JPH05293209A - Pachinko ball detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve detecting accuracy while maintaining an important detecting range by disposing a transmitting line and receiving line so that these lines overlap each other at a position corresponding to a hole such as a safe hole which a pachinko ball enter on board surface. CONSTITUTION:While a folded-back transmitting line 22 is mounted on one surface of a glass body 17 covering the board surface of a pachinko ball machine stand, it is overlaid with a folded-back receiving line 26 to couple electromagnetically with the transmitting line on the opposite surface to the glass body 17 so that the pachinko ball approaching the position of the transmitting line overlaid with the receiving line is detected according to the value of an electromagnetic characteristic of the receiving line at the time of transmitting the input signal to the transmitting line. Since the transmitting line 22 and receiving line 26 are disposed correspondingly to a safe hole 14a so that the cross position of the overlapping lines coincides with the position of the safe hole 14a, the number of the transmitting and receiving lines 22, 26 to be scanned becomes the minimum number corresponding to these holes. Thus, the pachinko ball is efficiently detected only in the position having the safe hole or the like.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a sensor used to detect a pachinko ball on a pachinko machine, a Japanese Patent Publication No. 64-350 has been used.
Although there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 6, the sensor cannot detect a pachinko ball on the surface of the pachinko machine, and its function is insufficient to obtain information for managing the pachinko machine.

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 are connected to the reception line so as to electromagnetically couple the reception lines. The detection line is formed by arranging on the opposite surface of the glass substrate in the cross direction to form a detection matrix in a plane shape, and the scanning line based on the clock signal output from the sequence control circuit transmits the input signal and the detection target. The pachinko that approaches the substrate from the crossing position of the reception line whose electromagnetic characteristics are changing and the transmission line which has transmitted the input signal at that time while detecting the electromagnetic characteristics of the reception line while sequentially switching the reception line 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 minimum at the maximum detection speed. There was a problem that should be improved 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 wasteful, and the scanning speed (detection 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 machine base, which has a hole such as a safe hole. It is an object of the present invention to provide a pachinko ball detection device capable of efficiently detecting a pachinko ball only at a certain position.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems The gist of the present invention for achieving such an object is to: 1 attach a folded-back transmission line (22) to one side of a glass body (17) covering a board surface of a pachinko machine. At the same time, the folded reception line (26) is placed on the opposite surface of the glass body (17) so as to be electromagnetically coupled to the transmission line.
The value of the electromagnetic characteristics of the reception line when the input signal is transmitted to the transmission line, the position where the transmission line and the reception line overlap, in the pachinko ball detection device for detecting that the pachinko ball is approaching, the transmission line And the receiving line, so that their overlapping positions are the positions of holes (14a, 15) into which pachinko balls such as safe holes (14a) on the board surface enter.
The pachinko ball detection device is characterized by being arranged corresponding to the holes.

[0009]

The pachinko ball detection device according to the present invention has a transmission line (2
2) and the reception line (26) correspond to the holes (14a, 15) in which the pachinko balls enter such as the safe holes (14a) on the board surface (11) so that their overlapping positions correspond to the holes. Since they are arranged, the number of transmission lines and reception lines to be scanned becomes the minimum number corresponding to these holes, and the detection speed can be improved while maintaining an important detection range.

[0010]

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. 1, 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. 2, 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 unit of the pachinko ball detection device) is formed in a planar shape inside the inner glass body 17 which is the inside of the two glass bodies covering the board surface 11 and is the board surface side. Therefore, 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 formed into a parallel folded shape (or a loop shape) that makes a U-turn at the end of the glass substrate 17a, and a plurality of transmission lines 22 are formed. These components are arranged in parallel in one direction and arranged on one surface (surface on the front surface side) of the glass substrate 17a and attached. It should be noted that these transmission lines 22 are, as shown in FIG.
In this case, three of them are arranged at a position corresponding to.

Similarly, the plurality of receiving lines 26 are also formed so that one receiving line 26 makes a U-turn to form a parallel folded shape (or loop shape), and these are arranged in parallel in one direction. It is attached to the opposite surface (surface on the board surface 11 side) of the glass substrate 17a. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, three reception lines 26 are also provided in this case at positions corresponding to the main safe holes 14a. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the transmission terminal 23 or the reception terminal 27, which is the connecting portion of the transmission line 22 or the reception line 26, is located at the lower end of the inner glass body 17 when mounted on a pachinko game machine. Are concentrated in the.

