corresponds to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 shown in FIG. 23, and at least the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is changed to the coordinate conversion circuit 472. The input frame buffer 471 corresponds to the input frame buffer 271 of FIG. 23, the image processing circuit 473 corresponds to the image processing circuit 273 of FIG. 23, and the memory 474 corresponds to the memory 274 of FIG.

When the coordinate conversion circuit 472 rotates the first image (edge image) 374 shown in FIG. 47 to obtain the rotated image (374a), the coordinate conversion circuit 472 is a specific subject among the subjects included in the first image (edge image) 374. It is possible to adjust the position (hereinafter referred to as "specific subject"). Hereinafter, the coordinate conversion circuit 472 according to this modification will be described focusing on the differences from the coordinate conversion circuit 272 shown in FIG. 23.

The coordinate conversion circuit 472 according to this modification includes a conversion circuit 481 for performing coordinate conversion, a control circuit 482, and an addition circuit 485. The control circuit 482 includes a register 483 corresponding to the register 283 as compared with the control circuit 282 shown in FIG. 23, and stores the specific information 490 corresponding to the specific information 290 in the register 483. The addition circuit 485 adds the parameter offset 495 to the conversion parameter 280 read from the memory 474 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 449 by the control circuit 482. Then, the addition circuit 485 outputs the conversion parameter 280 to which the parameter offset 495 is added to the conversion circuit 481.

The parameter offset 495 is stored in the register 483 of the control circuit 482. The parameter offset 495 is represented in the first image (edge image) 374, for example, with respect to the position of the center of gravity of the quadrangle image represented by the first image (edge image) 374 (that is, the intersection of the diagonal lines of the quadrangle). It shows the amount of deviation of the position of the center of gravity of a specific subject. In the case of the gaming machine according to the present embodiment, the specific subject is the medal 410 represented by the first image (edge image) 374. In this case, the center of gravity of the specific subject is the center of gravity of the medal 410, that is, the center of the circular medal 410.

The parameter offset 495 is the x direction (for example, left and right of the image) of the position of the center of gravity of the specific subject represented by the first image (edge image) 374 with respect to the position of the center of gravity of the square represented by the first image (edge image) 374. The deviation amount xoff in the direction) and the position of the center of gravity of the specific subject represented by the first image (edge image) 374 with respect to the position of the center of gravity of the square represented by the first image (edge image) 374 in the y direction (for example). It is composed of a deviation amount of off (in the vertical direction of the image). Hereinafter, the deviation amount xoff is referred to as "x offset xoff". Further, the deviation amount yoff is referred to as "y offset yoff".

Here, the coordinates of the center of gravity of the quadrangle represented by the first image (edge image) 374 are (x1, y1), and the coordinates of the center of gravity of the specific subject represented by the first image (edge image) 374 are (x2,). Let it be y2). At this time, x offset xoff = x2-x1 and y offset yoff = y2-y1. In the example of the first image (edge image) 374 shown in FIG. 46, each side of the quadrangle represented by the first image (edge image) 374 touches the circumference of the medal 410, which is a perfect circle. , Xoff = 0, if = 0.

When adding the parameter offset 495 to the conversion parameter 280, the addition circuit 485 adds the x-offset xoff of the parameter offset 495 to the x-coordinates of each of the four coordinates constituting the conversion parameter 280. Then, the addition circuit 485 adds the y-offset yoff of the parameter offset 495 to the y-coordinates of the four coordinates constituting the conversion parameter 280.

The conversion circuit 481 performs coordinate conversion on the target image data 275 (first image 374) based on the conversion parameter 280 to which the parameter offset 495 is added. When the conversion parameter 280 is the conversion parameter 280 relating to the rotation of the image, the conversion circuit 481 performs coordinate conversion of the target image data 275 based on the conversion parameter 280 to which the parameter offset 495 is added. As a result, even if the position of the center of gravity of the specific subject represented by the target image data 275 deviates from the position of the center of gravity of the square represented by the target image data 275, the positions of the centers of gravity of both are the same. It will be like. In the gaming machine according to the present embodiment, the position of the center of gravity of the medal 410 represented by the first image (edge image) 374 which is the target image data 275 is from the position of the center of gravity of the square represented by the first image 374. Even if they are misaligned, the positions of their centers of gravity will match.

The parameter offset 495 is set by the host controller 241 when the host controller 241 instructs the image recognition accelerator circuit 449 to start image processing (rotation integration processing) related to the target image data 275 (step S1 in FIG. 33, etc.). , The specific information 290 is set in the register 483 of the control circuit 482. The host controller 241 reads out the specific information 290 corresponding to the target image data 275 and the parameter offset 495 from the SRAM 243 or the like for each target image data 275 to be processed with respect to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249, and the read specific information. The 290 and the parameter offset 495 are set in the register 483 of the control circuit 482.

The control circuit 482 outputs the parameter offset 495 stored in the register 483 to the adder circuit 485, and reads the conversion parameter 280 from the memory 274 based on the specific information 290 stored in the register 483. The adder circuit 485 adds the parameter offset 495 to the conversion parameter 280 read from the memory 274, and the conversion parameter 280 to which the parameter offset 495 is added is provided to the conversion circuit 481.

In the gaming machine according to the present embodiment, the parameter offset 495 is generated by, for example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 that functions as the first image generation unit 370. The first image generation unit 370 can generate the parameter offset 495 when generating the first image (edge image) 374 based on the captured image 362B.

The first image generation unit 370 stores the parameter offset 495 obtained when generating the first image (edge image) 374 in the SRAM 243 in association with the first image 374.

As described above, in the coordinate conversion circuit 472 according to the present modification, the conversion circuit 481 performs coordinate conversion with respect to the first image (edge image) 374 based on the conversion parameter 280 to which the parameter offset 495 is added. Therefore, by adjusting the parameter offset 495 for each first image (edge image) 374, the rotation image 374a (converted image data 276) or the feature image 362C (processed image data 277) obtained by the conversion circuit 481 can be used. The position of a specific subject is adjusted.

In the gaming machine according to the present embodiment, when the position of the medal 410 on the rotated image 374a varies, the composite image varies, and as a result, the feature image 362C varies. If the feature image 362C varies, even if the medal 410 inserted in the gaming machine is a regular medal, it may be significantly different from the template data 367, and as a result, the judgment accuracy in the judgment unit 365 may decrease. be. Therefore, as in this modification, the feature image is obtained by matching the position of the center of gravity of the medal 410 represented by the first image (edge image) 374 with the position of the center of gravity of the square represented by the first image 374. The variation of 362C is reduced, and as a result, the determination accuracy in the determination unit 365 can be improved.

[Modification 2]
In this modification, as shown in FIG. 49, the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 executes coordinate conversion for the target image data 575 stored in the input frame buffer a plurality of times to generate one processed image data 577. do.

FIG. 50 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image recognition accelerator circuit 549 according to this modification. The image recognition accelerator circuit 549 corresponds to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 shown in FIG. 23, and at least the coordinate conversion circuit 272 is changed to the coordinate conversion circuit 572 and the image processing circuit 273 is changed to the image processing circuit 573. Has been done. The input frame buffer 571 corresponds to the input frame buffer 271 of FIG. 23, and the memory 574 corresponds to the memory 274 of FIG.

FIG. 51 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image processing circuit 573 according to this modification. As shown in FIG. 51, the image processing circuit 573 according to this modification does not have an addition processing unit as compared with the image processing circuit 273 shown in FIG. 30 described above. Further, the image processing circuit 573 has a write request output unit 602 corresponding to the first read request output unit 601 corresponding to the first read request output unit 301 and a write request output unit 302 corresponding to the write request output unit 302, as compared with the image processing circuit 273. , And a second read request output unit 603 corresponding to the second read request output unit 303 is provided in the storage control unit 600. Further, the image processing circuit 573 of FIG. 51 includes an arbitration unit 604 corresponding to the arbitration unit 304 of the image processing circuit 273, and further includes a write buffer 606 corresponding to the write buffer 306 and a read buffer 607 corresponding to the read buffer 307. A frame memory 609 corresponding to the frame memory 309 is provided. The converted image data 576 is output to the write buffer 606 from the coordinate conversion circuit 572 described above.

In such an image processing circuit 573, the pixel data (of the converted image data 576) output from the conversion circuit 581 of the coordinate conversion circuit 527 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 is written to the write buffer 606 as it is. Further, the pixel data stored in the read buffer 607 is output to the selection circuit 585 of the coordinate conversion circuit 572.

As shown in FIG. 50, the coordinate conversion circuit 572 according to the present modification further includes a selection circuit 585 as compared with the coordinate conversion circuit 272 shown in FIG. 23 described above. The selection circuit 585 selects either the output of the input frame buffer 571 or the output of the image processing circuit 573 based on the control signal CNT1 output from the control circuit 582, and the selected output is input to the conversion circuit 581. As such, it is connected to the conversion circuit 581.

In this modification, when the control signal CNT1 output from the control circuit 582 is in the first state (for example, when “1” is indicated), the selection circuit 585 selects the output of the input frame buffer 571. When the selection circuit 585 selects the output of the input frame buffer 571, the conversion circuit 581 can access the target image data 575 stored in the input frame buffer 571.

On the other hand, when the control signal CNT1 output from the control circuit 582 is in the second state (for example, when "0" is indicated), the selection circuit 585 selects the output of the image processing circuit 573. When the selection circuit 585 selects the output of the image processing circuit 573, the conversion circuit 581 is connected to the read buffer 607 of the image processing circuit 573 and can read the pixel data from the read buffer 607.

FIG. 52 is a diagram showing an example of the conversion parameter 580 according to the present modification. In the conversion parameter 580 according to this modification, a unique parameter number (identification information) is associated with each of the plurality of conversion parameters 580. In the example shown in FIG. 52, the conversion parameters associated with the parameter numbers "1" to "360" are conversion parameters (580-1 to 580-360) relating to image rotation, and these are 1 images. There are 360 conversion parameters 580 for rotating from ° to 360 °. Further, the conversion parameters associated with the parameter numbers "361" to "360" are conversion parameters (580-361 to 580-390) related to image enlargement, and these are 1.1 times to 4 times the image. There are 30 conversion parameters 580 for scaling up to 0.0 times.

Further, the conversion parameters associated with the parameter numbers "391" to "399" are conversion parameters (580-391 to 580-399) related to image reduction, and these are 0.9 times to 0 times the image. . 9 conversion parameters 580 for reduction up to 1. Further, the conversion parameters associated with the parameter numbers "400" and "401" are conversion parameters (580-400 to 580-401) related to the translation of the image, and each of these is one pixel to the right of the image. It corresponds to the conversion parameter 580 for translating and the conversion parameter 580 for translating the image to the right by two pixels.

FIG. 53 is a diagram showing an example of the specific information 590 according to the present modification. As shown in FIG. 53, the specific information 590 according to the present modification includes the reference mode information 591 and the look-up table (LUT) 592.

The reference mode information 591 includes the number of references 591a, the reference start position 591b, and the reference interval 591c. The reference number 591a indicates the number of times that the parameter number stored in the LUT 592 is referred to. The reference start position 591b indicates the position of the parameter number to be referred to first in the LUT 592. The reference interval 591c indicates how many conversion parameters 580 away from the previously referenced conversion parameter 580 are referred to in the LUT 592 when the conversion parameter 580 is referred to at a certain timing.

A plurality of parameter numbers are described in the LUT 592. The reference mode information 591 is information indicating how to refer to the plurality of parameter numbers described in the LUT 592 as described above. The control circuit 582 refers to the parameter numbers of the LUT 592 one by one according to the reference mode information 591, and reads out the conversion parameter 580 corresponding to the referenced parameter number each time the parameter number is referred to. The read conversion parameter 580 is input to the conversion circuit 581.

The control circuit 582 refers to a plurality of parameter numbers of the LUT 592 in order from the start side to the end side of the LUT 592 (for example, from the start storage position (start address) to the final storage position (final address) of the storage area constituting the LUT 592). do. In the coordinate conversion circuit 572, when M (≧ 2) coordinate conversions are performed on the target image data 575, the control circuit 582 first obtains the LUT592 based on the reference start position 591b of the reference mode information 591. Refers to the parameter number of the corresponding reference start position. Next, the control circuit 582 reads the conversion parameter 580 corresponding to the referenced parameter number from the memory 574 and inputs it to the conversion circuit 581.

