JP3173197B2 - Detector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a detecting device for detecting that an object having a high impedance such as a human body is in contact or non-contact with a plurality of detecting portions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In various fields, so-called touch sensors for detecting that a high-impedance object such as a human body has come into contact with a switch or a handle have been used.
For example, in a pachinko gaming device, a detecting device for detecting whether or not a player is holding a ball firing handle is built in each gaming device. As such a detection device, a configuration is known in which an oscillation circuit is configured and some of the components of the oscillation circuit are extended to a detection unit. In this circuit configuration, the oscillation of the oscillation circuit is stopped or started by a change in impedance caused by the player gripping the steering wheel, and the oscillation state of the oscillation circuit is detected.
That is, the contact state of the human body or the like is detected based on the presence or absence of oscillation.

[0003]

However, such a detection device has a problem that the number of components increases and the adjustment requires time because an oscillation circuit that continues or stops oscillation due to contact with a high-impedance object is used. Was. As an oscillation circuit, a simple high-frequency oscillation circuit L
Even if a C oscillation circuit, such as a Colpitts or Hartley oscillation circuit, is used, since a feedback circuit is provided for oscillation, the number of circuit components is large and the feedback amplification factor and impedance for maintaining the oscillation state are large. The adjustment required a lot of work.

In addition, it has been extremely difficult in practice to accurately determine whether a high impedance object such as a human body is in contact or not with a binary determination of whether or not the oscillation circuit is oscillating. In other words, the impedance of the human body varies considerably depending on changes in the humidity of the environment, the state of sweating of the human body, age, constitution, and the like, and furthermore, varies depending on the state of contact with the detection unit (such as how to grip and contact). Regardless of this, it was difficult to correctly determine contact / non-contact.

In addition, when the number of detectors increases, a plurality of oscillation circuits that are difficult to handle are required, and the above problem cannot be overlooked. Further, the environment (for example, temperature and humidity) in which each oscillation circuit is arranged is slightly different, and the impedance of an object to be detected by each oscillation circuit may be different. Extremely difficult.

The present invention solves such a problem, eliminates the need for complicated circuit adjustments, and accurately determines whether a high impedance object is in contact or non-contact with any of the plurality of detection units. The present invention has been made in order to provide a detection device capable of performing the following, and has the following configuration.

[0007]

According to a first detection device of the present invention, an object having a high impedance such as a human body is brought into contact or non-contact with any of m (where m is an arbitrary natural number) detection units. A detection device for detecting that the device is in a state,
M resonance circuits provided corresponding to the m detection units and extending circuit components up to the corresponding detection units, and turning on / off a power supply voltage of the resonance circuits at a predetermined cycle. Thereby, while oscillating the resonance circuit, resonance excitation means for varying the on / off cycle in a range including the vicinity of the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit, and a resonance excitation means for changing the on / off cycle with the change of the on / off cycle Resonance state detection means for detecting a resonance state, and determination means for determining contact / non-contact of the high impedance object with the detection unit according to the detection result, wherein the resonance excitation means, resonance state detection The gist is that the means and the determination means are incorporated in a one-chip microcomputer.

On the other hand, the second detecting device of the present invention is arranged such that an object having a high impedance such as a human body is in a contact or non-contact state with any of m (where m is an arbitrary natural number) detecting units. And a selective connection for selectively connecting the resonance circuits provided in a number smaller than the number of the detection units and the circuit components of the resonance circuit to the m detection units. Means for turning on and off the power supply voltage of the resonance circuit at a predetermined cycle to oscillate the resonance circuit and vary the on / off cycle within a range including the vicinity of the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit. An excitation means;
Resonance state detection means for detecting a resonance state of the resonance circuit in accordance with the change in the on / off cycle; and contacting the high impedance object with the detection unit in accordance with the detection result.
Determining means for determining non-contact, wherein the selective connection means, the resonance excitation means, the resonance state detecting means, and the determining means are incorporated in a one-chip microcomputer.

