JPH01151477A - Pinball shop control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a highly reliable Pachinko (Japanese pinball game) hall managing system by connecting devices composing the Pachinko hall managing system using an optical communication not influenced by the effect of noises to reduce transmission errors almost to zero. CONSTITUTION: This Pachinko hall managing system comprises card type ball renting machines 1a and 1b and 1c and 1d, address decoders 2a and 2b coupled thereto by respective optical fibers 29, a card vending machine 3 and a card settling machine 4, an address decoder 2c coupled thereto by the optical fibers 29 through optoelectric transducers 5a and 5b and a cash-based ball renting machine 6 and a premium managing machine 7 which are coupled to above components by the optical fibers 29 through respective interfaces 8a and 8b and respective optoelectric transducers 5c and 5d. A central processor 23 is provided and connected to the card vending machine 3 and the card settling machine 4 by the optical fibers 29 through optoelectric transducers 5e and 5f, and further, to the address decoder 2a by the optical fibers 29. Thus, errors in the transmission of data due to effect of noises are reduced to make the residual display of cards coincide with residual data by a data transfer at an extremely high accuracy.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is used in pachinko parlors to store card sales, ball lending, prize ball counting, and card balance settlement data in a central processing unit when using a card-type ball lending machine. This article relates to a pachinko parlor management system that is centrally managed.

(Prior Art) This type of conventional pachinko parlor management system includes multiple ball lending machines that use cards installed between pachinko machines, card vending machines, card payment machines, cash ball lending machines, prize management machines, etc. A central processing unit including accessory equipment selected from among and a center computer that controls the ball lending machine and the accessory equipment;
When necessary, an auxiliary computer or address decoder is installed on each island where multiple ball lending machines are grouped.
It consists of auxiliary management devices such as address decoders for some of the attached devices. Next, an outline of the operation of the system will be explained, which has an address decoder for each island and attached equipment as an auxiliary management device, and a center computer, a display, a keyboard, a printer, etc. as a central processing unit.

This pachinko parlor management system operates as follows.

First, when a player purchases a card from a card vending machine and inserts the card into a card-type pachinko ball rental machine,
When a predetermined condition is satisfied after completing a predetermined process, pachinko balls for a predetermined amount are supplied, and the card is returned after the remaining amount is displayed. At that time, data regarding the previously purchased card is input from the card vending machine via the address decoder and stored in the central processing unit.
The amount of pachinko balls supplied by the card-type pachinko ball rental machine is subtracted from the data on the remaining amount of balls that can be supplied (hereinafter referred to as remaining amount data) of the card. Next, when a card is inserted, and after a predetermined process and a predetermined condition is satisfied, the identification number of the card is input from the card-type pachinko ball lending machine to the central processing unit via the address decoder, and then The corresponding remaining amount data of the card is sent back via the address decoder. Here, if the remaining amount data is not zero, the card-type pachinko ball rental machine supplies pachinko balls for a predetermined amount, and after the remaining amount is displayed on the card, the card is returned. This procedure is repeated thereafter. Note that the card for the pachinko ball rental machine is valid only on the same day, so if there is any remaining usage on the card at the time of closing, etc., insert the card into the card payment machine. cash out. Furthermore, since data related to sales (hereinafter referred to as sales data) is also input to the central processing unit from the cash ball dispensing machine and the prize management machine, sales data management is performed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-mentioned pachinko parlor management system, each device is electrically connected by, for example, 10P twisted pair wires, so the rate of data transmission errors occurring due to the influence of noise is low. It is extremely large. therefore,
The display of remaining capacity of the card and the transmitted remaining capacity data are different, resulting in frequent troubles such as not paying out pachinko balls or paying out too many pachinko balls even though a card with remaining capacity is inserted. As a result, a problem arose in that one day's total sales data and the actual balance of payments did not match. As a result of considering the noise in pachinko parlors that have introduced a pachinko parlor management system using card-type pachinko ball rental machines as described above, the inventor found that there are various sources of noise in pachinko parlors as shown below. I made sure of that. That is, a) Things related to Hachinko hall equipment---discharge noise of neon signs; discharge noise and voltage fluctuations of lighting equipment such as fluorescent lamps; contact noise and contact chucking of display type pushbutton switches; air conditioning equipment, ventilation equipment Contact noise, transient interference and voltage fluctuations; Microphone noise and unnecessary signal interference from in-store broadcast equipmentb) Things related to game machines, etc.--Contact noise and transient interference from pachinko machines and slot machines; Ball lending machines;
Contact noise, transient interference and voltage fluctuations in money changers; IC spark current noise in digital circuits of prize management machines C) Regarding pachinko parlor maintenance equipment -
Inrush current noise and voltage fluctuations in coin and Medanope ball reduction machines and counting machines; Inrush current noise and voltage fluctuations in medal and bead polishing machines, medal and coin lifts, bead polishing lifts, and medal polishing lifts; Voltage fluctuations in conveying equipment d ) Others - IC spark current noise in digital circuits of control equipment such as computers; contact noise in cigarette vending machines and beverage vending machines, transient disturbances and voltage fluctuations; reflection disturbances in signal cable lines, etc. In such pachinko parlors, troubles occur frequently due to the various noises mentioned above, making it impossible for the pachinko parlor management system to operate satisfactorily, and requiring a large amount of expense to take countermeasures. I confirmed that.