Next, the control circuit 582 refers to the parameter numbers in the LUT 592, which are separated from the previously referenced parameter numbers by the number indicated by the reference interval 591c, based on the reference interval 591c of the reference mode information 591. Then, the control circuit 582 reads the conversion parameter 580 corresponding to the referenced parameter number from the memory 574 and inputs it to the conversion circuit 581.

After that, the control circuit 582 repeats the same operation, refers to the parameter number as many times (M times) as the reference count 591a of the reference mode information 591, and stores the conversion parameter 580 corresponding to the referenced parameter number in the memory 574. Is read from and input to the conversion circuit 581. As a result, among the plurality of conversion parameters 580 stored in the memory 574, the M conversion parameters 580 used by the conversion circuit 581 for coordinate conversion with respect to the target image data 575 stored in the input frame buffer 571 are sequentially converted. It is input to the circuit 581.

In the example of FIGS. 52 and 53, for example, when the reference count 591a of the reference mode information 591 indicates “3”, the reference start position 591b indicates “0000h”, and the reference interval 591c indicates “1”, control is performed. The circuit 582 refers to "1", "361", and "400" in order among the plurality of parameter numbers stored in the LUT 592. As a result, the conversion circuit 581 is provided with a conversion parameter 580-1 relating to rotation for rotating the image by 1 °, which corresponds to the parameter number = "1", and an image corresponding to the parameter number = "361". The conversion parameter 580-361 for enlargement for 1x enlargement and the conversion parameter 580-400 for translation to move the image in parallel to the right by one pixel corresponding to the parameter number = "400". Entered in order.

[Operation of image recognition accelerator circuit in variant 2]
FIG. 54 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 according to this modification. When the target image data 575 is written to the input frame buffer 571, the control circuit 582 sets the control signal CNT1 to the first state, whereby the target image data 575 of the input frame buffer 571 is transmitted via the selection circuit 585. It is input to the conversion circuit 581. Further, the control circuit 582 reads the conversion parameter 580 first used from the memory 574 and outputs the conversion parameter 580 to the conversion circuit 581 together with the setting of the control signal CNT1. The conversion circuit 581 performs coordinate conversion on the target image data 575 stored in the input frame buffer 571 based on the input conversion parameter 580, and generates the first converted image data 576-1. The control circuit 582 sets the control signal CNT1 to the second state when the conversion circuit 581 generates the first converted image data 576-1. As a result, the read buffer 607 of the image processing circuit 573 is connected to the conversion circuit 581 via the selection circuit 585.

When the conversion circuit 581 performs coordinate conversion on the target image data 575 based on the conversion parameter 580, the conversion circuit 581 writes the pixel data of the first converted image data 576-1 to the write buffer 606 of the image processing circuit 573. The pixel data written in the write buffer 606 is written in the frame memory 609. As a result, the first converted image data 576-1 is stored in the frame memory 609.

The image processing circuit 573 writes the pixel data of the first converted image data 576-1 stored in the frame memory 609 into the read buffer 607. Here, the conversion circuit 581 reads out the pixel data of the first converted image data 576-1 of the read buffer 607, whereby the conversion circuit 581 receives the first converted image data 576-1 from the image processing circuit 573. Is entered.

Next, the conversion circuit 581 performs coordinate conversion on the first converted image data 576-1 based on the second used conversion parameter 580 read from the memory 574 by the control circuit 582. The second converted image data 576-2 is generated. The conversion circuit 581 writes the pixel data of the second converted image data 576-2 to the write buffer 606 of the image processing circuit 573, and the pixel data thus written to the write buffer 606 is written to the frame memory 609. As a result, the second converted image data 576-2 is stored in the frame memory 609.

The image processing circuit 573 writes the pixel data of the second converted image data 576-2 stored in the frame memory 609 to the read buffer 607, and the conversion circuit 581 uses the read buffer 607 to the second converted image data 576-. Read out the pixel data of 2. As a result, the second converted image data 576-2 is input to the conversion circuit 581 from the image processing circuit 573. The conversion circuit 581 performs coordinate conversion on the second converted image data 576-2 based on the third used conversion parameter 580 read from the memory 574 by the control circuit 582, and performs a third conversion. Post-image data 576-3 is generated. The conversion circuit 581 writes the pixel data of the third converted image data 576-3 to the write buffer 606 of the image processing circuit 573, and the pixel data of the write buffer 606 written in this way is written to the frame memory 609. As a result, the third converted image data 576-3 is stored in the frame memory 609.

After that, the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 repeats the same operation, and the conversion circuit 581 of the coordinate conversion circuit 572 is subjected to the control circuit 582 with respect to the first (M-1) converted image data 576- (M-1). Coordinate conversion is performed based on the conversion parameter 580 used in the Mth position read from the memory 574, and the image data 576-M after the Mth conversion is generated. Then, the M-converted image data 576-M is written in the frame memory 609 as processed image data 577.

In the example of FIGS. 52 and 53, for example, the number of references 591a in the reference mode information 591 of the specific information 590 is "3", the reference start position 591b is "0000h" indicating the start address, and the reference interval 591c is "1". In this case, by referring to the LUT592 as described above, the conversion circuit 581 has a conversion parameter 580-1 for rotation to rotate the image by 1 ° and a conversion parameter 580-1 for magnifying the image 1.1 times. The conversion parameter 580-361 related to enlargement and the conversion parameter 580-400 related to translation for translating the image to the right by one pixel are input in order. Therefore, in this case, the conversion circuit 581 performs coordinate conversion for rotating the image by 1 °, coordinate conversion for enlarging the image 1.1 times, and an image for one target image data 575. Coordinate transformation for translating one pixel to the right is executed in this order. That is, the conversion circuit 581 rotates the image related to one target image data 575 by 1 °, magnifies the rotated image obtained by the rotation image by 1.1 times, and enlarges the enlarged image obtained by the rotation by 1 to the right. One processed image data 577 is generated by translating by the number of pixels.

The output control unit 608 of the image processing circuit 573 outputs the processed image data 577 as an output image to the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer in the same manner as described above. Further, when the output control unit 608 controls the frame memory 609 by the storage control unit 600 to read the pixel data for 4 pixels of the final processed image data 577 from the frame memory 609, the read 4 pixels Minute pixel data is output to SRAM 243 by DMA transfer. The DMAC252 controls the processed image data 577 so as to be DMA-transferred from the frame memory 609 to the SRAM 243.

When the DMAC252 includes a buffer, the output control unit 608 reads the pixel data for four pixels of the final processed image data 577 from the frame memory 609, and the read pixel data for the four pixels is used as a buffer for the DMAC252. After that, the host controller 241 writes the pixel data for four pixels or the entire processed image data 577 to the SRAM 243.

Each time the conversion circuit 581 generates pixel data, the generated pixel data is written to the write buffer 606, and the write request output unit 602 and the second read request output unit 603 operate independently. Therefore, after the processed image data 577 is generated, the entire data is not output to the SRAM 243 or DMAC252, but the coordinate conversion of the pixel data unit for generating the processed image data 577 in the conversion circuit 581 is performed. The processing and the output processing of the pixel data of the processing image data 577 by the output control unit 608 are executed in parallel.

As described above, the coordinate conversion circuit 572 according to the present modification superimposes a plurality of coordinate conversions on one target image data 575 without exchanging data with the host controller 241 based on the plurality of conversion parameters 580. Do it. Therefore, similarly to the above, each time the coordinate conversion circuit 572 performs coordinate conversion, the processing time of a plurality of coordinate conversions is shortened as compared with the case where the conversion parameter 580 used in the coordinate conversion is received from the host controller 241. be able to.

Further, similarly to the above, in the storage control unit 600, when at least two requests of the first read request, the write request, and the second read request conflict with each other, the at least two requests are sent by the arbitration unit 604. It will be arbitrated. Therefore, the first read request output unit 601, the write request output unit 602, and the second read request output unit 603 can operate independently of each other, and the first read request output unit 601 and the write request output unit 601 can be operated independently. It is possible to prevent the processing in a certain output unit of the 602 and the second read request output unit 603 from becoming a bottleneck. As a result, the processing speed of the entire image recognition accelerator circuit 549 can be improved.

Further, in the present modification, the specific information 590 includes a LUT 592 in which the parameter number corresponding to the conversion parameter 580 is described, and a reference mode information 591 indicating how the plurality of parameter numbers described in the LUT 592 are referred to. It is composed of. Therefore, the conversion parameter 580 used in the conversion circuit 581 is specified by the parameter number. Therefore, no matter what position or order the plurality of conversion parameters 580 are stored in the memory 574, the conversion parameter 580 used in the conversion circuit 581 can be specified.

For example, consider the case where the conversion parameters 280 related to a plurality of rotations are stored in the memory 574 as shown in FIG. 24 described above. Here, as shown in FIG. 25 described above, when the specific information 290 is composed of the number of usage parameters 291 and the usage start position 292, and the usage interval 293, the image is rotated by 1 ° according to the specific information 290. 280-1, conversion parameter 280-2 for rotating the image 2 °, conversion parameter 280-4 for rotating the image 4 °, and conversion parameter 280-7 for rotating the image 7 °. It is not possible to specify only (not shown).

On the other hand, in this modification, the LUT592 has a parameter number corresponding to the conversion parameter 580-1 for rotating the image by 1 ° and a parameter number corresponding to the conversion parameter 580-2 for rotating the image by 2 °. , The parameter number corresponding to the conversion parameter 580-4 for rotating the image by 4 °, and the parameter number corresponding to the conversion parameter 580-7 for rotating the image by 7 °. It is possible to specify the parameter 580.

Although the specific information 590 is composed of the reference mode information 591 and the LUT592, it may be composed of only the LUT592. In this case, the control circuit 582 refers to a plurality of parameter numbers stored in the LUT 592 in order from the beginning of the LUT 592, for example. Even in such a case, since the conversion parameter 580 used in the conversion circuit 581 is specified by the parameter number, the plurality of conversion parameters 580 may be stored in the memory 574 regardless of how the plurality of conversion parameters 580 are stored. The conversion parameter 580 used in the conversion circuit 581 can be freely specified from the conversion parameter 580 of. Further, in the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 according to this modification, the specific information 290 shown in FIG. 25 may be used.

As shown in FIG. 51, the image processing circuit 573 does not have an addition processing unit, and the converted image data 576 is exchanged with the coordinate conversion circuit 572 shown in FIG. 50 to obtain a final processed image. Generate data 577 (see FIG. 54). In the present specification, such processing (data handling) in the image processing circuit 573 is also regarded as a form of image processing.

[Modification 3]
The image recognition accelerator circuit 794 according to this modification has, as an operation mode, an individual conversion processing mode in which individual conversion processing is performed on each target image data 775 to generate a composite image, and an individual conversion processing mode for one target image data 775. It is equipped with a multiple conversion processing mode that performs multiple conversion processing. 55 and 56 are diagrams showing the configurations of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 and the image processing circuit 773 according to this modification, respectively.

FIG. 55 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 according to this modification. The image recognition accelerator circuit 749 corresponds to the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 shown in FIG. 50, and at least the coordinate conversion circuit 572 is changed to the coordinate conversion circuit 772, and the image processing circuit 573 is changed to the image processing circuit 773. Has been done. The input frame buffer 771 corresponds to the input frame buffer 771 of FIG. 50, and the memory 774 corresponds to the memory 774 of FIG. In the coordinate conversion circuit 772 of FIG. 55, the selection circuit 785 corresponds to the selection circuit 585 of the coordinate conversion circuit 572 of FIG. Corresponds to the control circuit 582 of the circuit 572.

As shown in FIG. 55, the coordinate conversion circuit 772 according to this modification has a configuration similar to that of the coordinate conversion circuit 572 shown in FIG. 50 described above, but in this modification, the register 783 of the control circuit 782 is used. The operation mode information 795 indicating the operation mode in which the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 should operate is stored in the image recognition accelerator circuit 749, and the control signal CNT2 is provided to the image processing circuit 773 based on the operation mode information 795.

The operation mode information 795 is set in the register 783 by, for example, the host controller 241. When the host controller 241 sets the specific information 790 in the register 783, the host controller 241 also sets the operation mode information 795 in the register 783.

