JPH05293208A - Metal sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To skip usefully a detecting range of minimum requirement to improve detecting accuracy by skipping the detection of an undesignated transmitting or receiving line on the basis of preset scan information. CONSTITUTION:A CPU unit 30 can read out detecting data registered on a two-way RAM 76 to judge at any time when and where a pachinko ball exists under any referring conditions independently of a detecting signal process action. Thus, the CPU unit 30, if necessary, reads the detecting data recorded in the two-way RAM 76 according to a reading start signal to carry out calculative process so that the pachinko ball can be monitored by the detecting data corresponding to pachinko ball monitoring data stored in a card 173. Thus, when the CPU unit is used for detecting the pachinko ball, scan information can be set according to the type of a pachinko ball stand and the detecting range of necessary minimum limit can usefully be scaned to improve the detecting speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a metal sensor used for detecting pachinko balls on a pachinko machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a metal sensor used for detecting a pachinko ball on a pachinko machine, Japanese Patent Publication No.
Although there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3506, this sensor cannot detect a pachinko ball (metal) on the surface of the pachinko machine, and its function is insufficient to obtain information for managing the pachinko machine. It was

For this reason, the applicant has proposed a sensor capable of detecting a pachinko ball on the surface of a pachinko base plate in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-101.
No. 230 (JP-A-2-279186).

In this sensor, a plurality of parallel folded-back transmission lines are attached to one surface of a glass substrate, and a plurality of parallel folded-back reception lines whose electromagnetic characteristics change due to the approach of a metal are arranged in a direction crossing the reception line. The transmission line that transmits the input signal at a scanning cycle based on the clock signal output from the sequence control circuit by electromagnetically coupling with the glass substrate and arranging the detection matrix on the opposite surface of the glass substrate. Alternatively, the pachinko that approaches the substrate from the crossing position of the reception line whose electromagnetic characteristics are changing and the transmission line that has transmitted the input signal at that time while detecting the electromagnetic characteristics while sequentially switching the reception lines to be detected The position of the ball is determined by a processing device such as a microprocessor.

[0005]

The above-mentioned sensor is excellent in that the locus of a pachinko ball on the board surface of a pachinko machine can be easily and quickly obtained, but it is required at the maximum detection speed and at the minimum. There was a problem to be solved in terms of obtaining detection data.

That is, the range in which a pachinko ball is to be detected is usually only in the vicinity of, for example, a safe hole or the like on the surface of the pachinko base. In such a case, the transmission line not located near the safe hole or the like is used. The detection operation for is wasted, and the scanning speed is unnecessarily reduced.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the problems of the prior art as described above, and is a metal sensor capable of detecting a pachinko ball on the surface of a pachinko base, and only a transmission line specified in advance is used. It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal sensor in which the detection operation is performed.

[0008]

The gist of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object is to: 1 mount a plurality of parallel folded-back transmission lines (22) on one side of a substrate (17a), and A parallel folded reception line (26) is attached to the opposite surface of the substrate so as to be electromagnetically coupled to the transmission line so as to be electromagnetically coupled to the transmission line, and the input signal is transmitted at a predetermined scanning cycle. The electromagnetic characteristic of the receiving line while switching the line or the receiving line to be detected, and from the crossing position of the receiving line whose electromagnetic characteristic is changing and the transmitting line that has transmitted the input signal at that time to the substrate. In a metal sensor that determines the position of an approaching metal, scan information that specifies which of the plurality of transmission lines or reception lines to detect is set in advance. Based on the scanning information, performs switching of the reception line or transmission line, a metal sensor, wherein the detection of the transmission line or reception lines not designated provided scanning system to skip.

2 In the scanning system, the reception line switching means (52, 5) that sequentially switches the reception lines to be detected each time a reception line switching pulse signal is input.
4), the transmission line switching means (43, 44) for sequentially switching the transmission lines for transmitting the input signal each time the transmission line switching pulse signal is input, and the reception line switching pulse signal.
A receiving line switching pulse generation circuit (202) that outputs every scanning cycle, and an instruction from the outside for the transmitting line switching pulse signal every time the switching of the receiving line completes one cycle in a time shorter than the scanning cycle. The transmission line switching pulse generation circuit (204) that outputs the specified number, the storage medium (173) that registers the scan information, the scan information that is read from this storage medium, and the next input signal is to be transmitted. If the transmission line is not specified to perform detection, it is skipped including the transmission lines that are trying to transmit the input signal continuously after that and are not specified to perform detection. So that the transmission line switching pulse generation circuit is instructed to output the transmission line switching pulse signal having the number of pulses including the number of these transmission lines. Metal sensor according to claim 1, characterized in that more processing devices (30).