An object of the present invention is to provide an extremely reliable pachinko parlor management system that can reduce transmission errors to almost zero by connecting devices that make up the pachinko parlor management system using optical communication that is not affected by noise. It provides:

(Means and effects for solving the problems) The present invention has the following features:
In a pachinko parlor management system comprising a plurality of ball lending machines using cards installed between pachinko machines, a card vending machine, a card payment machine, and a central processing unit having a center combination machine, the pachinko parlor Each device that makes up the management system is connected using optical fibers and photoelectric means to reduce data transmission errors caused by noise, and to match the remaining capacity display on the card with the transmitted remaining capacity data with extremely high precision. Therefore, the suspension of use of the pachinko parlor management system, which causes problems with customers and extremely serious economic damage to the pachinko parlor, is eliminated.

(Example) The pachinko parlor management system of the present invention will be explained in detail below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the management system of the present invention. The pachinko parlor management system of this embodiment is a card-type ball rental machine 1a.

1b, lc, and ld, address decoders 2a and 2b connected to them through optical fibers 29, card vending machine 3 and card adjustment machine 4, and optical fibers 29 through photoelectric conversion elements 5a and 5b. The combined address decoder 2C, cash ball dispensing machine 6 and prize management machine 7, and their respective interfaces 8a
, 8b and photoelectric conversion elements 5c and 5d, and at the same time, it is connected to the card vending machine 3 and card payment machine 4 via optical fiber 29, via photoelectric conversion elements 5e and 5f, and furthermore, an address decoder. 2a and a central processing unit 23 coupled by an optical fiber 29. Here, card-type ball lending machine 1a~
1d has a built-in photoelectric conversion element (the power (+5V) for these photoelectric conversion elements is supplied from the address decoders 2a and 2b), and an optical fiber 29 is used between the address decoders 2a and 2b and the address decoders 2b and 2c. combined. Moreover, the photoelectric conversion elements 5a to 5
The power (+5V) for F is supplied from the address decoder 2C. On the other hand, AC power is individually supplied to each terminal such as a card-type ball lending machine. Here, the card-type ball rental machine 1a,
If the unit represented by lb and address decoder 2a is called an "island", a maximum of 32 card-type ball lending machines can be provided for one island, that is, one address decoder, and in this example, such an island A maximum of 16 islands can be set up.In addition, a maximum of 10 card vending machines,
A maximum of 5 card payment machines can be provided.