The control circuit 782 controls the control signal CNT1 based on the operation mode information 795. Further, the control circuit 782 outputs a control signal CNT2 for controlling the selection circuit 806 described later included in the image processing circuit 773. Such a control signal CNT2 is determined based on the operation mode information 795.

As shown in FIG. 56, the image processing circuit 773 according to the present modification further includes a selection circuit 806 as compared with the image processing circuit 273 shown in FIG. 30 described above. Further, the image processing circuit 773 according to this modification is a book corresponding to the first read request output unit 801 corresponding to the first read request output unit 301 and the write request output unit 302 as compared with the image processing circuit 273. The storage control unit 800 is provided with a second read request output unit 803 corresponding to the insert request output unit 802 and the second read request output unit 303. Further, the image processing circuit 773 of FIG. 56 includes an arbitration unit 804 corresponding to the arbitration unit 304 of the image processing circuit 273, and further, an addition processing unit 805 corresponding to the addition processing unit 305 and a write buffer corresponding to the write buffer 306. 706, a read buffer 707 corresponding to a read buffer 307, a frame memory 709 corresponding to a frame memory 309, and an output control unit 708 corresponding to an output control unit 308 are provided. The converted image data 776 is output to the addition processing unit 805 from the coordinate conversion circuit 772 described above.

Here, the selection circuit 806 receives the control signal CNT2 from the control circuit 782 of the coordinate conversion circuit 772 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749, and based on this control signal CNT2, the output of the conversion circuit 781 of the coordinate conversion circuit 772 and the output of the conversion circuit 781. One of the outputs obtained as a result of the output of the conversion circuit 781 of the coordinate conversion circuit 772 being input to the addition processing unit 805 is selected, and the selected output is output to the write buffer 706. In this modification, when the control signal CNT2 is in the first state (for example, the state indicating "1"), the selection circuit 806 selects the output of the addition processing unit 805 and uses the selected output (pixel data) as a write buffer. Output to 706. On the other hand, when the control signal CNT2 is in the second state (for example, a state indicating "0"), the selection circuit 806 selects the output of the conversion circuit 781 and outputs the selected output (pixel data) to the write buffer 706. ..

[Operation of image recognition accelerator circuit in variant 3]
When the operation mode information 795 indicates the individual conversion processing mode, the control circuit 782 sets both the control signal CNT1 and the control signal CNT2 to the first state. As a result, the operation mode of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 according to this modification becomes the individual conversion processing mode, and the configuration thereof is the same as that of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 shown in FIG. 23 and the image processing circuit 273 shown in FIG. The operation of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 in the individual conversion processing mode is the same as that of these circuits.

In the individual conversion processing mode, for example, for one target image data 775, all 360 converted image data 767s (360 degrees) generated by rotating in 1 degree units based on the conversion parameter 780 are integrated. One processed image data 777 is generated (see FIG. 29).

On the other hand, when the operation mode information 795 indicates the conversion processing mode a plurality of times, the control circuit 782 sets the control signal CNT2 to the second state. As a result, the operation mode of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 according to this modification becomes the multiple conversion processing mode, and the configuration thereof includes the image recognition accelerator circuit 549 shown in FIG. 50 and the image processing circuit 573 shown in FIG. 51. The configuration is the same, and the operation of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 in the multiple conversion processing mode is the same as that of these circuits.

In the multiple conversion processing mode, for example, one target image data 775 is subjected to coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter 780, and then the generated converted image data 767 is sequentially subjected to coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter 780. This is performed to generate one processed image data 777 (see FIG. 54).

After the camera unit 209 including the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 according to this modification is activated, the host controller 241 indicates the qth (q is a variable, q ≧ 1) target image with respect to the image recognition accelerator circuit 749. When making settings related to the data 775 (settings in steps S1 and S2 of FIG. 33 described above), the host controller 241 has the qth specific information 790 used in the processing for the qth target image data 775 and the qth. The operation mode information 795 indicating the operation mode of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 regarding the processing for the target image data 775 is set in the register 783 of the control circuit 782 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749.

In the image recognition accelerator circuit 749, when the specific information 790 and the operation mode information 795 are set in the register 783, the qth target image data 775 is written from the SRAM 243 to the input frame buffer 771 by DMA transfer. Further, in the coordinate conversion circuit 772, the control circuit 782 controls the control signal CNT1 and the control signal CNT2 to set the operation mode of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 to the operation mode indicated by the operation mode information 795 of the register 783. .. Then, the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 performs processing on the qth target image data 775 stored in the input frame buffer 771 according to the set operation mode.

When the host controller 241 sets the image recognition accelerator circuit 949 for the (q + 1) th target image data 775, it is similarly used in the process for the (q + 1) th target image data 775. The specific information 790 and the operation mode information 795 indicating the operation mode of the image recognition accelerator circuit 794 regarding the processing for the (q + 1) th target image data 775 are set in the register 783 of the control circuit 782 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 749. do.

As described above, since the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 according to the present modification includes the individual conversion processing mode and the multiple conversion processing mode as the operation modes, the image recognition accelerator circuit 749 has two processes in one camera unit 209, that is, , Both individual conversion processing and multiple conversion processing can be executed.

Further, in two camera units 209 and a gaming machine having the same configuration, it is possible to configure one to execute only the individual conversion process and the other to execute only the conversion process a plurality of times.

[Modification 4]
The configuration of the image recognition accelerator circuit 949 (not shown) according to this modification corresponds to the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 shown in FIG. 23, and at least the image processing circuit 273 is changed to the image processing circuit 973. .. In addition, the image recognition accelerator circuit 949 includes an input frame buffer 971 corresponding to the input frame buffer 271 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 shown in FIG. 23, a coordinate conversion circuit 972 corresponding to the coordinate conversion circuit 272, and a memory corresponding to the memory 274. It is equipped with 974.

FIG. 57 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image processing circuit 973 of the image recognition accelerator circuit 949 according to the present modification. The image processing circuit 973 according to this modification has a first read request output unit 1001 corresponding to the first read request output unit 301 and a write request output unit as compared with the image processing circuit 273 shown in FIG. 30 described above. The storage control unit 1000 is provided with a write request output unit 1002 corresponding to 302, but is not provided with a second read request output unit. Further, the image processing circuit 973 of FIG. 57 includes an arbitration unit 1004 corresponding to the arbitration unit 304 of the image processing circuit 273, and the arbitration unit 1004 is a first read request output from the first read request output unit 1001. , The write request output from the write request output unit 1002 is arbitrated, either the first read request or the write request is selected, and processing is performed according to the selected request.

Further, the image processing circuit 973 of FIG. 57 has the addition processing unit 1005 corresponding to the addition processing unit 305, the write buffer 1006 corresponding to the write buffer 306, and the read buffer 307, as compared with the image processing circuit 273 shown in FIG. The corresponding read buffer 1007 and the frame memory 909 corresponding to the frame memory 309 are provided. The converted image data 976 is output to the addition processing unit 1005 from the coordinate conversion circuit 972 described above.

Further, the image processing circuit 973 according to this modification includes an output control unit 1008, which is read from the frame memory 909 unlike the output control unit 308 of the image processing circuit 273 shown in FIG. 30. Instead of outputting the pixel data of the processed image data 977, the pixel data of the processed image data 977 stored in the write buffer 1006 is output. When the pixel data for 4 pixels of the processed image data 977, which is the image data to be output, is stored in the write buffer 1006, the output control unit 1008 reads the pixel data for 4 pixels from the write buffer 1006 and transfers the DMA. Is output to SRAM 243. The DMAC252 controls the processed image data 977 to be DMA-transferred from the write buffer 1006 to the SRAM 243.

When the DMAC252 includes a buffer, the output control unit 1008 reads pixel data for four pixels of the processed image data 977 from the write buffer 1006, and stores the read pixel data for the four pixels in the buffer of the DMAC252. After that, the host controller 241 writes the pixel data for four pixels or the entire processed image data 577 to the SRAM 243.

In this modification, when the write request output unit 1002 stores the pixel data of the processed image data 977 to be output in the write buffer 1006, the write request output unit 1002 exceptionally makes a write request even if the write buffer 1006 is full. Do not output.

As described above, in the image processing circuit 973 according to the present modification, when the first read request and the write request conflict with each other, the two requests are arbitrated, so that the first read request output unit 1001 and The write request output unit 1002 can operate independently of each other. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the processing in one of the first read request output unit 1001 and the write request output unit 1002 from becoming a bottleneck. As a result, the overall processing speed of the image recognition accelerator circuit 949 can be improved.

Further, the output control unit 1008 outputs the pixel data of the processed image data 977, which has not been written in the frame memory 909, to the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer. Therefore, as compared with the case where the output control unit 1008 outputs the pixel data of the processed image data 977 read from the frame memory 909, the DMAC252 is the output target data (processed image data) output from the addition processing unit 1005. You can receive 977) immediately. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time from the generation of the output target data to the writing of the output target data to the SRAM 243.

[Modification 5]
In this modification, a game medium sorting apparatus that sorts between a regular game medium and a non-regular game medium will be described. The game medium sorting device may be a stand-alone device that only sorts the game medium. Further, the game medium sorting device may be connected to and built in a device for counting the number of game media (so-called jet counter, each counter). Further, the gaming medium sorting device may be built in the gaming machine. In this modification, medals are taken as an example of the game medium to be sorted, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the method of normal determination is changed to change coins and game balls (for example, presence / absence of engraving, color). Differences) and other game media may be selected.

<External structure of game medium sorting device>
The external structure of the game medium sorting apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 58, 59, and 60. 58, 59, and 60 are perspective views showing an example of an external configuration of the game medium sorting device M1 of this modified example.

As shown in FIGS. 58 and 59, the game medium sorting device M1 includes a housing M2, an accommodating portion M21, a display M3, a switch M4, a handle M5, a first discharge port M6, and a lower plate M7. , Has a front door M9.

The lower plate M7 is provided at the lower part of the housing M2 so as to be retractable from the housing M2. In the lower plate M7, non-regular medals discharged from the second discharge port M11 (see FIG. 60), which will be described later, are stored. In the following description, the direction in which the lower plate M7 of the game medium sorting device M1 can be pulled out is referred to as the front side (front direction) of the game medium sorting device M1, and the side opposite to the front side is the rear side (rear direction, depth direction). The right side and the left side when viewed from the front side may be referred to as the right side (right direction) and the left side (left direction) of the game medium sorting device M1, respectively. Further, the direction including the front side and the rear side may be referred to as a front-rear direction, and the direction including the right side and the left side may be referred to as a left-right direction. The direction orthogonal to the front-back direction (thickness direction) and the left-right direction (width direction) may be referred to as a vertical direction or a height direction.

An accommodating portion M21 is provided on the upper side of the housing M2. The accommodating portion M21 is a constituent member of the hopper device M20 (see FIGS. 61 and 62) described later. The medals to be sorted are stored in the storage unit M21.

The housing M2 is formed on a slope in which the central portion of the wall surface on the front side protrudes downward. The housing M2 has a display M3 in the right side region of the slope. Although not shown, the display M3 displays the number of regular medals selected by the game medium sorting device M1 and the number of non-regular medals. Below the display M3, a front door M9 for making the mechanism in the housing M2 accessible is provided so as to be openable and closable by a hinge.

A switch M4 is provided on the rear side of the right side surface of the housing M2. The switch M4 is capable of turning on / off the supply of power to the built-in control board or the like. Handles M5 and M5 for facilitating the carrying of the game medium sorting device M1 are provided in the central portion of the right side surface and the central portion (not shown) of the left side surface of the housing M2. A first discharge port M6 is provided at the lower part of the right side surface of the housing M2. In this modification, regular medals are ejected from the first ejection port M6.

As shown in FIG. 59, when the front door M9 is in the open state, two selector mechanisms M30 and M30 arranged in parallel in the housing M2 are visually recognized. Although the details will be described later, each selector mechanism M30 has the same configuration as the above-mentioned medal selector 201 (see FIGS. 7 to 12), and the accepted medal is referred to the passage direction (first direction) of the medal rail 210. , Has a function of distributing to the downward direction (second direction) from the medal rail 210 toward the cancel shooter 206. In this modification, the medals determined to be regular are distributed in the first direction, and the medals determined to be non-regular are distributed in the second direction.