[0010]

According to the metal sensor of the present invention, due to the operation of the scanning system, the detection of the transmission line or the reception line which is not designated by the scan information is skipped. Therefore, by arbitrarily setting the scan information, the detection operation can be performed only for the minimum necessary detection position according to the detection target and the like.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The present embodiment is an example in which the metal sensor of the present invention is used to detect the position of a pachinko ball on the board surface of a pachinko game machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pachinko game machine 10
Is designed to drive pachinko balls into the board surface 11 along the guide rails 12.
The inside of is the game area. In this game area, a large number of nails 13, 13 ... Which strike a pachinko ball are driven, safe holes 14a, 14a ... Are opened in various places, and a prize winning device device 14b is provided in the central portion of the board surface between upstream and downstream. Is provided,
An out hole 15 is opened at the lower end of the game area. The winning prize device device 14b is a device that changes a lot of pachinko balls as safe balls by changing the prize. Pachinko game machine 10
On the front surface of the machine, there are provided a launching handle 33 for launching a pachinko ball, and a bowl 34 for receiving the ball.

As shown in FIG. 4, the front glass covering the board surface 11 is along the board surface 11 of the pachinko game machine 10 and has a double structure of a surface glass body 16 and an inner glass body 17. .. Further, the inner glass body 17 includes the glass substrate 17a and the surface glass 17 adhered to both surfaces thereof.
b and 17c.

The matrix sensor 20 (detection part of the metal sensor) is planarly formed in the inner glass body 17 which is the inner side of the two glass bodies covering the board surface 11 and is the board surface side. It is provided between the surface glass body 16 and the board 11. As shown in FIG. 5, in the matrix sensor 20, one transmission line 22 is U-turned in parallel at the end of the glass substrate 17a (or in a loop shape).
Thus, the plurality of transmission lines 22 are configured, and these are arranged in parallel in one direction to form the glass substrate 17 of the inner glass body 17.
It is arranged and attached to one surface (surface on the front surface side) of a.

Similarly, the plurality of receiving lines 26 are also formed so that one receiving line 26 makes a U-turn into a parallel folded shape (or loop shape), and these are arranged in parallel in one direction. The inner glass body 17 is arranged and attached to the opposite surface (surface on the board surface 11 side) of the glass substrate 17a. The transmission terminal 23 or the reception terminal 27, which is a connecting portion of the transmission line 22 or the reception line 26, is arranged centrally at the lower end of the inner glass body 17 in a vertical relationship when attached to a pachinko game machine.

Each reception line 26 is electromagnetically coupled to each transmission line 22, and is arranged in a plane-parallel position with respect to each transmission line 22 in a crossing direction at a right angle so as to change electromagnetic characteristics due to the approach of a pachinko ball. Each transmission line 22 using the body 17 as a substrate
A planar matrix sensor 20 is configured by the receiving lines 26 and the receiving lines 26.

As shown in FIG. 5, each transmission line 22 intersects.
Each square-shaped surrounding portion (detection position) surrounded by and each reception line 26 forms a detection unit 20a, 20a ... Which senses a pachinko ball (metal) by impedance change.

The inner glass body 17 typically has a vertical length a.
Is a square glass substrate having a size of 367 mm ± 10 mm and a lateral length b of 367 mm ± 10 mm, and has a width of 3.0
It has a thickness of ~ 3.5 mm. Surface glass 17b, 1
7c has a shorter vertical length than the glass substrate 17a, and the lower end of the glass substrate 17a is exposed.

In the inner glass body 17, the transmission line 22 is attached to one surface of the glass substrate 17a by a transparent adhesive layer, and the surface glass 17c is attached by a transparent adhesive layer so as to cover the transmission line 22. The reception line 26 is attached to the other surface of 17a by a transparent adhesive layer, and the surface glass 17b is attached by a transparent adhesive layer so as to cover it.