On the other hand, the central processing unit 23 is connected to each of the above devices through optical fibers, and has a built-in photoelectric conversion element that outputs various data.The central processing unit 23 is connected to the data management computer 24 through electric wires and optical fibers 29. A keyboard 26, a display 27, and a printer 28 are electrically connected to the center computer 25.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an example of a card-type ball lending machine particularly suitable for use in the management system of the present invention. This card-type ball lending machine includes a card league section 10 and a processing section 30, and the card league section 10 includes position sensors 11 to 13 that detect the position of a magnetic card, and a magnetic head that reads data on the magnetic card. 14, a motor 16 driven by a motor drive circuit 15, and rollers 18a and 18c mounted on the shafts of which the rotational force of the motor 16 is transmitted through rollers 17a and 17b for general feeding of magnetic cards. and are arranged facing each of these rollers,
Rollers 18d, 1 that slidably support the magnetic card.
8e, and 18f, a timing circuit 20 that receives a rotational speed pulse output from an encoder 19 connected to the motor 16 and outputs a timing signal to the motor drive circuit 15, and a card puncher 22 that punches a card. It has a card punch circuit 21 to be driven.

Incidentally, the actual positional relationship of the operating devices of these card league sections 10 is shown in FIG.

The processing unit 30 is a ball lending machine computer 3 that performs arithmetic processing.
1 and its head cover) 31a, and receives position signals from the position sensors 11 to 13, and the magnetic head 14.
A human output buffer 32 is connected to the input/output port 31b and inputs control signals to the ball feeding device 34. The human output buffer 33 that outputs, the reset switch 35 that is connected to the human power port 31C and outputs a reset signal to the human output buffer 32, the reset circuit 36 that is connected to the reset port 31d, and the output port 31e. A digital display 38 displays remaining amount data via a driver 37, and a RAM, for example, which is connected to the data address port 31f and stores and reads data.
It has a memory 39 consisting of ROM. Furthermore, a communication circuit (including a photoelectric conversion element) connected to the transmitting/receiving board 31g is connected to a central processing unit 23 that performs various data processing via an optical fiber 29 and an address decoder. In this embodiment, a constantly driven card conveyor belt conveyor (not shown) is used to intensively collect ejected used cards into a collection box.
A separate space is provided between the card-type ball lending machines, which are placed back to back.

Next, the operation of the pachinko parlor management system of this embodiment will be explained item by item using the data transmission system diagram in FIG. 4 and the flowchart in FIG.

(a) Card data line The optical fiber line between the data management computer 24, card-type ball lending machines 1a to ld, card vending machine 3, and card payment machine 4 in Figure 1 is related to card data, so the following It is called the card data line. Up to this point, when a player first inserts a card into a card-type ball rental machine, when this system is in operation, a data transmission request signal is continuously transmitted from the data management computer 24 to each terminal at intervals of about 1 m5ec (high speed). polling), so when the card-type ball lending machine, for example 1a, receives a data transmission request signal, the card identification number is transferred to the address decoder 2a.
sent to. Therefore, address data consisting of the layer number defined by the address decoder 2a and the ball lending machine number of the card-type ball lending machine 1a is added and manually inputted to the data management computer 24 via the optical cable 29. In addition, when data transmission from the card-type ball lending machine 1a is not performed, the card-type ball lending machine 1b--- is high-speed polled, and then when the card-type ball lending machine 1a is high-speed polled (approximately 1
It is similarly transmitted after the elapse of time equal to the number of pachinko machines (m5ecX). Furthermore, if the data transmission request signal does not reach the card-type ball lending machine due to poor data transmission, and therefore the identification number cannot be transmitted, the remaining capacity confirmation function provided on the card-type ball lending machine side, which will be described later, can be used. Used to supply pachinko balls. Next, the data management computer 2.1 receives the identification number and address data, and transmits the remaining amount data and address data of the card to the address decoder 2a, and the address decoder 2a calculates the remaining amount data based on the address data. It is sent to the card-type ball rental machine 1a. The card-type ball lending machine 1a makes a determination based on the remaining amount data, and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, performs a ball supply operation to be described later. At the same time, the ball supply amount is subtracted from the remaining amount data in the data management computer 24. Such operations are repeated for each card-type ball lending machine.