Below the right side of the two selector mechanisms M30 / M30, a first discharge passage M50 that functions as a third guide portion is arranged along the first direction of the two selector mechanisms M30 / M30. The first discharge passage M50 guides the medals, which are determined to be normal and are distributed in the first direction, to the first discharge port M6.

Further, the second discharge passages M8 and M8 are arranged below the two selector mechanisms M30 and M30, respectively. The second discharge passages M8 and M8 are passages for passing medals distributed in the second direction, which are determined to be non-regular, and guiding them to the lower plate.

FIG. 60 is an external view of the game medium sorting device M1 as viewed from below, and shows a state in which the lower plate M7 is pulled out forward. As shown in FIG. 60, the second discharge ports M11 and M11 are formed on the bottom surface of the housing M2 at positions corresponding to the second discharge passages M8 and M8. Therefore, the medals that have passed through the second discharge passages M8 and M8 are guided to the lower plate M7 via the second discharge ports M11 and M11.

In this way, in the hopper device M20 (see FIG. 61), a plurality of medals housed in the storage unit are sent out one by one, a normal determination is performed, and the sorted medals are, for example, the first regular medal. The game medium is discharged from the discharge port M6, and the non-regular game medium is discharged from the second discharge ports M11 and M11. As a result, the game medium sorting device M1 can be built not only in a game machine, a game medium management device, or the like, but also can be operated stand-alone like a medal counter installed in a game hall, for example. Become. Therefore, for example, medals managed by the amusement park can be classified into regular medals and non-regular medals in a place invisible to the players of the amusement park. As a result, it is possible to prevent the game field from accidentally providing the non-regular game medium to the player by using only the selected regular game medium.

<Internal structure of game medium sorting device>
The internal structure of the game medium sorting apparatus M1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 61, 62, 63, and 64. FIG. 61 is a perspective view showing an example of the internal structure of the game medium sorting device M1.

As shown in FIG. 61, the game medium sorting device M1 has a hopper device M20 as a sending unit for sending out inserted medals one by one, a selector mechanism M30 for sorting medals, and medals sent out from the hopper device M20. It has a guide member M40 as a first guide portion that receives and guides the selector mechanism M30. As described above, in this modification, two selector mechanisms M30 and M30 are provided. That is, the hopper device M20 is configured to supply medals to the two selector mechanisms M30 and M30, respectively, via the two guide members M40 and M40. Further, the game medium sorting device M1 has a power supply unit M10 behind the inside of the housing M2. Although not shown, the power supply unit M10 is electrically connected so as to supply power to the hopper device M20 and the selector mechanism M30.

(Hopper device M20)
FIG. 62 is a partially exploded perspective view showing an example of the internal structure of the game medium sorting device M1. As shown in FIG. 62, the hopper device M20 has an accommodating portion M21, two hopper buckets M22, and two disk devices M23. The accommodating portion M21 forms an accommodating space for accommodating a plurality of medals. The accommodating portion M21 has an opening portion M211, an inclined portion M212, and two communication holes M213. The opening M211 is an opening formed on the upper surface, and allows a plurality of medals to be accepted in the accommodation space. The inclined portion M212 is an inclined surface extending downward while inclining inward from the opening M211 to the bottom surface of the accommodation space. The medal accommodated in the accommodating portion M21 reaches the bottom surface of the accommodating space while the moving direction is restricted by the inclined portion M212. At the bottom surface of the accommodation space, two communication holes M213 opened in a substantially rectangular shape are formed. The two communication holes M213 are provided in a one-to-one correspondence with the two hopper buckets M22. That is, the medal accommodated in the accommodating portion M21 reaches either of the two communication holes M213 and is guided to the corresponding hopper bucket M22.

The hopper bucket M22 is a medal passage connecting the communication hole M213 to the receiving surface on which the disk device M23 receives medals. The outlet of the hopper bucket M22 is formed in a circular shape so as to engage with the receiving surface of the disk device M23.

The disk device M23 has an inclined receiving surface, and has a rotating plate in which openings formed according to the shape of the medal are arranged equidistantly at a position equidistant from the center point on the receiving surface. There is. The medal that reaches the receiving surface is housed in any opening of the rotating plate. The rotating plate of the disk device M23 is provided in conjunction with a rotating means such as a motor (not shown) so as to rotate in one direction on an inclined pedestal. The opening of the rotating plate has a gap on the pedestal side in the diameter expansion direction. When the rotating plate rotates and the medal housed in the opening reaches a predetermined position on the front side of the disc device M23, the support of the medal by the opening is released, and the medal is sent out from the front side of the disc device M23 by the action of the medal's own weight or the like. It is supposed to be done.

(Guide member M40)
FIG. 63 is a cross-sectional view of the guide member M40. As shown in FIG. 63, the guide member M40 has a medal passage M401. The medal passage M401 has a structure that is bent so as to change the traveling direction of the medal downward after receiving the medal sent forward and downward from the disk device M23. This makes it possible to smoothly guide the medals to the selector mechanism M30 that can accept medals from above. In this way, the guide member M40 can absorb the difference between the sending direction of the medal of the hopper device M20 as the sending portion and the receiving direction of the medal rail 210 (not shown here) in the selector mechanism M30. It is configured in.

(Selector mechanism M30)
The selector mechanism M30 having the same structure as the above-mentioned medal selector 201 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 12. The same reference numerals may be used for similar configurations, and the description thereof may be omitted.

The selector mechanism M30 guides the medal rail 210 as a game medium passing portion, which is a passage through which medals pass, and the medal passing through the medal rail 210 in a first direction or a second direction different from the second direction. Components such as a select plate 207, a medal rail 210, and an after medal pressure 218 as a possible second guide unit, and a medal passing through a passage are imaged, and the obtained shooting data and a preset reference game are captured. The camera unit 209 as a comparison means for comparing with the medium data, the medal solenoid 208 as a distribution means for distributing the medals in the first direction or the second direction based on the comparison result by the camera unit 209, and the medal solenoid 208. It has a control means (such as a control circuit M100 described later) of the medal solenoid 208.

(Selector mechanism M30: Game medium passing portion)
As shown in FIGS. 7, 8, 11, and 12, the medal guided from the guide member M40 is inserted into the selector mechanism M30 from the medal inlet portion 211. The medals inserted into the medal selector 201 from the medal entrance portion 211 move from above to below along the medal rail 210.

(Selector mechanism M30: Second guide unit)
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 12, an upper exposed hole 219 is formed in the substantially central portion of the downstream region of the medal rail 210, which penetrates in the front-rear direction and exposes the rear end portion of the after medal pressure 218 described later. Has been done.

As described above, as shown in FIGS. 9, 10, and 11, when the medal solenoid 208 is in the ON state, the select plate 207 is arranged at the guide position, and the distance between the plate body 224 and the medal rail 210 is reduced. , The medal is set to a predetermined distance that can be guided to the hopper device 51 without ejecting the medal to the cancel shooter 206 side. As a result, the medal is guided along the medal rail 210 to the medal exit portion 204c (see FIG. 8) and is distributed in the first direction. The medal sent out from the medal outlet portion 204c passes through the first discharge passage M50 and is discharged from the first discharge port M6.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 12, when the medal solenoid 208 is in the OFF state, the select plate 207 is arranged at the discharge position, and the distance between the plate body 224 of the select plate 207 and the medal rail 210 is set. , Is set to a distance longer than a predetermined distance. Further, when the front end portion of the after medal pressure 218 is pressed backward by the medal solenoid 208, the after medal pressure 218 rotates, and the rear end portion of the after medal pressure 218 is exposed from the upper exposed hole 219. As a result, the medals are ejected toward the cancel shooter 206 and distributed in the second direction. The medal discharged to the cancel shooter 206 passes through the second discharge passage M8 and is guided to the lower plate M7 via the second discharge port M11.

(Selector mechanism M30: comparison means, distribution means)
Here, the circuit configuration of the selector mechanism M30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 64 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of the selector mechanism M30.

As shown in FIG. 64, the selector mechanism M30 includes a control circuit M100, a camera unit 209, and a medal solenoid 208. In the medal selector 201, the control circuit M100 is electrically connected to the camera unit 209 and the medal solenoid 208. Therefore, the control circuit M100 can set the medal solenoid 208 to the ON state or the OFF state. That is, the control circuit M100 sets the medal solenoid 208 to the ON state or the OFF state based on the information that the medal from the camera unit 209 is normal or not. Specifically, when the medal is regular, the medal solenoid 208 is set to the ON state, and when the medal is not regular, the medal solenoid 208 is set to the OFF state. As described above, the control circuit M100 functions as a component of the distribution means for distributing the medals in the first direction or the second direction.

As described above, 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 or FPGA, and is electrically connected to the CMOS image sensor 232 and the LED 233. The control LSI 234 controls the light emission of the LED 233. In this modification, the control LSI 234 determines whether or not the input is a regular medal based on the image data output from the CMOS image sensor 232, and outputs the determination result to the control circuit M100. It should be noted that the output may be made via some kind of relay terminal board. In this way, the camera unit 209 functions as a contrasting means for capturing a medal passing through the passage and comparing the obtained shooting data with the preset reference game medium data.

Here, with reference to FIGS. 18 and 31, a process performed by the control LSI 234 for determining whether or not the object moving on the medal rail 210 is a regular medal will be described.

FIG. 31 is a diagram for explaining a regular medal discrimination process of the control LSI 234. FIG. 31 shows the relationship of processing in each device constituting the control LSI 234 in chronological order, and the relatively thick line portion in the vertical line extending below each device name is the various processing described above by the device. It shows that it is in the state of performing. Further, the broken line arrow extending from the line corresponding to each device toward the vertical line extending below "IN" in the host controller indicates the interrupt signal output from each device to the host controller 241.

Further, a broken line 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. Further, the solid line arrow between the vertical line extending below "IN" and the vertical line extending below "OUT" in the host controller is from the interrupt signal detected by the host controller 241 and the host controller 241. It shows the correspondence with the output signal.

In addition, FIG. 31 shows the regular medal discrimination process of one medal extracted. In addition, a number indicating the order in which medals are inserted is added to the beginning of the code attached to each signal so that it is clear which signal is related to the medal.

First, when the CMOS image sensor 232 (see FIG. 17) captures an object (the first medal in this example) moving on the medal rail 210 and outputs the image data to the control LSI 234, the ISP circuit 245 is an ISI circuit. Image data is acquired (received) via 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 converted image data and the hue, saturation, and luminance data related to the image data are output to the SRAM 243, the medal count circuit 246, and the color recognition circuit 247. The detailed description of the conversion process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the color recognition circuit 247 receives data from the ISP circuit 245, it 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). The detailed description of the color determination process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the medal count circuit 246 receives data from the ISP circuit 245, it 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). The detailed description of the counting process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the host controller 241 detects the color determination interrupt signal, it acquires the determination result of the color determination process from the SRAM 243 and outputs it to the allocation PORT of the GPIO250 (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 the host controller 241 detects the count interrupt signal, it acquires the determination result of the count process from the SRAM 243 and outputs it to the allocation PORT of the GPIO250 (1HG2). That is, the host controller 241 outputs the determination result of the count process to the control circuit M100 via the GPIO250. When the determination result of the counting process is "passed medals", the control circuit M100 adds 1 to the value of the inserted number counter, which is a counter provided for counting the number of inserted medals.

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 created reduced image data in the SRAM 243, and also stores the created reduced image data in the SRAM 243, and the host controller 241 saves the reduction end. A built-in signal is transmitted (1SH). The detailed description of the fisheye correction process will be omitted because it has been described above.

When the host controller 241 detects the reduction end interrupt signal, the host controller 241 refers to the SRAM 243, and the judgment result of the count processing is "the medal has passed", and the judgment result of the color judgment processing "matches the color of the regular medal". The image recognition DSP circuit 242 is instructed to start the preprocessing on the condition that the above is performed (1HD).

The image recognition DSP circuit 242 performs preprocessing in response to an instruction from the host controller 241, stores edge image data in SRAM 243, and outputs a preprocessing end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH1). The detailed description of the preprocessing will be omitted because it has been described above. Further, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 acquires reduced image data from the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer, and further stores the edge image data generated as a result of the preprocessing in the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer, so that such DMA transfer is used. Compared to the same circuit that does not have, the processing time of preprocessing is shortened.