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 that the electromagnetic characteristics are changed by 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. 3, each transmission line 22 intersects.
Each square-shaped surrounding portion (detection position) surrounded by and each reception line 26 constitutes a detection unit 20a, 20a ... Sensing a pachinko ball by impedance change. In this case, the detection unit 20a in FIG. As shown in, the position of the main safe hole 14a coincides.

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, as shown in FIG. 2, 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 covered with the transparent adhesive layer so as to cover it. Bonded by, glass substrate 1
The reception line 26 is attached to the other surface of 7a by a transparent adhesive layer, and the surface glass 17b is attached by a transparent adhesive layer so as to cover it.

As shown in FIG. 3, 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 right end and a part of the lower end of the one surface of the glass substrate 17a. The routing portions 64 formed on the L-shaped routing substrate 19b bonded to the wires, the wires 62 connecting the folding portions 61 and the routing portions 64, and the transmission that forms the end of the transmission line 22. And the terminal 23.

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 addition, in order to make the wire 62 inconspicuous to the player, the surface of the wire 62 has a matt black surface, and is designed to prevent light reflection.

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. Further, in the matrix sensor 20, as shown in FIG. 3, the connector mounting plate 66 is provided at the lower end portion of the glass substrate 17a.
Is provided. 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, and has an inner glass body 17
Of the matrix sensor 20
It is on the extension surface of the inner glass body 17.

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 transmission / reception connectors connected to the transmission connector 67a and the reception connector 67b, respectively.
A receiving board 171 (not shown in FIG. 3, but shown in FIG. 4) 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. 5 and described later in detail) and the reception circuit 50 for receiving from the plurality of reception lines 26.
(It is shown in FIG. 7, 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 joint connector is the transmission connector 6
7a or the reception connector 67b, the transmission terminal 23 is connected to the transmission circuit 40, and the reception terminal 2
7 is connected to the receiving circuit 50.

Next, the signal processing system of the matrix sensor 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, 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. 8) that constitutes a processing device, and is communicable via a communication line 179. Further, the CPU memory control board 172 has an interface section 176 for the CPU unit 30 to read the monitoring points from the card 173.

The card 173 is a memory card of a monitoring memory which stores the pachinko ball monitoring points in a readable manner and is attachable to and detachable from the interface section 176. Card 1
In 73, data on the positions of the safe holes 14a, 14a ... Provided on the board surface 11 of the pachinko game machine 10, a detection algorithm for the pachinko balls entering the safe holes 14a, 14a, etc. are recorded as monitoring data. A RAM card, a mask ROM, an EPROM, a one-shot ROM, or the like can be used as the card.

The transmission circuit 40 is a circuit that sequentially transmits signals of a predetermined frequency to each transmission line 22, and the reception circuit 50 is a circuit that sequentially receives signals from each reception line 26 in synchronization with the transmission 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. 5, 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, a plurality of, specifically, three circuits of the transmission line 22 side connected to the analog multiplexer 44 and the transmission connector 67a. And three PNP + NPN totem pole drivers 45 connected to each other.

As shown in FIG. 6, the channel switching logic 43 has a counter IC 43a and operates with two control lines for clock and reset. Specifically, in this case, channel switching will be described later. The connection state of the analog multiplexer 44 is changed at the timing when the switching of the analog multiplexer 52 by the logic 54 completes one cycle, and it operates in synchronization with the channel switching logic 54.

As shown in FIG. 7, the receiving circuit 50 includes three CT transformers (current transformers) 51 connected to a plurality of receiving circuits 67b, specifically, to the receiving line 26 side of three circuits, respectively. , An analog multiplexer 52 connected to the CT transformer 51, an amplifier 53 and a channel switching logic 54 connected to the analog multiplexer 52,
It is composed of an amplifier 53 and a receiving connector 55 connected to 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 receiving line 26 from the analog multiplexer 52 and amplifies the signal from each receiving 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, changes the state of the analog multiplexer 52 for each scanning cycle based on the clock signal output from the sequence control circuit 47. And.

As shown in FIG. 8, the CPU memory control board 172 includes a CPU unit 30 (processing device).
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.

Further, 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 172 has a power supply unit 77.

The CPU unit 30 reads the monitoring area data of the card 173, reads the detection data of the bidirectional RAM 76, and associates the detection data with the monitoring area data of the pachinko balls to monitor the pachinko balls. ..

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 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 a channel switched by the channel switching logic 43, and sequentially operates the totem pole driver 45, whereby the totem pole driver 45 causes the signal amplified by the amplifier 42 to have a predetermined cycle (1 to 1.3M).
Hz) to the transmission line 22 sequentially (step 9 in FIG. 16).
1).