On the other hand, when the card vending machine 3 receives a data transmission request through the above-mentioned high-speed polling and sells a card, the card vending machine 3 identifies the sold card through the optical fiber 29 via the photoelectric conversion element 5a and the address decoders 20 to 2a. Enter the number into the data management computer 24. This identification number is, for example, a combination of a 1-digit machine number (0 to A) of the card vending machine and a 3-digit binary-hexadecimal card number.
It is the number of digits.

Furthermore, since the card payment machine 4 has an agreement that the validity period of the card for the pachinko ball rental machine is limited to the same day, when a data transmission request is received by the above-mentioned high-speed polling, the card payment machine 4 can use the remaining amount to be used by the player when the store is closed, etc. When a certain card is inserted, the card's identification number is transferred to the photoelectric conversion element 5.
b. Optical fiber 2 via address decoders 20 to 2a
9 to the data management computer 24. The data management computer 24 receives this identification number and returns the remaining amount data of the card to the card adjustment machine 4. The car payment machine performs card payment based on this residual data, and when the payment is completed, outputs a payment completed signal to the data management computer 24.

(B) Sales data line The optical fiber line between the center computer 25, data management computer 24, card vending machine 3, card payment machine 1, cash ball dispensing machine 6, and prize management machine 7 in Figure 1 is related to sales data. Therefore, it is hereinafter referred to as the sales data line.

First, the center computer 25 outputs the day's court to the data management computer 24 via the optical fiber 29 when the power is turned on for the first time after the date has been changed.

The current day code includes a date, a store code number, and a random number. Here, the store code number is used to prevent cards sold at other stores that have introduced the same system from being used, and the random number is used to prevent fraud on the card. The data management computer 24 that received the day's code sends a confirmation signal back to the center computer 25 via the optical fiber 29. This kind of same-day code confirmation is performed only once a day. Next, the center computer 25 outputs a data request signal to the data management computer 24. The data management computer 24 that receives this information will transmit the remaining amount data of the card and the card-type ball lending data inputted from the card data line mentioned above only when the terminal number included in the data request signal and its own terminal number match. machine address data to center computer 2
Output to 5.

Next, when the card vending machine 3 receives the same-day code manually from the center computer 25 via the data management computer 24 via the optical fiber 29, the card vending machine 3
Outputs a confirmation signal to The same-day code is checked only once a day in the card payment machine 4, cash ball dispensing machine 6, and prize management machine 7, which will be described later, in the same way as described above. Here, when a data request signal is outputted from the center computer 25 via the data management computer 24 via the optical fiber 29, the card vending machine 3 that receives the signal receives the terminal number included in the data request signal and its own terminal number. Only if they match, sales data including card sales data, card vending machine number, etc. is sent back to the center computer 25. Thereafter, in the same manner, the card settlement machine 4 returns settlement data, the cash ball lending machine 6 returns ball sales data, and the prize management machine 7 returns prize ball data to the center computer 25.

The center computer 25 aggregates these data and outputs a list for one day. The returned data includes not only card sales data but also monitor data representing the current state of the terminal.

Furthermore, a data management computer 24, a card vending machine 3,
The card adjustment machine 4, the cash ball lending machine 6, and the prize management machine 7 are provided with data transmission test and data reset functions.

(1) Inside of the card-type ball lending machine As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the card-type ball lending machine is powered on, each circuit is first initialized (step 101). Next, the state of the reset switch 35 is searched (step 102), and if it is []FF, a standby process is performed (step 103).