In this way, the image pickup unit 261 (CMOS image sensor 232 or the like) acquires the captured image 262 that captures the medal. Then, the conversion unit 263 (fisheye correction scaler circuit 248, image recognition DSP circuit 242, etc.) converts the image captured image 262 from the image pickup unit 261.

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

The image recognition accelerator circuit 249 performs image processing in response to an instruction from the host controller 241, stores the processed image data in the SRAM 243, and outputs an image processing end interrupt signal to the image recognition DSP circuit 242 (1AD). The detailed description of the rotation integration processing, which is an example of image processing, will be omitted because it has been described above. Further, since the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the present embodiment acquires edge image data from the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer and stores the generated processed image data in the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer, such DMA transfer is not used. Compared with the circuit, the processing time of image processing is shortened.

In this way, the feature image generation unit 264 (image recognition accelerator circuit 249 or the like) generates feature image data for comparison with the template data 267 (reference game medium data).

When the image recognition DSP circuit 242 detects the image processing end interrupt signal, it acquires the processed 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 the marking determination end interrupt signal to the host controller 241 (1DH2). Further, since the image recognition DSP circuit 242 of the present embodiment acquires the processed image data created by image processing from the SRAM 243 by, for example, DMA transfer, the marking determination is made as compared with the same circuit that does not use such DMA transfer. The processing time of processing is shortened.

As described above, the engraving determination process is a process of determining whether or not the engraving (pattern) of the medal matches the engraving of the regular medal. For example, in the stamp determination process, the difference between the generated feature image data and the template data for the stamp determination process is calculated. Then, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 determines whether or not the medal marking matches the marking of the regular medal based on the calculated difference value and the threshold value for marking determination, and the determination result is output. For example, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 compares the brightness of each pixel of the acquired processed image data and the template data, and determines whether or not they match (in the case of multiple tones, whether the difference is within a predetermined range). If there are more than a certain number of matching pixels (difference is within a predetermined range), it is determined that the medal marking (pattern) matches the marking of the regular medal, and if the matching pixels are less than a certain number, the medal marking (difference is within a predetermined range). It is determined that the pattern) does not match the engraving of the regular medal.

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

As shown in FIG. 31, in the present embodiment, the pre-processing and the marking determination processing by the image recognition DSP circuit 242 and the image processing by the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 are shortened in time by DMA transfer as described above. However, it takes a relatively long time. Therefore, when the medals are continuously inserted, when the host controller 241 detects the reduction end interrupt signal (1SH or the like), the image recognition DSP circuit 242 or the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 is processing (at this time). It is confirmed whether or not it is in a busy state, and if none of the processing is in progress, the image recognition DSP circuit 242 controls the preprocessing and the marking determination processing, and the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 instructs the start of the image processing.

In this way, the determination unit 265 (image recognition DSP circuit 242, etc.) compares the feature image data generated by the feature image generation unit 264 with the template data 267 (reference game medium data), and the input / output unit 266 (GPIO250). Etc.), and the determination result 268 of whether or not the medal is regular is output.

The control circuit M100 receives the determination result 268 output by the control LSI 234 from the camera unit 209, and when the determination result 268 is a regular medal, the medal solenoid 208 is set to the ON state, and the determination result 268 is a regular medal. If it is not a medal, the medal solenoid 208 is set to the OFF state.

In this way, the medal from the hopper device M20 is received by the guide member M40 and guided to the medal rail 210, and the image pickup data of the medal imaged on the medal rail 210 is compared with the preset template data 267 to obtain the medal. Is distributed in the first direction or the second direction. As a result, for example, even if the position and the traveling direction of the medal sent out from the hopper device M20 are random, the medal is accepted by the guide member M40 and guided to the medal rail 210, and the medal is properly determined by the image. Sorting will be done by sorting the directions. As a result, it can be applied to various devices that have a mechanism to send out medals, so it is possible to improve the degree of freedom in design and further reduce the disadvantage of the playground due to the mixing of non-genuine medals. Can be made to.

(First discharge passage M50)
With reference to FIG. 65, a first discharge passage M50 for guiding medals distributed in the first direction in the two selector mechanisms M30 and M30 to the same first discharge port M6 will be described. FIG. 65 is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement relationship between the selector mechanisms M30 and M30 and the first discharge passage M50.

As shown in FIG. 65, the two selector mechanisms M30 and M30 are arranged in parallel along the first direction in which regular medals are ejected. Specifically, the two selector mechanisms M30 and M30 are arranged in parallel in the left-right direction, and the selector mechanism M30b on the right side is arranged so as to be displaced rearward from the selector mechanism M30a on the left side. The deviation width is set so that the selector mechanism M30b on the right side is not located in the first direction of the selector mechanism M30a on the left side.

The first discharge passage M50 has a receiving plate portion M501 that supports medals dropped from the two selector mechanisms M30a and M30b. The receiving plate portion M501 has two so as to cover the right region and the front region of the selector mechanism M30b on the right side when viewed from above so that medals from the two selector mechanisms M30a and M30b can be received. It is provided in an L shape below the selector mechanisms M30a and M30b. Further, the receiving plate portion M501 is arranged so as to be inclined downward as it goes to the right. This makes it possible to reduce the impact of the medal ejected from the selector mechanism M30 in the lower right direction. The receiving plate portion M501 is arranged at the right end portion so as to coincide with the lower end of the first discharge port M6. As a result, both the medals from the two selector mechanisms M30a and M30b received by the receiving plate portion M501 are configured to be ejected from the first ejection port M6.

As described above, by having a plurality of selector mechanisms M30, it is possible to increase the selection amount of the game medium per hour. Further, by providing the first discharge passage M50 for guiding the medals distributed in the first direction to the same first discharge port M6 by the two selector mechanisms M30 / M30, the first in each selector mechanism M30 / M30. The game media distributed in the above direction can be collectively collected from the first discharge port M6 through the first discharge passage M50. As a result, it is possible to provide two selector mechanisms M30 and M30 in a dense state, and to provide a game medium sorting device M1 capable of increasing the sorting amount of medals per hour while making the whole device compact. Can be done.

In this modification, the game medium sorting device M1 that operates standalone has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be built in a gaming machine such as a pachislot machine or a pachinko machine. For example, the game medium sorting device M1 may be provided after the hopper device 51 of the above-described embodiment. In this case, the hopper device 51 may function as a delivery unit, and the hopper device M20 of the game medium sorting device M1 and the guide member M40 may function as the first guide unit. Since the accommodating portion M21 of the hopper device M20 has a wide opening, it is possible to guide the medal to the selector mechanism M30 even if the position and the traveling direction of the medal sent out from the hopper device 51 are random. Further, it may be built in the game medium counter that counts the game media acquired as a result of the player playing the game in the game hall. The game medium counter can be either stand-alone or connected to a hall server in the hall. If it is connected to the hall server, the selection result may be accumulated and stored on the hall server side. Further, it may be arranged in an employee-only area in the amusement park where players cannot enter. In that case, it is not possible to sort by the number of players, but it is possible to remove the non-regular game medium by sorting after the store is closed. At that time, the same work was performed the day before, and if a non-regular game medium was detected on that day, it means that the game medium was illegally brought in from another game hall on that day, and the number of game media brought in per day was reduced. It will be possible to count, and it will be a guideline for countermeasures against fraudulent bringing in game media.

Further, in this case, the result of the normal determination of the medal is transmitted to the main control circuit of the gaming machine. That is, in the gaming machine, when a medal is won and the medal is paid out, if the medal sent from the hopper device 51 contains a non-genuine medal, the medal is sent from the main control circuit to the hopper device 51 again. To control. For example, if the 8th medal is a non-genuine medal at the time of paying out 10 medals, the gaming machine stores the 8th non-genuine medal in another bucket in the housing, and the player receives the 8th non-genuine medal. Will pay out up to the 11th card.

[Other variants]
In the above example, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 and the like perform a plurality of coordinate conversions using one target image data (for one frame), but only one coordinate conversion for one target image 110. May be done. Further, the coordinate conversion circuit 272 or the like may repeatedly perform the coordinate conversion of 1 on one target image data. For example, in the above modification 2, the coordinate conversion circuit 472 performs coordinate conversion on one target image data 475 based on the conversion parameter 480 for rotating the image by 2 °, and then performs the coordinate conversion ( That is, by performing the coordinate conversion with a rotation angle of 2 °) 89 times, an image obtained by rotating the target image data 475 by 180 ° is obtained as the converted image data 476.

Further, all or a part of the functions of the coordinate conversion circuit 272 and the like may be realized by a processor (CPU, DSP, etc.). Further, all or a part of the functions of the image processing circuit 273 and the like may be realized by the processor.

Further, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 and the like may not be provided with the image processing circuit 273 and the like. In this case, the data output from the coordinate conversion circuit 272 or the like is written to the SRAM 243 by DMA transfer. Further, the image processing circuit 273 may process data other than the image data. Further, in the image processing circuit 273 or the like, a processing unit that performs processing other than the addition processing may be provided instead of the addition processing unit.

As described above, the image recognition accelerator circuit 249 of the camera unit 209 and a modification thereof have been described in detail, but the above description is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to such an exemplary configuration. do not have. Further, the various modifications described above can be applied in combination with each other as long as they do not contradict each other.

Further, in the above-described embodiments and modifications, a pachi-slot machine has been described as an example of a gaming machine, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is also applicable to a gaming machine called a “pachinko”. The effect of is obtained.

The gaming machine according to the embodiment of the present invention and a modification thereof have been described above. It is disclosed as an appendix that the above-mentioned gaming machine basically has the following features and effects.

[Appendix 1-1]
That is, the above-mentioned invention relates to a gaming machine. Conventionally, a gaming machine is provided with a plurality of reels in which a plurality of symbols are arranged on each surface, a start switch, a stop switch, a stepping motor provided corresponding to each reel, and a control unit. A gaming machine called a pachislot machine is known. The start switch detects that the start lever has been operated by the player (hereinafter, also referred to as "start operation") after the game medium such as a medal is inserted into the gaming machine, and starts the rotation of all reels. Output the requested signal. The stop switch detects that the stop button provided corresponding to each reel is pressed by the player (hereinafter, also referred to as "stop operation"), and outputs a signal requesting the stop of rotation of the corresponding reel. do. The stepping motor transfers its driving force to the corresponding reel. Further, the control unit controls the operation of the stepping motor based on the signals output by 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 random numbers (hereinafter referred to as "internal lottery process") is performed on the program, and the result of the lottery (hereinafter referred to as "internal winning combination") is performed. The rotation of the reel is stopped based on the timing of the stop operation. Then, when the rotation of all the reels is stopped and the combination of symbols related to the establishment of the winning is displayed, the privilege corresponding to the combination of the symbols is given to the player.

Further, such a gaming machine is provided with a medal selector for detecting a medal inserted at the tip of the medal insertion slot. In addition, for this medal selector, a medal that is not a proper medal (regular medal) (illegal medal) can be inserted into the medal slot, or an instrument can be inserted into the medal slot to insert a regular medal into the game machine. Measures have been taken against fraudulent acts in which games are played by misidentifying them as being thrown.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-342814 provides two proximity sensors for detecting medals in the medal passage, and determines whether or not a medal for a game has passed through the medal passage based on the output of each proximity sensor. Therefore, a slot machine that detects fraudulent activity using an instrument such as a plate-shaped body is described.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-186624 discloses an image processing device that performs distortion correction processing on input image data and outputs an output image. In this image processing device, data transfer between memories is disclosed. Data transfer via the bus is performed in response to a control signal from the DMAC instead of the CPU by using a DMAC (Direct Memory Access Controller) for controlling the CPU.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-186705 discloses a data transfer device that transfers data using the above-mentioned DMAC between a storage circuit for storing image data and a processing circuit for performing distortion correction processing. In this data transfer device, data transfer via a bus between the storage circuit and the cache memory in the processing circuit is performed in response to a control signal from the DMAC instead of the CPU.

However, in the slot machine described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-342814, various shapes other than the plate-shaped body for fraudulent activity are inserted into the medal slot to illegally operate the counting function of the medal selector. , It is not possible to detect fraudulent acts that pretend to be inserting medals and obtain a large number of credits, or fraudulent acts performed using fraudulent medals.