The transmission line 22 includes the folded portions 61 formed on the folded substrate 19a bonded to the left end of the one surface of the glass substrate 17a, and the L-shape bonded to a part of the right end and the lower end of the one surface of the glass substrate 17a. The routing portions 64 formed on the linear routing substrate 19b, the wires 62 connecting the folding portions 61 and the routing portion 64, and the transmission terminal 23 forming the end of the transmission line 22.
It is composed of and.

The receiving line 26 includes the folded portions 61 formed on the folded substrate 29a bonded to the upper end of the other surface of the glass substrate 17a, and the routing substrate bonded to the lower end of the other surface of the glass substrate 17a. 29b, and the wires 62 connecting the folded-back portion 61 and the lead portion 64.
And a receiving terminal 27 forming the end of the receiving line 26.

In order to make the wires 62 inconspicuous to the player, the surface of each wire 62 is black with a matt finish to prevent light reflection. In addition, the pattern of the matrix sensor 20 suitable for the ordinary pachinko game machine 10 has 32 lines of transmission lines 22 and 32 columns of reception lines 26.
The number of detection units 20a is 1024 in total. In addition, in FIG. 5, the pattern other than the outer side is omitted.

The thickness of the wires forming the transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 is preferably set to a value of 25 μm to 30 μm. In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
And the overall widths c and d of the receiving terminal 27 are 12 respectively.
It is 6 mm, and the widths e and f of the longitudinally extending portions of the transmitting-side folded board 19a and the transmitting-side routing board 19b are each formed to be 10 mm or less. The width of each of the transmission terminal 23 and the reception terminal 27 is 1.5 mm.

Further, the matrix sensor 20 is provided with a connector mounting plate 66 at the lower end of the glass substrate 17a. The connector mounting plate 66 is integrally fixed to the inner glass body 17 with the lower end of the glass substrate 17a sandwiched from both sides. The connector mounting plate 66 is made of plastic or stainless steel, extends downward along the width of the inner glass body 17, and is on the extension surface of the inner glass body 17 of the matrix sensor 20.

As shown in FIG. 5, a transmitting connector 67a and a receiving connector 67b are fixed to the connector mounting plate 66 at positions corresponding to the transmitting terminal 23 and the receiving terminal 27. The transmission connector 67a is connected to the transmission terminal 23 of each transmission line 22, and the reception connector 67b is connected to the reception terminal 27 of each reception line 23. The portion of the connector mounting plate 66 is thickest at the position where the transmission connector 67a and the reception connector 67b are provided.
a and the receiving connector 67b are low-profile type, and the thickness h of the thickest part of the connector mounting plate 66 is the matrix sensor 2
It is the same as or slightly thinner than the inner glass body 17 of 0.

On the surface glass body 16 side of the connector mounting plate 66, matrix I / O transmitting / receiving units connected to the transmitting connector 67a and the receiving connector 67b, respectively.
A receiving board 171 (not shown in FIG. 5, but shown in FIG. 6) is arranged. The matrix I / O transmission / reception board 171 includes a plurality of transmission lines 22 of the matrix sensor 20.
To the transmission circuit 40 (shown in FIG. 7, which will be described later in detail) and the reception circuit 50 for receiving from the plurality of reception lines 26.
(It is shown in FIG. 9, which will be described later in detail), and a splice connector (not shown) that is connected to each of the transmission connector 67a and the reception connector 67b. here,
The connection connector connects the transmission terminal 23 to the transmission circuit 40 and the reception terminal 27 to the reception circuit 50 by being connected to the transmission connector 67a or the reception connector 67b.

Next, the signal processing system of the matrix sensor 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, the matrix sensor 20 is a CPU arranged apart from the matrix sensor 20 via a matrix I / O transmission / reception board 171.
It is under the control of the memory control board 172. CP
The U memory control board 172 has a CPU unit 30 (shown in FIG. 1) that constitutes a processing device, and can communicate with the communication line 179. The CPU memory control board 172 also has an interface unit 176 for the CPU unit 30 to read the monitoring points and scan information from the card 173.