Then, check whether the ball supply device 34 is capable of supplying balls.
The decision is made based on whether or not a supply enable signal is output from the ball supply device 34 (step 104), and if there is no supply enable signal, an error process is performed (step 105), and then the process returns to step 102, and if there is a supply enable signal, the magnetic card is will be in a waiting state for insertion. That is, if the magnetic card is not inserted, the process returns to step 102, and if the magnetic card is inserted, the position sensor 1
1 turns on (step 106), motor 16
rotates in the forward direction to operate the rollers 18a to 18f to transport the magnetic card, and at the same time, if a previously used magnetic card is held by the processing in steps 126 to 131, which will be described later, the magnetic card is removed. is ejected to the outside (step 107'').Furthermore, the conveyance of the magnetic card continues, and the position sensors 12 and 13 are turned on at the same time.
In step 108), the position sensor 13 counts the number of holes punched in the magnetic card according to the number of times the card has been used, and indicates the amount of use of the card (step 10).
9). This operation continues until the magnetic card is further conveyed and reaches the position where the position sensors 11 and 12 are at the same time F (step 110), and when that position is reached, the magnetic head 14 starts reading the data on the card. The process is started (step 111). This reading operation continues until the magnetic card is further conveyed and reaches a position where the position sensors 12 and 13 are turned off at the same time (step 1).
12), upon reaching that position, the morph 160 rotation stops (step 113). A data check is performed on the data read at this time (step 114),
Determine whether the data is normal or not (step 115)
. Note that the data includes, for example, the card issue date and card identification number, and in this example, the card's expiration date is limited to that day. If it is determined that the data is not normal, return the magnetic card to the insertion slot (step 116).
After t, the process returns to step 102. If the data is determined to be normal, the remaining amount data of the magnetic card is sent to the separately provided central processing unit 23 via the communication circuit 40 (step 117), and whether or not the remaining amount data is zero is determined. (Step 118).

If it is zero, proceed to steps 126 to 131, which will be described later.
If the number is not zero, the ball feeding device 34 is operated by the control signal from the ball lending machine computer 31 to pay out a predetermined number of pachinko balls (step 119). At this time, if data cannot be sent or received due to communication failure, proceed to step 1 described above.
The ball supply process is performed using the number of holes in the used bowl counted in step 9. In this embodiment, the selling price of the magnetic card, that is, the amount of money that can be supplied with balls, is set at 1000 yen, and the amount of balls supplied at one time is set at 200 yen. Once the payment is complete,
A control signal is output from the ball lending machine computer 31, and upon receiving the control signal, the motor drive circuit 15 rotates the motor 16 in the forward direction at a low speed to transport the magnetic card in the forward direction (step 120). At the same time, the encoder 19 attached to the motor 16 also rotates and outputs the count of rotational speed pulses to the timing circuit 20 (step 121).

In response to this, the timing circuit 20 determines whether or not the count of rotation pulses matches the preset count of the current position to be punched on the magnetic card (step 122). If they do not match, step 1
Returning to step 20, the magnetic card is further conveyed until the count matches, and when the count matches, the timing circuit 20
The motor drive circuit 15 receives the control signal of the motor 1.
6 stops, and the card puncher 22 driven by the card punch circuit 21 punches a used amount display in the porcelain card (step 123). Here, the number of holes in the magnetic card counted in step 109 described above is equal to 1.
The maximum number of times balls can be supplied (in this example, 5 times) is the sum of
Then, it is determined whether the obtained result is zero (step 125), and if it is not zero, the process returns to step 116 and the magnetic card is returned. In the case of zero, that is, in the case of a used magnetic card, a control signal is output from the center computer 31, and the motor drive circuit 15 that receives the control signal first rotates the motor 16 in the opposite direction to move the magnetic card to the position sensor 13. Convey in the opposite direction to the ON position (steps 126 and 127)
), the magnetic card is stopped (step 128''), and after positioning, the magnetic card is rotated in the forward direction to convey the magnetic card in the forward direction (step 129).

This transport operation is performed when the magnetic card is turned off and the position sensor 13 is turned off.
continues until the position is reached (step 130).
) When the motor 16 reaches that position, the motor 16 stops after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.Step 131) The used card is held at a predetermined position inside the card league section 10. Thereafter, the process returns to step 102 in that state and the subsequent processes are repeated. In step 102 described above, when the pachinko machine is opened and the reset switch 35 is manually turned on by inserting your hand into the back side of the ball lending machine, the motor drive circuit 15 receives the control signal output from the ball lending machine computer 31. The motor 16 rotates in the opposite direction to transport the magnetic card from the above-mentioned predetermined position in the opposite direction (step 132).