For example, if the unit price of medals rented in the hall where this slot machine is installed is the same for medals of 20 yen per piece and medals of 5 yen per piece, but the colors and markings (patterns) are different, these are used in this slot machine. Because there are people who play fraudulent games such as using medals obtained with low-bet gaming machines (so-called 5 slots) on normal gaming machines (so-called 20 slots), Damage has occurred.

Further, in the slot machines described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-342814, medals rented out in the hall where the gaming machine is installed, medals rented out in another hall, and gaming machines purchased at a used machine store If the medals attached to or counterfeit medals (including instruments disguised as medals) have the same diameter but differ only in color and engraving (pattern), these cannot be identified. For this reason, it has been difficult to detect (detect) fraudulent acts of playing games using medals other than regular medals (illegal medals).

Therefore, the fraud determination by the conventional technique using a normal sensor such as the slot machine described in JP-A-2002-342814 cannot deal with the above-mentioned various fraudulent acts, and its effect is limited. It has become a thing.

Further, when an attempt is made to perform fraud determination on a game medium such as a medal by image processing, there arises a problem of processing time. That is, in order to perform highly accurate fraud determination for highly imitated counterfeit medals, it is necessary to image the medals inserted in the slot machine or the like with high resolution and perform a plurality of image processing on each captured pixel data. Even when a high-performance CPU or an image processing circuit is used, it takes a considerably long time to determine the fraud.

Further, since game media such as medals are usually continuously inserted into slot machines and the like, it is extremely difficult to perform fraud determination by image processing as described above in real time for each of the inserted medals. It is difficult to do.

Various approaches have been studied in relation to shortening the time for fraud determination by image processing related to such a game medium, as described in JP2013-186624A and JP2013-186705A. No game machine including a circuit that realizes a reduction in processing time by using DMA transfer has been proposed so far.

Furthermore, regarding a circuit that determines fraudulent game media by image processing, we have proposed a gaming machine that has advantages in terms of manufacturing cost and security, and also includes a circuit that uses DMA transfer to shorten the processing time. It has not been.

The above-mentioned invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the above-mentioned invention is to detect fraudulent acts in which a gaming machine is misunderstood that a legitimate gaming medium is used and a game is played. It is to provide a gaming machine that can be used.

In Embodiment 1-1 of the present invention, based on such an object, a gaming machine having the following configuration is provided.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data, and
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A predetermined format conversion is performed on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and the image data after the format conversion (for example, target image data 275, captured image 362B) is directly transferred to the first storage means. A conversion means to store (for example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion is provided.
The feature image generation means is
Image data related to the image data after the format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, image processing including coordinate conversion is performed on the acquired image data (for example, rotation processing of a figure), and the image processing is performed. Later image data (for example, processed image data 277, feature image 362C) is stored in the first storage means by the direct transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, since writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data, the host controller of the game medium determination means in the data transfer (s). The processor) is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is shortened.

[Appendix 1-2]
Embodiment 1-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 1-1.
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280) is provided.
It is configured to perform the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter acquired from the second storage means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the processing content of the coordinate conversion can be appropriately changed by changing the conversion parameters. In addition, when image processing including coordinate conversion is performed in the feature image generation means, conversion parameters can be acquired by accessing the memory in the circuit, access via the bus is avoided, and the bus bandwidth is secured. Further improvement in processing efficiency is achieved.

[Appendix 1-3]
Embodiments 1-3 of the present invention have the following configurations in Embodiments 1-2.
The feature image generation means is
A third storage means (for example, register 283) for storing specific information (for example, specific information 290) is provided.
It is configured to specify the conversion parameter used for the coordinate conversion based on the specific information acquired from the third storage means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, by changing the specific information, the conversion parameters used for the coordinate conversion can be appropriately changed, and as a result, the processing content of the coordinate conversion can be changed.

[Appendix 2-1]
In Embodiment 2-1 of the present invention, a gaming machine having the following configuration is provided.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 775 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 749, etc.) for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion is provided.
The feature image generation means is
Image data related to the image data after the format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, and image processing including coordinate conversion (for example, rotation processing of a figure) is performed on the acquired one image data. Image data after image processing (for example, processed image data 777, feature image 362C) is stored in the first storage means.
The image processing includes at least two conversion processing modes.
In the first conversion processing mode, a plurality of converted image data are generated by individually performing different coordinate conversions on the one image data, and the plurality of converted image data are combined to form one processed image. It is a conversion processing mode that performs image processing to obtain data.
The second conversion processing mode is a conversion processing mode in which a plurality of coordinate transformations are sequentially and continuously superimposed on the one image data, and image processing is performed to obtain one processed image data.
The game medium determination means further
A direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) for controlling the direct transfer of data is provided.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data after the image processing in the feature image generation means in the first storage means. This is done by the direct transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, since the image processing for generating the feature image of the game medium used for determining the game medium has at least two conversion processing modes, the conversion processing mode can be switched according to the characteristics and the situation of the game medium. can. Further, since the writing and reading of the image data to the storage means (SRAM or the like) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data, the host controller of the game medium determination means (in the data transfer). The processor) is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is shortened.

[Appendix 2-2]
Embodiment 2-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 2-1.
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 774) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 780) is provided.
It is configured to perform the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter acquired from the second storage means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the processing content of the coordinate conversion can be appropriately changed by changing the conversion parameters. In addition, when image processing including coordinate conversion is performed in the feature image generation means, conversion parameters can be acquired by accessing the memory in the circuit, access via the bus is avoided, and the bus bandwidth is secured. Further improvement in processing efficiency is achieved.

[Appendix 2-3]
Embodiment 2-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in Embodiment 2-2.
The transformation parameter is configured to be a parameter that specifies a coordinate transformation for rotation at a predetermined angle.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the figure represented by the image data can be set to be rotated by a predetermined angle by the conversion parameter.

[Appendix 2-4]
Embodiment 2-4 of the present invention has the following configuration in any one of Embodiments 2-1 to 2-3.
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A third storage means (for example, memory 774) for storing operation mode information (for example, operation mode information 795) is provided.
The conversion processing mode is configured to be determined based on the operation mode information.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the conversion processing mode can be switched by changing the operation mode information.

[Appendix 2-5]
Embodiment 2-5 of the present invention has the following configuration in Embodiment 2-4.
The operation mode information is configured to be set for each of the image data obtained via the image pickup means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the conversion processing mode can be switched for each captured image of the game medium, and a feature image according to the situation can be obtained.

[Appendix 3-1]
In Embodiment 3-1 of the present invention, a gaming machine having the following configuration is provided.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion is provided.
The feature image generation means is
Image data related to the image data after the format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, image processing including coordinate conversion is performed on the acquired image data, and the image data after the image processing is used as the first image data. Remember in the storage means,
The processing content of the coordinate conversion is specified by a conversion parameter (for example, conversion parameter 280).
The game medium determination means further
A direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) for controlling the direct transfer of data is provided.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data after the image processing in the feature image generation means in the first storage means. This is done by the direct transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, by changing the conversion parameter, the processing content of the coordinate conversion can be changed as appropriate. Further, since the writing and reading of the image data to the storage means (SRAM or the like) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data, the host controller of the game medium determination means (in the data transfer). The processor) is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is shortened.

[Appendix 3-2]
Embodiment 3-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 3-1.
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (for example, memory 274) for storing the conversion parameters is provided.
It is configured to perform the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter acquired from the second storage means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, when image processing including coordinate conversion is performed in the feature image generation means, conversion parameters can be acquired by accessing the memory in the circuit, and access via the bus is avoided. As a result, the bus bandwidth is secured and the processing efficiency is further improved.

[Appendix 3-3]
Embodiment 3-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in Embodiment 3-1 or Embodiment 3-2.
The transformation parameter is configured to be a parameter that indicates at least one of a coordinate transformation related to rotation, a coordinate transformation relating to expansion, a coordinate transformation relating to reduction, and a coordinate transformation relating to translation.

With such a configuration of the present invention, it is possible to instruct coordinate transformations related to rotation, coordinate transformations related to enlargement, coordinate transformations related to reduction, and coordinate transformations related to translation by transformation parameters.

[Appendix 4-1]
In Embodiment 4-1 of the present invention, a gaming machine having the following configuration is provided.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 449, etc.) for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion is provided.
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 474) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 480), and
A conversion circuit (for example, conversion circuit 481) that acquires image data related to the image data after format conversion from the first storage means and performs image processing including coordinate conversion on the acquired image data.
A control circuit (eg, control circuit 482) that stores a parameter offset (eg, parameter offset 495), and
An addition circuit (for example, an addition circuit 485) that adds the conversion parameter and the parameter offset and outputs the addition result to the conversion circuit by the control of the control circuit is provided.
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the addition result by the addition circuit.
The game medium determination means further
A direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) for controlling the direct transfer of data is provided.
Storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means, and storage of the image data related to the image data after the image processing obtained by the conversion circuit in the first storage means. At least one is done by the direct transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, by adding the conversion parameter and the parameter offset, the coordinate conversion performed based on the conversion parameter can be changed in consideration of the content of the parameter offset. Further, since the writing and reading of the image data to the storage means (SRAM or the like) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data, the host controller of the game medium determination means (in the data transfer). The processor) is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is shortened.

[Appendix 4-2]
Embodiment 4-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in Embodiment 4-1 as follows.
The conversion parameter includes a plurality of pre-conversion coordinates corresponding to the predetermined coordinates after conversion.
The parameter offset is configured to include offsets for the plurality of coordinates before the conversion.

With such a configuration of the present invention, by adding the conversion parameter and the parameter offset, it is possible to control the coordinate conversion performed based on the conversion parameter to be shifted by the amount specified by the parameter offset.

[Appendix 5-1]
Embodiment 5-1 of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
With a processor (eg, host controller 241),
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion is provided.
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, conversion circuit 281) that acquires image data related to the image data after format conversion from the first storage means and performs image processing including coordinate conversion on the acquired image data.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit is provided.
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The processor controls to store the conversion parameter in the second storage means at a predetermined timing.
The game medium determination means further
A direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) for controlling the direct transfer of data is provided.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data related to the image data after the image processing in the conversion circuit in the first storage means. Is done by the direct transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, by storing the conversion parameters in the circuit of the feature image generation means and changing the conversion parameters, the processing contents of the coordinate conversion can be appropriately changed. Further, since the writing and reading of the image data to the storage means (SRAM or the like) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data, the host controller of the game medium determination means (in the data transfer). The processor) is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is shortened.

[Appendix 5-2]
The embodiment 5-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in the embodiment 5-1.
The predetermined timing is configured to be the initial setting timing of the game medium determination means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, when the conversion parameter is copied into the circuit at a predetermined timing and the conversion parameter is referred to at the time of coordinate conversion, access to the bus is suppressed.

[Appendix 5-3]
Embodiment 5-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in Embodiment 5-1 or Embodiment 5-2.
The processor is configured to copy only the conversion parameters used for coordinate conversion in the feature image generation means among the conversion parameters stored in the first storage means and store them in the second storage means. Will be done.

With such a configuration of the present invention, conversion parameters common to the first storage means are prepared, and only necessary conversion parameters are copied to the memory in the circuit, so that the control LSI is manufactured in common. And the memory in the circuit is effectively used.

[Appendix 6-1]
Embodiment 6-1 of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion. And, with
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, a conversion circuit 281) that performs coordinate conversion on the image data related to the image data after the format conversion acquired from the first storage means.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit.
An image processing circuit (for example, image processing) that acquires the image data after the coordinate conversion from the conversion circuit, performs image processing, and stores the image data to be output (for example, processed image data 277) in the first storage means. With circuit 273)
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The image processing circuit is
For the image processing, a third storage means (for example, frame memory 309) that temporarily stores the image data related to the image data after the coordinate conversion, and
A first read request output unit (for example, a first read request output unit 301) that outputs a request to read image data to be image processed from the third storage means, and
A write request output unit (for example, a write request output unit 302) that outputs a request to write the image data after image processing to the third storage means, and
When the image data after the image processing is the image data to be output, a second read request output unit (for example, a second read request output unit) that outputs a request to read the image data after the image processing from the third storage means. Read request output unit 303) and
The first read request output unit, the write request output unit, and the arbitration unit (for example, the arbitration unit 304) that arbitrates so that the requests output from the second read request output unit do not conflict with each other. Be prepared.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, by providing the arbitration unit, it is possible to avoid conflicting access requests to the third storage means for image processing.