Then, an electromotive force is generated in each receiving line 26 electromagnetically coupled to the transmitting 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 the eddy current, and accordingly, the magnitude of the electromotive force (current) that is the electromagnetic characteristic of the reception line 26 that intersects the detection unit 20a that the pachinko ball approaches. Changes.

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. 14, the current that is an electromagnetic characteristic value that appears 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,
Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the amplification degree of the amplifier on the receiving side. The CT transformer 51 insulates each of the reception lines 26 of the matrix sensor 20 forming a metal sensor from the analog multiplexer 52 of the reception circuit 50, prevents noise from entering from the pachinko game machine 10 to the reception circuit 50, and receives the noise. Amplify the signal.

The analog multiplexer 52 switches the signal from each receiving line 26 passing through the CT transformer 51 by the channel switching logic 54 and sequentially outputs it. The signal from the analog multiplexer 52 is amplified 100 times by the amplifier 53 (step 92 in FIG. 16).
reference).

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 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).

In other words, the bidirectional RAM 76 receives the write signal from the sequence control circuit 47, and the CPU unit 3 receives the write signal.
After recording the detection data regardless of the operation of 0, the address is incremented by +1 every scanning cycle (for example, every one clock) based on the clock signal output from the sequence control circuit 47 (see step 94 in FIG. 16). The capacity of the bidirectional RAM 76 is, for example, 2048 bytes.

The above operation is repeated every scanning cycle. That is, the analog multiplexer 52 of the receiving circuit 50 switches the signal from each receiving line 26 in each scanning cycle (see step 95 in FIG. 16), and when the above three operations are completed for the three receiving lines 26 ( 16 (see step 96 in FIG. 16), at that point, the analog multiplexer 44 of the transmission circuit 40 switches the transmission line 22 (see step 97 in FIG. 16), and the same processing is repeated three times to sequentially detect each detection unit 20a. The detection data is registered in a different address of the bidirectional RAM 76 in association with the detection unit 20a.

Therefore, the CPU unit 30 reads out the detection data registered in the bidirectional RAM 76,
Independently of the above-mentioned detection signal processing operation, it is possible to determine at any time and at which position (detection unit 20a) the pachinko ball was present at any time under any search condition.

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.

In the pachinko ball detecting device, the transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 are arranged corresponding to the hole 14a so that the overlapping position 20a of the transmission line 22 and the reception line 26 is the position of the safe hole 14a on the board 11. Since they are provided, the number of transmission lines 22 and reception lines 26 to be scanned is the minimum number (three in the above case) corresponding to these holes,
There is an effect that the detection speed can be significantly improved while maintaining the important detection range.

The arrangement positions and shapes of the transmission line and the reception line in the present invention are not limited to those in the above embodiment, and various modes are possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a configuration may be used in which a pair of transmission line and reception line are provided by focusing on only one safe hole.

[0048]

According to the pachinko ball detection device of the present invention, the transmission line and the reception line are arranged corresponding to the holes so that the position where they overlap is a safe hole or the like on the board. Therefore, the number of transmission lines and reception lines to be scanned is the minimum number corresponding to these holes,
There is an effect that the detection speed can be improved while maintaining the important detection range.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view conceptually showing a pachinko game machine, a transmission line, and a reception line.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a board surface of a pachinko game machine.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a detection unit (matrix sensor) of the pachinko ball detection device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a pachinko ball detection device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a transmission circuit of a matrix I / O transmission / reception board.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main part of a channel switching logic.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a receiver circuit of a matrix I / O transmitter / receiver board.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a receiving and transmitting circuit of a CPU memory control board.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of scanning of the pachinko ball detection device.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a modified example of the present invention, and is a perspective view conceptually showing a pachinko game machine, a transmission line, and a reception line.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14a ... Safe hole 17 ... Glass body (inner glass body), 22 ... Transmission line, 26 ... Reception line, 20a ... Overlapping position (detection unit)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A folded-back transmission line is attached to one side of a glass body that covers a board surface of a pachinko machine, and a folded-back reception line is superposed on the glass body so as to be electromagnetically coupled to the transmission line. Arranged, by the value of the electromagnetic characteristics of the reception line when transmitting an input signal to the transmission line, the position where the transmission line and the reception line overlap, in the pachinko ball detection device for detecting that the pachinko ball is approaching, The transmission line and the reception line are arranged corresponding to the holes so that the overlapping position thereof is the position of a hole into which a pachinko ball such as a safe hole in the board surface enters. Detection device.