This conveyance operation continues until the magnetic card reaches a position where the position sensor 12 is turned off and the position sensor 11 is turned on (step 133), and when it reaches that position, the motor 16 is stopped (step 134). If the magnetic card is manually removed here, the position sensor 11 will be turned off (step 135), so in that case, after confirming that the remaining amount of balls that can be supplied by the removed magnetic card is zero (step 136), the magnetic Reinsert the card and step 10
Return to step 6 and repeat the subsequent steps.

By using the card-type ball rental machines shown in Figures 2 and 3, this system uses the number of holes displayed on the card to display the used amount of cards, even when data cannot be sent or received due to poor communication. Ball supply processing can also be performed by the receiving machine alone.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned examples, and can be modified in many ways.

For example, the above embodiment has a data management computer 24 in addition to the center computer 25 as the central processing unit 23, and an address decoder 2a for each layer as an auxiliary management device.
, 2b is a case in which the address decoder 2C is used to collect card data from the card payment machine 4 and the card vending machine 3, but the system lacks the data management computer 24 and also lacks the auxiliary management device. system,
Also, systems with data management computers for each layer, etc.
Various combinations of systems are possible from the viewpoints of the size of the pachinko parlor, methods for preventing card forgery, handling of failures, system safety, etc. No matter which combination of these systems is used, the present invention can prevent noise disturbances in the transmission path.

Furthermore, in addition to the card identification number, data output from each card-type ball lending machine to the data management computer 24 includes:
It is also possible to make the system more accurate by outputting the card's remaining amount data as well. Furthermore, the present invention can also use a card other than a magnetic card, such as an optical card, or use a card-type ball lending machine other than the card-type ball lending machine shown in FIG.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, in the pachinko parlor management system of the present invention, the S/N ratio decreases in the conventional digital transmission method using electric wires due to noise from a large number of noise sources. Even in pachinko parlors where transmission errors occur frequently, transmission errors can be reduced to almost zero by connecting each component using optical fiber and photoelectric means, thus providing an extremely reliable pachinko parlor management system. can do.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a pachinko parlor management system l according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a card-type ball lending machine used in this embodiment, Figure 3 is a diagram showing the actual arrangement of each component of the card reader section, Figure 4 is a data transmission system diagram used to explain the overall operation of this embodiment, and Figure 5 is a diagram used in this embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the operation of the card-type ball lending machine. 1a to 1d...Card type ball lending machine 2a to 2C...Address decoder 3...Card vending machine 4...Card payment machine 5a
~5f...Photoelectric conversion element 6...Cash coin lending machine 7...
- Prize management machine 3a, 8b...Interface 10...Card league section 11-13...Position sensor 14...Magnetic head 15...Motor drive circuit 16...Motor 17a, 17b
...Belts 18a to 18f...Rollers 19...
・Encoder 20...timing circuit 21...
Card punch circuit 22... Card puncher 23.
... Central processing unit 24 ... Data management computer 25 ... Center computer 26 ... Keyboard 27 ... Display 28 ... Printer 29 ... Optical Fino N
30... Processing unit 31... Ball lending machine computer 31a, 31b... Human output port 31C... Human power port 31d... Reset port 3
1e... Output port 31f... Data/address port 31g... Transmission/reception port 32.33... Human output buffer 34... Ball supply device 35... Reset switch 36... Reset circuit 37. ...Driver 3B...Digital display 39...Memory 4
0...Communication circuit 41...Host computer Patent applicant Ikegami Tsushinki Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pachinko parlor management system comprising a plurality of ball lending machines that use cards installed between pachinko machines, a card vending machine, a card payment machine, and a central processing unit having a center computer. A pachinko parlor management system, characterized in that each device constituting the pachinko parlor management system is coupled by optical fibers and photoelectric means to reduce data transmission errors due to the influence of noise.