The card 173 (storage medium) is a memory card of a monitoring memory which stores the pachinko ball monitoring points and scan information in a readable manner and is attachable to and detachable from the interface section 176. The card 173 has safe holes 14a, 14 provided on the board surface 11 of the pachinko game machine 10.
a, the ball hitting detection position and the position of the out hole 15, the detection algorithm of the pachinko balls entering the safe holes 14a, 14a ... And the out hole 15, and the like are recorded as monitoring data. Further, the scan information specifies which of a plurality of transmission lines or reception lines is to be detected. In addition, as a card, RAM
Card, mask ROM, EPROM, one-shot RO
M or the like can be used.

The option 174 connected to the CPU memory control board 172 is a device for recording the trajectory of a pachinko ball moving around between the board surface 11 of the pachinko game machine 10 and the inner glass body 17. The option 174 can be composed of, for example, a hard disk. The data recorded in this option 174 is applied to a computer 175 in which software for analyzing the trajectory of a pachinko ball is incorporated and subjected to arithmetic processing to obtain necessary data at the pachinko game hall.

The transmitting circuit 40 is a circuit for sequentially transmitting signals of a predetermined frequency to each transmitting line 22, and the receiving circuit 50 is a circuit for sequentially receiving signals from each receiving line 26 in synchronization with the transmitting circuit 40. Is. As a voltage waveform to the transmission line 22 by the transmission circuit 40, a continuous sine wave centered at 0 V having a frequency of 1 to 1.3 MHz is suitable.

As shown in FIG. 7, the transmission circuit 40 includes a transmission connector 41 and an amplifier 4 connected to the transmission connector 41.
2 and a channel switching logic 43, an analog multiplexer 44 connected to the amplifier 42 and the channel switching logic 43, and a plurality of, specifically 32 circuits of the transmission line 22 side connected to the analog multiplexer 44 and the transmission connector 67a. 3 connected to each
It is composed of two PNP + NPN totem pole drivers 45.

As shown in FIG. 8, the channel switching logic 43 has a counter IC 43a and operates with two control lines for clock and reset. Specifically, the sequence control circuit 47 includes Each time a transmission line switching pulse signal output from a transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 204 described later is input, the connection state of the analog multiplexer 44 is sequentially switched, and the transmission line switching means of the present invention is configured together with the analog multiplexer 44. is doing.

As shown in FIG. 9, the receiving circuit 50 includes a plurality of CT transformers (current transformers) 51 connected to a plurality of receiving circuits 67b, specifically 32 receiving circuits 26 on the receiving line 26 side. , The analog multiplexer 52 connected to the CT transformer 51, and the analog multiplexer 52
Amplifier 53 and channel switching logic 5 connected to
4 and a receiving connector 55 connected to the amplifier 53 and the channel switching logic 54. Therefore, the receiving circuit 50 is adapted to receive a signal from each receiving line 26 via each CT transformer 51.

The CT transformer 51 insulates each reception line 26 from the analog multiplexer 52 and amplifies the signal from each reception line 26 ten times. The analog multiplexer 52 is a channel switching logic 54
The signal from each CT transformer 51 is sequentially received on the basis of the above command, and the amplifier 53 amplifies the signal from the analog multiplexer 52.

The channel switching logic 54 is the same element as the channel switching logic 43 of the transmission circuit 40, and in this case, the transmission line switching pulse signal output from the transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 202 of the sequence control circuit 47, which will be described later. Every time the input is input (every scanning cycle), the connection of the analog multiplexer 52 is sequentially switched at the falling timing. The channel switching logic 54, together with the analog multiplexer 52, constitutes the receiving line switching means of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the CPU memory control board 172 includes a CPU unit 30 (processor).
The transmission side thereof has a sequence control circuit 47 which sends a transmission clock in response to a start signal input from the CPU unit 30 through the CPU connector 46, and a band which receives the transmission clock and outputs the transmission signal. It has a pass filter 48 and an amplifier 49 that amplifies a transmission signal and sends it to the transmission connector 41.