[0009]

In the first detecting device of the present invention having the above-described configuration, the power for resonance excitation is supplied to the m resonance circuits connected to the m detection units, and the ON / OFF power is supplied to the m resonance circuits. The off period is varied in a range including the vicinity of the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit, and contact / non-contact of a high impedance object is determined based on the resonance state. Accordingly, it is only necessary to prepare m simple resonance circuits for m detection units, and there is no need for an oscillation circuit adjusted so that oscillation is continued or stopped by contact / non-contact with the detection units.

In addition, the resonance exciting means, the resonance state detecting means and the discriminating means are incorporated in a one-chip microprocessor. Several means can be considered to realize each means using a one-chip microprocessor. For example, the resonance excitation means connects the output port of the one-chip microprocessor to the power supply line of the resonance circuit, and The resonance circuit may be oscillated by turning on / off the voltage of the output port at a predetermined cycle. As the resonance state detecting means, for example, a smoothing circuit is connected to the output of the resonance circuit, and the output of the smoothing circuit is connected to an analog input port of the one-chip microprocessor, so that the resonance state of the resonance circuit is determined. Should be read as the output voltage. The determination means stores the resonance state in one of the contact state and the non-contact state of the high-impedance object with the detection unit by converting the resonance state into data such as the resonance sharpness Q and the resonance frequency, and stores this in the other state. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the data is compared with the data in the above.

On the other hand, in the second detecting device of the present invention, while the first detecting device has m resonance circuits for m detection units, the number of resonance circuits less than m is small. A circuit is provided, and m detectors are selectively connected to the circuit by the selective connection means. As the selective connection, for example, the connection is made in a time-division manner, so that apparently m detection units can all be detected using the resonance state of the resonance circuit. Multiple detection units can be connected to one resonance circuit via a non-overlapping or non-overlapping bandpass filter, and the detection units can be discriminated in terms of frequency. It is.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to further clarify the configuration and operation of the present invention described above, a preferred embodiment of the detecting device of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a throttle game device 10 to which a detection device according to an embodiment is applied. The detection device according to the embodiment is a throttle game device 1
0 in the control circuit 40.

In general, in the throttle gaming device 10, one to three coins are held for playing a game through the coin insertion slot 12, and the throttle lever 14 is operated in the direction of the arrow. As a result, the central three drums 16, 18,
20 starts to rotate, and the player
Stop switches 22, 2 provided directly below 8, 20
When the stop switches 22 and 2 are touched,
The rotation of the drums 16, 18, 20 corresponding to 4, 26 stops. At this time, if the specific alphanumeric characters or symbols drawn on each of the drums 16, 18, and 20 are aligned at the center or obliquely to the left and right, a predetermined number of coins for each specific alphanumeric character or symbol are received in the tray 30. Paid out. The number of coins inserted from the coin insertion slot 12 is the basis for calculating the number of coins to be paid when the alphanumeric characters are aligned. In addition, the condition for aligning the alphanumeric characters of the three drums 16, 18, and 20 is determined based on the number of coins inserted. In the present embodiment, when the number of inserted coins is one, it is determined that the coin payment condition is satisfied only when the alphanumeric characters and the like are aligned at the center position (777 in the figure). It is determined that the coin payment condition is satisfied when alphanumeric characters and the like are aligned at one of the left and right diagonal positions.

As described above, in the throttle game device 10, the detection of the moment when the player touches the stop switches 22, 24, 26 is an important factor for determining the game condition. Therefore, the three detection units 42 and 4 of the detection device 40 of the present embodiment are
4, 46 are provided integrally with the stop switches 22, 24, 26, and are used for detecting contact / non-contact of the stop switch of the player.