[Appendix 6-2]
Embodiment 6-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 6-1.
The game medium determination means further includes a direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data to be output in the image processing circuit in the first storage means is directly described. It is configured to be done by transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data. The host controller (processor) of the medium determination means is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is improved. Is shortened.

[Appendix 7-1]
Embodiment 7-1 of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 949, etc.) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion. And, with
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, a conversion circuit 281) that performs coordinate conversion on the image data related to the image data after the format conversion acquired from the first storage means.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit.
An image processing circuit (for example, image processing) that acquires the image data after the coordinate conversion from the conversion circuit, performs image processing, and stores the image data to be output (for example, processed image data 977) in the first storage means. With circuit 973)
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The image processing circuit is
For the image processing, a third storage means (for example, frame memory 909) that temporarily stores the image data related to the image data after the coordinate conversion, and
A first read request output unit (for example, a first read request output unit 1001) that outputs a request to read image data to be image processed from the third storage means.
A write request output unit (for example, a write request output unit 1002) that outputs a request to write the image data after the image processing to the third storage means, and
An arbitration unit (for example, arbitration unit 1004) that arbitrates so that the first read request output unit and the arbitration units output from the write request output unit do not conflict with each other.
When the image data after the image processing is the image data to be output, the output control unit (for example, the output control unit 1008) that controls the image data after the image processing to be stored in the first storage means. And.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, by providing the arbitration unit, it is possible to avoid conflicting access requests to the third storage means for image processing.

[Appendix 7-2]
Embodiment 7-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 7-1.
The game medium determination means further includes a direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data after the image processing in the output control unit in the first storage means is described. It is configured to be done by direct transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data. The host controller (processor) of the medium determination means is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is improved. Is shortened.

[Appendix 8-1]
In Embodiment 8-1 of the present invention, a gaming machine having the following configuration is provided.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion. And, with
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, a conversion circuit 281) that performs coordinate conversion on the image data related to the image data after the format conversion acquired from the first storage means.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit.
An image processing circuit (for example, image processing) that acquires the image data after the coordinate conversion from the conversion circuit, performs image processing, and stores the image data to be output (for example, processed image data 277) in the first storage means. With circuit 273)
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The image processing circuit is
For the image processing, a third storage means (for example, frame memory 309) that temporarily stores the image data related to the image data after the coordinate conversion, and
A first read request output unit (for example, a first read request output unit 301) that outputs a request to read image data to be image processed from the third storage means, and
A write request output unit (for example, a write request output unit 302) that outputs a request to write the image data after image processing to the third storage means, and
When the image data after the image processing is the image data to be output, a second read request output unit (for example, a second read request output unit) that outputs a request to read the image data after the image processing from the third storage means. Read request output unit 303) and
The first read request output unit, the write request output unit, and the arbitration unit (for example, the arbitration unit 304) that arbitrates so that the requests output from the second read request output unit do not conflict with each other. Prepare,
The arbitration unit is for each output unit of the first read request output unit, the write request output unit, and the second read request output unit, or the first read request output unit and the write request output unit. , And the priority assigned to each of the requests output from the second read request output unit.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, by providing the arbitration unit, it is possible to avoid conflicting access requests to the third storage means for image processing, and the arbitration by the arbitration unit is performed based on the priority.

[Appendix 8-2]
Embodiment 8-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 8-1.
The game medium determination means further includes a direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data to be output in the image processing circuit in the first storage means is directly described. It is configured to be done by transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data. The host controller (processor) of the medium determination means is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is improved. Is shortened.

[Appendix 8-3]
Embodiment 8-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 8-1 or embodiment 8-2.
The priority is configured to be changed by the operation of the user or according to the operation status of the game medium determination means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the priority can be set according to, for example, the user's setting or the bus usage rate of the game medium determination means, and is set in this way. Depending on the priority, the processing time for determining the game medium is effectively shortened.

[Appendix 9-1]
Embodiment 9-1 of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion. And, with
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, a conversion circuit 281) that performs coordinate conversion on the image data related to the image data after the format conversion acquired from the first storage means.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit.
An image processing circuit (for example, image processing) that acquires the image data after the coordinate conversion from the conversion circuit, performs image processing, and stores the image data to be output (for example, processed image data 277) in the first storage means. With circuit 273)
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The image processing circuit is
For the image processing, a third storage means (for example, frame memory 309) that temporarily stores the image data related to the image data after the coordinate conversion, and
A first read request output unit (for example, a first read request output unit 301) that outputs a request to read image data to be image processed from the third storage means, and
A write request output unit (for example, a write request output unit 302) that outputs a request to write the image data after image processing to the third storage means, and
When the image data after the image processing is the image data to be output, a second read request output unit (for example, a second read request output unit) that outputs a request to read the image data after the image processing from the third storage means. The read request output unit 303) is provided.
The third storage means is a 1-port memory.
The image data after the image processing is written to a predetermined position of the third storage means based on the request by the write request output unit.
The predetermined position is the image data read based on the request by the first read request output unit, and the image data corresponding to the image data after the image processing is stored in the third storage means. The position.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. When the image data after image processing is written to the third storage means, the pixel data of the processed image data is stored at the same position as the storage position of the third storage means stored before the image processing (read modification). Therefore, the circuit scale of the third storage means can be reduced.

[Appendix 9-2]
Embodiment 9-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 9-1.
The game medium determination means further includes a direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data to be output in the image processing circuit in the first storage means is directly described. It is configured to be done by transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data. The host controller (processor) of the medium determination means is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is improved. Is shortened.

[Appendix 9-3]
Embodiment 9-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 9-1 or embodiment 9-2.
The image data after the image processing written in the third storage means based on the request by the write request output unit is the image to be the target of the image processing based on the request by the first read request output unit. It is read out as data from the third storage means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the image data after image processing written in the third storage means is read out from the third storage means again as the target of image processing, so that the circuit scale of the third storage means is reduced. can do.

[Appendix 10-1]
In embodiment 10-1 of the present invention, a gaming machine having the following configuration is provided.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion. And, with
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, a conversion circuit 281) that performs coordinate conversion on the image data related to the image data after the format conversion acquired from the first storage means.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit.
An image processing circuit (for example, image processing) that acquires the image data after the coordinate conversion from the conversion circuit, performs image processing, and stores the image data to be output (for example, processed image data 277) in the first storage means. With circuit 273)
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The image processing circuit is
For the image processing, a third storage means (for example, frame memory 309) that temporarily stores the image data related to the image data after the coordinate conversion, and
A first read request output unit (for example, a first read request output unit 301) that outputs a request to read image data to be image processed from the third storage means, and
A write request output unit (for example, a write request output unit 302) that outputs a request to write the image data after image processing to the third storage means, and
When the image data after the image processing is the image data to be output, a second read request output unit (for example, a second read request output unit) that outputs a request to read the image data after the image processing from the third storage means. Read request output unit 303) and
A buffer (for example, read buffer 307) for temporarily storing image data to be image processed read from the third storage means based on the request of the first read request output unit is provided.
The first read request output unit outputs a request to read the image data to be image processed from the third storage means when the buffer is empty.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, since the first read request output unit outputs a request to read the image data to be image processed from the third storage means when the read buffer is empty, the circuit scale of the read buffer can be reduced. The timing of reading the image data is determined by an independent and effective criterion.

[Appendix 10-2]
Embodiment 10-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 10-1.
The game medium determination means further includes a direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data to be output in the image processing circuit in the first storage means is directly described. It is configured to be done by transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data. The host controller (processor) of the medium determination means is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is improved. Is shortened.

[Appendix 10-3]
Embodiment 10-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 10-1 or embodiment 10-2.
When the image data to be the target of the image processing stored in the buffer is read out for the image processing, the image data to be the target of the image processing is deleted from the buffer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, when the image data to be image-processed is read out for image processing, the image data is erased from the read buffer, so that the image data is immediately read out. In addition, the request from the first read request output unit becomes possible, and as a result, the image data is efficiently read into the read buffer in sequence.

[Appendix 11-1]
Embodiment 11-1 of the present invention provides a gaming machine having the following configuration.
An slot (for example, a medal slot 21) for inserting a game medium (for example, a medal) and a slot (for example, a medal slot 21)
A game medium detecting means (for example, a medal selector 201 including a camera unit 209) for detecting a game medium inserted from the slot is provided.
The game medium detecting means is
A game medium passing portion (for example, a medal rail 210) that serves as a passage through which the game medium passes.
An imaging means (for example, a means including a CMOS image sensor 232) that captures an image of a passing object that is an object passing through the passage.
By performing image processing based on the image data obtained through the image pickup means (for example, the image pickup image 362A acquired by the image pickup unit 361), it is determined whether or not the game medium is legitimate. Including a game medium determination means (for example, control LSI 234),
The game medium determination means is
It is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium.
A first storage means for storing data (for example, SRAM 243) and
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means, and stores the image data after the format conversion (for example, the target image data 275 and the captured image 362B) in the first storage means. (For example, conversion unit 363, ISP circuit 245, etc.) and
A feature image generation means (for example, a feature image generation unit 364, an image recognition accelerator circuit 249, etc.) that generates a feature image (for example, a feature image 362C) showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion. And, with
The feature image generation means is
It is configured as a circuit in the game medium determination means, and is configured.
A second storage means (eg, memory 274) for storing conversion parameters (eg, conversion parameter 280), and
A conversion circuit (for example, a conversion circuit 281) that performs coordinate conversion on the image data related to the image data after the format conversion acquired from the first storage means.
A control circuit (for example, a control circuit 282) that acquires the conversion parameter from the second storage means and controls the output to the conversion circuit.
An image processing circuit (for example, image processing) that acquires the image data after the coordinate conversion from the conversion circuit, performs image processing, and stores the image data to be output (for example, processed image data 277) in the first storage means. With circuit 273)
The conversion circuit performs the coordinate conversion based on the conversion parameter, and performs the coordinate conversion.
The image processing circuit is
For the image processing, a third storage means (for example, frame memory 309) that temporarily stores the image data related to the image data after the coordinate conversion, and
A first read request output unit (for example, a first read request output unit 301) that outputs a request to read image data to be image processed from the third storage means, and
A write request output unit (for example, a write request output unit 302) that outputs a request to write the image data after image processing to the third storage means, and
When the image data after the image processing is the image data to be output, a second read request output unit (for example, a second read request output unit) that outputs a request to read the image data after the image processing from the third storage means. Read request output unit 303) and
A buffer (for example, a write buffer 306) for temporarily storing the image data after the image processing is provided.
When a predetermined amount of image data is stored in the buffer (for example, when the write buffer 306 is full), the write request output unit transfers the image data after the image processing from the buffer to the third. Output a request to write to the storage means.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the regular medal discrimination process can be executed by using the image data acquired by the image pickup means. Since the medals and the like can be determined by each process of image conversion and image recognition performed based on the captured image, it is possible to determine the difference in the pattern of the medals and the like. Further, since the game medium determination means is configured as a dedicated integrated circuit for determining the game medium, the manufacturing cost can be effectively suppressed. Further, since the game medium determination means is provided in a packaged state such as ASIC, an external fraudulent act (for example, invalidation of the regular medal discrimination process or a processing logic of the regular medal discrimination process is provided. It can prevent the act of stealing) and has a remarkable advantage in terms of security. Further, since the write request output unit outputs a request to write the image data after image processing to the third storage means when the write buffer is full, the circuit scale of the write buffer can be reduced. , Independent and effective criteria determine the timing of writing image data.

[Appendix 11-2]
Embodiment 11-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 11-1.
The game medium determination means further includes a direct transfer control means (for example, DMAC252) that controls the direct transfer of data.
At least one of the storage of the image data after the format conversion in the conversion means in the first storage means and the storage of the image data to be output in the image processing circuit in the first storage means is directly described. It is configured to be done by transfer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, writing and reading of image data to the storage means (RAM etc.) of the game medium determination means is realized by the direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of the data. The host controller (processor) of the medium determination means is not involved, and parallel processing of each circuit (hardware) included in the game medium determination means becomes possible, and as a result, the processing efficiency is improved and the processing time related to the determination of the game medium is improved. Is shortened.