The CPU memory control board 1
On the reception side of 72, an amplifier 71 that amplifies the reception signal from the reception connector 55, a bandpass filter 72 that receives the amplified signal, a full-wave rectification / amplifier 73 that receives the reception signal from the bandpass filter 72, Wave rectifier / amplifier 7
Two-stage low-pass filter 74 for receiving the received signal from
a and 74b, and an A / D converter 75 which receives the received signal from the low-pass filter 74b, is controlled by the sequence control circuit 47, and converts the received signal into digital data and outputs the digital data, and is controlled by the sequence control circuit 47. Write this digital data (detection data), CP
It has a bidirectional RAM 76 which sends this detection data to the CPU unit 30 via the CPU connector 46 in response to a read signal from the U connector 46.

The CPU memory control board 1
72 includes a power supply unit 77. The capacity of the bidirectional RAM 76 is, for example, 2048 bytes.

The sequence control circuit 47 has a function of outputting a transmission clock which is a source of a signal input to the transmission line 22, and the reception line switching pulse signal and transmission line switching for controlling the channel switching logics 54 and 43. It has a function of outputting a pulse signal.

That is, a clock circuit 201 for outputting a source clock signal to the sequence control circuit 47.
By dividing the source oscillation clock from the clock circuit 201, the reception line switching pulse signal (indicated by reference symbol RXCLR in FIG. 2) is scanned at a scanning cycle (for example,
The reception line switching pulse generation circuit 202 that outputs every one clock of the source oscillation clock and the reception line 26 by further dividing the output of the reception line switching pulse generation circuit 202.
An interrupt pulse signal generation circuit 203 for generating an interrupt pulse signal (indicated by a symbol INT in FIG. 2) twice each time the switching of one cycle is completed (each time the reception line switching pulse signal is output 32 times); At every other rising timing of the signal, the transmission line switching pulse signal (shown by reference numeral TXCLR in FIG. 2) by the number of skips instructed by the CPU unit 30 has a wavelength extremely shorter than that of the reception line switching pulse signal. ) Is output from the transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 204. Also, although not shown,
The sequence control circuit 47 has a circuit that outputs the transmission clock by dividing the frequency of the source clock.

In the detecting operation, the CPU unit 30 (processor) reads the scan information from the card 173 (storage medium), receives the interrupt pulse signal INT from the interrupt pulse signal generating circuit 203, and receives the interrupt line signal from the receiving line 26. A new number of skips is set in the transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 204 every time switching is completed.

That is, the CPU unit 30 is in the middle of switching a series of reception lines 26 (in this case, as shown in FIG.
If the transmission line which is going to transmit the next input signal is not designated to perform detection at the rising timing of the interrupt pulse signal INT at the timing of switching to the seventh reception line), The number of pulses (the number of skips) including the number of these transmission lines is set so that the transmission lines that are about to transmit the input signal continuously after that and that are not specified to perform detection are also skipped. The transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 204 is instructed to output the transmission line switching pulse signal TXCLR.

The CPU unit 30 reads the monitoring area data registered in the card 173 and reads the detection data in the bidirectional RAM 76 independently of the detection operation under the control of the sequence control circuit 47 or the CPU unit 30. It is also programmed to perform processing for monitoring the pachinko balls by matching the read and detected data with the pachinko ball monitoring area data.

In the above description of the configuration, the channel switching logic 54 and the analog multiplexer 52.
(Reception line switching means), channel switching logic 43 and analog multiplexer 44 (transmission line switching means), reception line switching pulse generation circuit 202, interrupt pulse signal generation circuit 203, transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 204, CPU unit 30 (processing) Device), card 173 (storage medium)
Are the elements that make up the scanning system of the present invention.

Next, the operation will be described. CPU unit 30
Address and control signals from the CPU
It is output via the connector 46. When a start signal is transmitted from the CPU unit 30 to the sequence control circuit,
The sequence control circuit 47 divides the original oscillation clock of 16 MHz, for example, as necessary, and outputs the transmission clock. The transmission clock from the sequence control circuit 47 is waveform-shaped from the digital signal to the analog signal by the bandpass filter 48, amplified by the amplifier 49, and sent to the transmission connector 41.

Further, the transmission signal is amplified by the amplifier 42 in the transmission circuit 40. Analog multiplexer 44
Is the channel switched by the channel switching logic 43 and operates the totem pole driver 45.
As a result, the totem pole driver 45 becomes the amplifier 42.
The signal amplified by is output to the transmission line 22 (see FIG. 11).
See step 91).

