JPS63245147A - Repeater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the transmission quality by providing the 1st signal conversion means converting a transmission signal given from a transmission line into a digital data and the 2nd signal converting means converting the digital data after error correction into a transmission signal having a prescribed level and sending it to the transmission line so as to eliminate an undesired component in the signal. CONSTITUTION:A transmission signal coming from a transmission line (incoming or outgoing line) 3 is converted into a signal having a level to be processed in a repeater 16 by a signal conversion circuit 18, given to a communication controller 19, where it is converted into a data to be processed in a CPU 20. For example, the parallel/serial conversion is executed. The CPU 20 detects an error in the coming data according to the program stored in a ROM 21 while using a RAM 22 and corrects its error if any error exists. The CPU 20 gives the data subject to error correction to the communication controller 23, where serial/parallel conversion is attained, and a signal conversion circuit 24 generates an output signal whose level is increased and the signal is sent to a transmission line 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a relay device, and can be applied to, for example, a game machine data collection system.

[Prior Art] For example, in a slot machine, data such as how many coins are stored inside the machine are conventionally known by an attendant by visually checking the value of a coin counter installed in the machine, and by a manager. Reported to the administrator. Therefore, although the administrator can grasp the data of each individual machine, he cannot immediately grasp the total number of coins for all slot machines. Also,
Because staff members visit the locations where machines are installed to obtain data, there is a time lag between the report and the time the data is obtained, making it impossible to collect accurate data.

Therefore, a system has been proposed in which a plurality of slot machines are connected in a star shape to a common control station, and the control station collects data in real time. However, such a system has the disadvantage that each slot machine and the control station must be connected separately, making the wiring complicated. In fact, there are 15 slot machines to collect.
There are as many as 000 systems, and the complexity of wiring is a significant problem.

In addition, the installation location of the slot machine is often changed, and even in such cases, there is a drawback that it is not easy to deal with the situation.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As a system to solve this drawback, a plurality of slot machines are further connected to a common transmission path, and a control station collects data about each slot machine by polling. It is possible that

However, there are many cases (for example, 15
If an attempt is made to connect two game machine units (00) to transmit a signal, the signal level may drop and the transmission may not be carried out properly. Therefore, in such a common transmission path system, one relay device is interposed for each predetermined number of game machine units to increase the signal level.

However, conventional relay devices that increase the signal level simply perform amplification processing, and therefore also amplify noise contained in the signal before transmitting it. In the case of a game machine data collection system, a large amount of common transmission lines are installed, and there is a great possibility of noise being mixed in, so it is desirable to remove noise components from the transmission lines as well. From this point of view, it can be said that simply applying a conventional relay device to the system is insufficient.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and is a relay device that can improve the transmission quality by removing unnecessary components contained in the signal when relaying the transmission signal. This is what we are trying to provide.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve the problem, the present invention provides a first signal conversion means for converting a transmission signal given from a transmission path into digital data, and a first signal conversion means for converting a transmission signal given from a transmission path into digital data, and a first signal conversion means for converting a transmission signal given from a transmission path into digital data. and a second signal conversion means that converts the error-corrected digital data into a transmission signal having a predetermined level and outputs it to the transmission path.

After the incoming transmission signal is converted into digital data by the first signal conversion means, the error detection and correction means performs error detection and correction, and the second signal conversion means converts the incoming transmission signal into a transmission signal of a predetermined level. Make sure to output it.

As a result, it is possible not only to simply shape the waveform, but also to correct data errors, thereby improving the quality of the transmitted signal.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a slot machine data collection system will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, each slot machine 1a, lb.

...1n is the interface unit 2a, respectively.
, 2b, ---2n to a common data transmission line 3 of, for example, R3-485 specifications. This transmission line 3
is connected to the control computer 6 via a signal converter 4 that mutually converts data of the R8-485 specification and data of the R3-232C specification, and further via a transmission path of the R3-232C specification.