[Appendix 11-3]
Embodiment 11-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 11-1 or embodiment 11-2.
When the image data after the image processing stored in the buffer is written to the third storage means, the image data after the image processing is deleted from the buffer.

With such a configuration of the present invention, when the image data to be image processed is written to the third storage means, the image data is erased from the write buffer. Therefore, immediately after the image data is written, the image data is erased. A request from the write request output unit becomes possible, and as a result, the image data is efficiently written to the write buffer in sequence.

[Appendix 12-1]
The present invention relates to a game medium sorting device. Conventionally, there are gaming machines that play games using a gaming medium. For example, a game called pachislot, which includes a plurality of reels on which a plurality of symbols are arranged on each surface, a start switch, a stop switch, a stepping motor provided corresponding to each reel, and a control unit. The machine is known. The start switch detects that the start lever has been operated by the player (hereinafter, also referred to as "start operation") after the game medium such as a medal is inserted into the gaming machine, and starts the rotation of all reels. Output the requested signal. The stop switch detects that the stop button provided corresponding to each reel is pressed by the player (hereinafter, also referred to as "stop operation"), and outputs a signal requesting the stop of rotation of the corresponding reel. do. The stepping motor transfers its driving force to the corresponding reel. Further, the control unit controls the operation of the stepping motor based on the signals output by the start switch and the stop switch, and performs the rotation operation and the stop operation of each reel.

When the start operation is detected in the gaming machine, a lottery process using random numbers (hereinafter referred to as "internal lottery process") is performed on the program, and the result of the lottery (hereinafter referred to as "internal winning combination") is obtained. The rotation of the reel is stopped based on the timing of the stop operation. Then, when the rotation of all the reels is stopped and the combination of symbols related to the establishment of the winning is displayed, the privilege corresponding to the combination of the symbols is given to the player.

As the gaming medium used in such a gaming machine, it is common that a unique one with a stamp or the like for identifying the gaming field is prepared by the manager of the gaming field, and the gaming machine installed in the gaming machine. Then, such a game medium unique to the game hall is used as a regular game medium. Some gaming machines are provided with a gaming medium sorting device for detecting the inserted gaming medium in the passage of the gaming medium, and can detect an illegal gaming medium that is not a regular gaming medium.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-342814 provides two proximity sensors for detecting a game medium in a passage of a game medium, and the game medium for game passes through the passage of the game medium based on the output of each proximity sensor. A gaming machine that detects fraudulent activity using an instrument such as a plate-shaped body by determining whether or not it has been performed is described.

Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-316679 uses an IC chip in which identification information is recorded in a game medium, and a game medium sorting device arranged in a passage of the game medium is an IC chip of the game medium. A gaming machine that excludes an illegal gaming medium by reading the identification information from the above and determining whether or not the gaming medium is a legitimate gaming medium is described.

By the way, in recent years, there is an event that a game medium operated by a game field is mixed with a game medium unique to another game field, for example, which is not a regular game medium unique to the game field. For a certain game field, the route in which the non-regular game medium is mixed is not limited to the route via the gaming machine, but various routes such as, for example, the player mixing the non-regular game medium immediately before counting can be considered. However, the conventional gaming medium sorting device is dedicated to a specific gaming machine and prevents only the route via the gaming machine, and is mixed in each path by being applied to or diverted to the device in various routes. Was difficult to prevent.

The above-mentioned invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the above-mentioned invention is to provide a game medium sorting device that further reduces the disadvantage of the game field due to the mixing of a non-genuine game medium. To do.

Embodiment 12-1 of the present invention provides a game medium sorting device having the following configuration.
A delivery unit (for example, a hopper device M20) that sends out the loaded game media one by one, and
A game medium passing portion (medal rail 210) serving as a passage through which the game medium passes,
A first guide section (for example, a guide member M40) that receives the game medium sent out from the delivery section and guides the game medium to the game medium passing section.
A second guide portion (for example, a select plate 207, a medal rail 210, and a medal rail 210) capable of guiding the game medium passing through the game medium passing portion in a first direction or a second direction different from the first direction. , After medal pressure 218 etc.)
A comparison means (for example, a camera unit 209 or the like) that captures an image of a game medium passing through the passage and compares the obtained shooting data with preset reference game medium data.
A distribution means (for example, a medal solenoid 208, a control circuit M100, etc.) for distributing the game medium in the first direction or the second direction based on the comparison result by the comparison means.
Have.

With such a configuration of the present invention, the game medium from the sending section is received by the first guide section and guided to the game medium passing section, and the imaging data of the gaming medium imaged in the game medium passing section is preset. The game medium is distributed in the first direction or the second direction in comparison with the reference game medium data. As a result, for example, even if the position and the traveling direction of the game medium sent out from the sending unit are random, the game medium is accepted by the first guide unit and guided to the game medium passing unit, and the normal determination of the game medium is performed by the image. Above, the selection of the game medium will be performed by allocating the directions. As a result, it can be applied to various devices having a mechanism for sending out the game medium, so that the degree of freedom in design can be improved, and the disadvantage of the game field due to the mixing of non-genuine game media can be achieved. It can be further reduced.

[Appendix 12-2]
Embodiment 12-2 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 12-1.
The game medium sorting device is
A first discharge port (for example, a first discharge port M6) for discharging the game medium distributed in the first direction, and
A second discharge port (for example, second discharge port M11 / M11) for discharging the game medium distributed in the second direction, and
Have more
The sending unit may have an accommodating unit (for example, an accommodating unit M21) capable of accommodating a plurality of the game media.

According to such a configuration of the present invention, in the sending unit, a plurality of game media accommodated in the accommodating unit are sent out one by one, a normal determination is made, and the distributed game medium is, for example, a regular game medium. The game medium is discharged from the discharge port of 1, and the non-regular game medium is discharged from the second discharge port. As a result, the game medium sorting device can be built not only in a game machine, a game medium management device, or the like, but also can operate standalone like a medal counter installed in a game hall, for example. .. Therefore, for example, it is possible to sort the game medium managed by the game field into a regular game medium and a non-regular game medium in a place invisible to the player of the game field. As a result, it is possible to prevent the game field from accidentally providing a non-regular game medium to the player by using only the selected regular game medium.

[Appendix 12-3]
Embodiment 12-3 of the present invention has the following configuration in embodiment 12-2.
In the game medium sorting device
A plurality of selector mechanisms (for example, selector mechanism M30) in which the game medium passing portion, the second guide portion, the contrasting means, and the sorting means are unitized are arranged in parallel along the first direction. While arranging
Each of the plurality of selector mechanisms may include a third guide unit (first discharge passage M50) that guides the game medium distributed in the first direction to the same first discharge port.

With such a configuration of the present invention, by having a plurality of selector mechanisms, it is possible to increase the selection amount of the game medium per hour. Further, each of the plurality of selector mechanisms is provided with a third guide unit for guiding the game medium distributed in the first direction to the same first discharge port, so that the game medium is distributed in the first direction in each selector mechanism. It becomes possible to collectively collect the game media from the first outlet through the third guide unit. As a result, it is possible to provide a plurality of selector mechanisms in a dense state, and it is possible to provide a game medium sorting device capable of increasing the sorting amount of the game medium per hour while making the entire device compact.

1 Pachislot 3L Left reel 3C Middle reel 3R Right reel 4 Reel display window 21 Medal slot 23 Start lever 32 Medal payout outlet 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 board 231 Second board 232 CMOS image sensor 233 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 249,449,549,749,949 Image recognition accelerator circuit 250 GPIO
251 ISI circuit 252 DMAC
261 and 361 Image pickup unit 262,362A Captured image 362B Captured image 362C Feature image 263,363 Conversion section 264,364 Feature image generation section 265,365 Judgment section 266,366 Input / output section 267,376 Template data 268,368 Judgment result 271 , 471,571,771,971 Input frame buffer 272,472,572,772,972 Coordinate conversion circuit 273,473,573,773,973 Image processing circuit 274,474,574,774,974 Memory 275,475,575 , 775 Target image data 276,476,576,776,976 Converted image data 277,577,777,977 Processed image data 280,480,580,780 Conversion parameters 281,481,581,781 Conversion circuit 282,482 582,782 Control circuit 283,483,583,783 Register 290,490,590,790 Specific information 300,600,800,1000 Storage control unit 301,601,801,1001 First read request output unit 302,602,802 , 1002 Write request output unit 303,603,803 Second read request output unit 304,604,804,1004 Mediation unit 305,805,1005 Addition processing unit 306,606,706,1006 Write buffer 307,607,707, 1007 Read buffer 308,608,708,1008 Output control unit 309,609,709,909 Frame memory 370 First image generation unit 371 Extraction unit 372 Edge image generation unit 374 First image 380 Second image generation unit 400 Regular medal 310 , 410 Medal 485 Addition Circuit 495 Parameter Offset 585,785 Selection Circuit 795 Operation Mode Information 806 Selection Circuit M1 Game Media Sorting Device M2 Housing M3 Display M4 Switch M5 Handle M6 First Discharge Port M7 Lower Plate M8 Second Discharge Passage M9 Front Door M10 Power supply unit M11 2nd discharge port M20 Hopper device M21 Accommodation part M22 Hopper bucket M23 Disk device M30 Selector mechanism M40 Guide member M50 1st discharge passage M100 Control circuit M211 Opening M212 Inclined part M213 Communication hole M4 01 Medal passage M501 Receiving plate

Claims (3)

The input section for inputting the game medium and
A game medium passing portion, which is a passage through which the game medium passes,
A guide unit capable of guiding the game medium passing through the game medium passing unit in a first direction or a second direction different from the first direction.
An imaging means for imaging a passing object, which is an object passing through the game medium passing portion,
A game medium determination means for determining whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data obtained via the image pickup means.
A distribution means for distributing the game medium to the first direction or the second direction based on the determination result by the game medium determination means is provided.
The game medium determination means is
The first storage means for storing data,
A conversion means that performs a predetermined format conversion on the image data obtained via the image pickup means and stores the image data after the format conversion in the first storage means.
It has a feature image generation means for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data after the format conversion.
The feature image generation means is
A second storage means for storing multiple conversion parameters,
It has a third storage means for storing specific information, and has
Image data related to the image data after the format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, image processing including coordinate conversion is performed on the acquired image data, and the image data after the image processing is used as the first image data. Remember in the storage means,
A game characterized in that a predetermined conversion parameter is specified based on the specific information among the conversion parameters stored in the second storage means, and the coordinate conversion is performed based on the specified conversion parameter. Media sorting device. The input section for inputting the game medium and
A game medium passing portion, which is a passage through which the game medium passes,
A guide unit capable of guiding the game medium passing through the game medium passing unit in a first direction or a second direction different from the first direction.
An imaging means for imaging a passing object, which is an object passing through the game medium passing portion,
A game medium determination means for determining whether or not the game medium is legitimate by performing image processing based on image data obtained via the image pickup means.
A distribution means for distributing the game medium to the first direction or the second direction based on the determination result by the game medium determination means is provided.
The game medium determination means is
A direct transfer control means that controls the direct transfer of data,
The first storage means for storing data,
The image data obtained via the image pickup means is subjected to the first to third format conversions, and the image data subjected to the first format conversion is stored in the first storage means by the direct transfer. Conversion means and
A feature image generation means for generating a feature image showing the features of the game medium based on the image data subjected to the first format conversion by the conversion means.
A counting means for counting the game medium based on the image data subjected to the second format conversion by the conversion means, and a counting means.
A color determination means for determining the color of the game medium based on the image data subjected to the third format conversion by the conversion means is provided.
The feature image generation means is
Image data related to the image data subjected to the first format conversion is acquired from the first storage means, image processing including coordinate conversion is performed on the acquired image data, and the image after the image processing is performed. A game medium sorting device characterized in that data is stored in the first storage means by the direct transfer. The image processing includes at least two conversion processing modes.
In the first conversion processing mode, a plurality of converted image data are generated by individually performing different coordinate conversions on the one image data, and the plurality of converted image data are combined to form one processed image. It is a conversion processing mode that performs image processing to obtain data.
The second conversion processing mode is characterized in that it is a conversion processing mode in which a plurality of coordinate transformations are sequentially and continuously superimposed on the one image data, and image processing for obtaining one processed image data is performed. , The game medium sorting apparatus according to claim 2.

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