Then, an electromotive force is generated in each reception line 26 electromagnetically coupled to the transmission line 22 to which the signal is transmitted at the crossing position (detection unit 20a) by the mutual induction action. At this time, the pachinko ball that is a metal is the detection unit 20a.
Approaching, a eddy current is generated on the surface of the pachinko ball in the direction of canceling the magnetic flux by the transmission line 22. Therefore, the impedance of the detection unit 20a changes due to the influence of this eddy current, and accordingly, the electromotive force (current) of the reception line 26 that intersects the detection unit 20a that the pachinko ball approaches.
Changes in size.

On the receiving side, the receiving circuit 50 receives a signal from each receiving line 26 via each CT transformer 51 in synchronization with the transmitting circuit 40 by the sequence control circuit 47. As shown in FIG. 9, the current, which is an electromagnetic characteristic value appearing in the plurality of reception lines 26, is amplified by the CT transformer 51 ten times. Since amplification is performed by the CT transformer 51, it is not necessary to increase the amplification degree of the receiving side amplifier by that amount. In addition, the CT transformer 51 includes the receiving lines 26 and the receiving circuit 50 of the matrix sensor 20 that constitutes a metal sensor.
The analog multiplexer 52 is insulated from the analog multiplexer 52 to prevent noise from entering from the pachinko game machine 10 to the receiving circuit 50.

The analog multiplexer 52 converts the signal from each receiving line 26 passing through the CT transformer 51 into each scanning cycle (the above-mentioned receiving line switching pulse signal RXCLR).
Is output each time) is output by the channel switching logic 54. The signal from the analog multiplexer 52 is amplified 100 times by the amplifier 53 (see step 92 in FIG. 11).

The received signal is received by the receiving connector 55 and the amplifier 7.
1. Amplification and detection are performed through the bandpass filter 72. The received signal from the bandpass filter 72 is an analog signal, and this analog signal is
The full-wave rectification / amplifier 73 performs waveform shaping. The signal from the full-wave rectifier / amplifier 73 is supplied to the low-pass filter 7
Averaging is performed by integration processing at 4a and 74b.

Next, the received signal is the A / D converter 75.
Sent to. The A / D converter 75 converts the signal from the receiving line 26 into a digital signal in a predetermined bit unit such as 12 bits, and is controlled by the sequence control circuit 63 to output the converted signal and register it in the bidirectional RAM 76. (See step 93 in FIG. 16).

That is, the bidirectional RAM 76 records the detection data in response to the write signal from the sequence control circuit 47, and then outputs the address for each scanning cycle based on the reception line switching pulse signal RXCLR output from the sequence control circuit 47. +1 is incremented, and the detection data output for each scanning cycle is detected by different detection units 20
It is registered in association with a (see step 94 in FIG. 11).

The above operation is repeated every scanning cycle, but the card 173
With respect to the transmission line 22 whose detection is not designated by the scan information of 1, is skipped by the operation of the scanning system described above, and the detection is not performed.

That is, the reception line switching pulse signal RX
The channel switching logic 54 and the analog multiplexer 52 sequentially switch the signal from each reception line 26 (see step 95 in FIG. 11) every scanning cycle by CLK, and when the above-mentioned operation of 32 reception lines 26 is completed 32 times. (See step 96 in FIG. 11), at that time,
The channel switching logic 43 and the analog multiplexer 44 switch the transmission line 22 based on the transmission line switching pulse signal TXCLK (see step 97 in FIG. 11). Then, the same processing is repeated 32 times again, but the transmission line switching pulse signal T output at the time of switching the transmission line.
As for the number of XCLK pulses, as shown in FIG. 2, the CPU unit 30 causes the transmission line switching pulse generation circuit 2 to generate the interrupt pulse signal immediately before that time.
Since the number of skips is set to 04, the transmission line 22 is skipped by the number corresponding to the number of skips.