In the control computer 6, the CPU (cen
tral processing unit) 7 reads the ROM (read
RAM (random access)
ss memory) 9 as necessary to collect data about the slot machines 1a-1n by polling the interface units 2a-2n or 8.

Here, the interface units 2a to 2n control the transmission and reception of data to and from the control computer 6, and also convert parallel data from the slot machines 1a to 1n into serial data and transmit it to the control computer 6 side. be.

The transmitted data includes, for example, the number of coins inserted, the number of coins paid, the number of coins stored in the coin storage box and not eligible for payment, and the number of coins that are not eligible for payment.
occurrence of s), occurrence of one-land pa due to lack of payout coins for winning, number of game starts, occurrence of malfunction (Tilts), occurrence of machine door being open, coin storage box door being open. occurrence etc.

The CPU 7 displays the data collected in this way on the display device 11, totals the data on a daily basis, starts the floppy disk drive 12, and stores the data on the floppy disk. Further, in response to an operation on the operation unit 10, interrupt processing is executed to start the printer device 13 and print out.

This embodiment also includes monitoring computers 14a and 14b. In the case of a slot machine, as mentioned above, when a jackpot occurs or there is a shortage of coins to be paid, the staff must go to the location where the slot machine is installed. That lick,
It is desirable to display the current situation not only in the place where the manager is located, but also in the place where there are staff who directly deal with customers.
4a and 14b are provided, and the data sent via the transmission path 3 is given to the monitoring computers 14a and 1.4b via signal converters 15a and 15b for display.

In addition to the above configuration, this embodiment is provided with a relay device 16 whose detailed configuration is shown in FIG.

In practice, when interface units of 100 or more slot machines are connected to the transmission line 3, the waveform of the transmission signal from the interface unit far from the control computer 6 will be distorted when it reaches the control computer 6, and the waveform will be inaccurate. There may also be cases where data is not transmitted. Therefore, when there are many target slot machines, a relay device 16 is provided for each predetermined number of slot machines to shape the waveform and retransmit it.

Note that a terminating resistor 17 is connected to the terminal end of the transmission line 3.

In Figure 1, transmission line (uplink or downlink) 3
The transmission signal that has arrived from is converted by the signal conversion circuit 18 into a signal at a level that can be processed within the relay device 16 , and then given to the communication control device 19 where it is converted into data that can be processed by the CPU 20 . For example, a parallel/serial conversion operation is performed. The CPU 20 follows a program stored in the ROM 21 and uses the RAM 22 to detect errors in incoming data, and corrects the errors if they occur. The CPU 20 supplies the error-corrected data to the communication control device 23 for serial/parallel conversion, causes the signal conversion circuit 24 to form an output signal with an increased level, and sends it to the transmission line 3.

In the above configuration, the CPU 7 in the control computer 6 executes the collection processing program at predetermined time intervals. At this time, each of the slot machines 1a to 1n is called by polling, and data is transferred from the interface units 2a to 2n to the control computer 6. In this way, the transferred data is aggregated on a daily basis, and management data indicating history from the past is created.

In this data transfer, the relay device 16 converts the incoming transmission signal into data, performs error detection and correction processing, and after correcting the error, amplifies it to a predetermined level and outputs it to the transmission line 3 again.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, when transferring data, the relay device 16 not only increases the signal level;
Since error correction is also executed and output, data can be transmitted to the control computer 6 in a good manner.
Processing such as accurate aggregation can be executed.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the application to the game machine data collection system was shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to other data transmission systems as necessary.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, after converting a transmission signal into data, error correction is performed to form a transmission signal to be retransmitted. , it is possible to obtain a relay device that can remove unnecessary components and improve the quality of transmission signals.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a relay device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a game machine data collection system to which the relay device is applied.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a first signal conversion means for converting a transmission signal provided from a transmission path into digital data; an error detection and correction means for detecting and correcting errors in the converted digital data; and a second signal converting means for converting the signal into a transmission signal having a signal and outputting the signal to the transmission path.