For example, when the transmission line 22 to which a signal is input next and further next is not registered as the detection position by the scan information registered in the card 173, the transmission line switching pulse signal TXCLK is shown in FIG. As shown, three pulses are output and these two transmission lines 22 are skipped. In addition, this transmission line switching pulse signal TXCLK
2 is exaggerated in size in FIG. 2, but since the wavelength is actually extremely short, these skip operations are performed in a time considerably shorter than the scanning cycle, and the time required for this skip is Therefore, the detection operation for the first reception line 26 immediately after switching the transmission line is not hindered.

The CPU unit 30 has a bidirectional R
By reading the detection data registered in the AM76, it is possible to determine, at any time, at which position (detection unit 20a) the pachinko ball was present, independently of the detection signal processing operation, by any search condition. You can judge.

Therefore, the CPU unit 30 reads the detection data recorded in the bidirectional RAM 76 by a read start signal as necessary, performs arithmetic processing, and monitors the pachinko balls stored in the card 173. The pachinko balls can be monitored in association with the data.

As described above, in the metal sensor of the above embodiment, the detection operation for the specific transmission line 22 is omitted and designated one after another according to the scan information of the card 173 which can be arbitrarily set by the user. The detection operation is performed only for the transmission line 22 that is used, and based on this, the pachinko balls can be managed in the above case.

Therefore, if it is used to detect a pachinko ball, the scan information is set according to the type of the pachinko machine and the minimum necessary detection range according to the type of the pachinko machine is scanned without waste. Thus, there is an effect that the detection speed can be improved.

[0060]

According to the metal sensor of the present invention, it is possible to effectively scan the minimum required detection range and improve the detection speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a scanning system.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the scanning system.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view conceptually showing a pachinko game machine and a detection unit (matrix sensor) of a metal sensor in a disassembled state.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a board surface of a pachinko game machine.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a detection unit (matrix sensor) of the metal sensor.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a metal sensor.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a transmission circuit of a matrix I / O transmission / reception board.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a main part of a channel switching logic.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a receiver circuit of a matrix I / O transmitter / receiver board.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a receiving and transmitting circuit of a CPU memory control board.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of scanning a metal sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

17a ... Board, 22 ... Transmission line, 26 ... Reception line, 30 ... Processing unit (CPU unit) 43, 44 ... Transmission line switching means (43 ... Channel switching logic, 44 ... Analog multiplexer) 52, 54 ... Reception line switching means (54 ... Channel switching logic, 52 ... Analog multiplexer) 173 ... Storage medium (card) 202 ... Reception line switching pulse generation circuit 203 ... Interrupt pulse signal generation circuit 204 ... Transmission line switching pulse generation circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of parallel folded-back transmission lines are attached to one side of a substrate, and a plurality of parallel folded-back reception lines are crossed with the transmission lines to electromagnetically couple the transmission lines. The electromagnetic characteristic of the receiving line is detected while switching the transmitting line transmitting the input signal or the receiving line to be detected at a predetermined scanning cycle, and the electromagnetic characteristic is changed. In a metal sensor that determines the position of a metal approaching the substrate from the crossing position of the receiving line and the transmitting line that has transmitted the input signal at that time, which of the plurality of transmitting lines or receiving lines is to be detected is determined. The receiving line or the transmitting line is switched based on the scan information that is designated and is set in advance, and the transmitting line or the receiving line that is not designated is selected. The metal sensor is provided with a scanning system that skips the detection of. 2. The scanning system comprises: a receiving line switching means for sequentially switching the receiving lines to be detected each time a receiving line switching pulse signal is input; and a receiving line switching pulse signal for each input. A transmission line switching unit that sequentially switches the transmission lines that transmit an input signal; a reception line switching pulse generation circuit that outputs the reception line switching pulse signal for each scanning cycle; A transmission line switching pulse generating circuit that outputs the transmission line switching pulse signal for each time in a number shorter than the scanning cycle by an externally commanded number; a storage medium that registers the scan information; If the transmission line that is going to transmit the input signal is not designated to perform detection, the scan information is read from In order to skip the transmission lines that are going to transmit the input signal continuously after that, and the transmission lines that are not specified to perform detection, the transmission lines having the number of pulses including the number of these transmission lines are skipped. 2. The metal sensor according to claim 1, further comprising a processing device that commands the transmission line switching pulse generation circuit to output a switching pulse signal.