Control circuit 40 of throttle game device 10
Has the built-in detection device of the present embodiment as described above, and has an advanced information processing function for managing the entire game such as rotation of the drums 16, 18, and 20 and the number of coins to be paid out. An electric circuit block diagram of the control circuit 40 is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the control circuit 40 is composed mainly of a one-chip microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as an MPU) 50 in which peripheral circuits are housed in one chip. In this embodiment, the MPU 50 is TM
P68HC11E9 was used. That is, MPU50
Are a core CPU 50a, a ROM 50b storing various programs to be described later, a RAM 50c for temporarily storing information, a counter / timer 50d for counting time and generating an interrupt at a required timing, and an MPU.
An input / output port (hereinafter, referred to as an I / O port) 50e for supporting input / output of various information with 50 external circuits, and selectively converts analog signals input to eight analog input ports PA1 to PA8 into digital signals. Bit A
/ D converter 50f. This MPU 50
Although all the functions of the throttle machine including the detection of the stop positions of the drums 16, 18, and 20 and the discharge of coins are controlled, functions that are not directly related to the present invention will be omitted in the following description. Illustration is also omitted.

The counter / timer 50d counts a clock frequency determined by the crystal 52 externally connected to the MPU 50, and sends a count-up signal to the CPU 50a when the count value matches the value CX set by the CPU 50a. . This signal is sent to the CPU 5
0a is treated as an interrupt signal requesting an interrupt process. Therefore, if the set value CX is set again together with other processing in the interrupt processing routine started by this interrupt request, the CPU 50a determines the clock frequency by dividing the clock frequency by the desired frequency division ratio. At intervals, a specific interrupt process can be activated and executed. In this process, if the set value CX to the counter / timer 50d is appropriately changed to change the frequency division ratio, it is easy to change the interval at which the interrupt process is started.

The four output ports PC1 to PC4 of the MPU 50 are used as phase excitation signals for each of the stepping motors 70, 72, 74 for rotating the drums 16, 18, 20. Signals indicating which motors 70, 72, 74 the signals output to output ports PC1 to PC4 correspond to are output from output ports PG1 and PG2. Therefore, the excitation timing for each excitation phase is only output from the output ports PC1 to PC4 to the driver 54, and the motors 70, 72, 7
4 can be accurately controlled.

The ports PC1 to PC4 of the MPU 50
As described above, the driver 54 provided between the stepping motors 70, 72, and 74 has the purpose of independently controlling the excitation timing of the stepping motors 70, 72, and 74, as well as the stepping motor. 7
It is also used in that it supplies enough current to drive 0,72,74. The gate circuit function of the driver 54 is controlled by the gate signals from the output ports PG1 and PG2 of the MPU 50.
The excitation of 72 and 74 is turned on / off independently. Therefore,
The rotation of the drums 16, 18, 20 can be controlled independently.

From another output port PS of the MPU 50,
By the processing of the MPU 50, a rectangular wave having a predetermined period is output. In the embodiment, the ports PS1 to PS3 have:
A rectangular wave-sine wave conversion circuit (hereinafter, referred to as a waveform conversion circuit) 56 for converting a rectangular wave into a sine wave is connected. This is for simplifying the resonance condition in the parallel resonance circuit 60 described later. However, if the influence of the high frequency component superimposed on the rectangular wave is ignored, the configuration is unnecessary even if the waveform conversion circuit 56 is not provided. can do. In order to obtain a sine wave with little distortion, the waveform conversion circuit 56 is constituted by an active band-pass filter for extracting only a fundamental wave of a square wave, and most simply, a level shift circuit for shifting the level of the square wave and a simple integration circuit It consists of. In addition, MPU5
A configuration in which a pseudo sine wave is output using a digital-analog converter configured by connecting a plurality of output ports of 0 to a resistance network, or a sine wave is output in the same manner using an MPU 50 that directly supports analog output It is also acceptable to adopt a configuration or the like.

The sine wave signal output from the waveform conversion circuit 56 is input to a band-pass filter 58 having three kinds of continuous bands (1 #, 2 #, 3 #). Be distributed. Such a bandpass filter 58 is configured by an active filter using an active element such as an operational amplifier alone or by combining three active filters. The sine wave signal divided into three in this manner is a parallel resonance circuit 60a, 60b of a coil L and a capacitor C,
60c, the resonance current i of each parallel resonance circuit 60 is detected at three ports of the 8-input current detection circuit 62, and the voltage of each of the A / D converters 50f built in the MPU 50 is detected as a voltage signal. Input to analog input ports PA1 to PA3.

Here, the three parallel resonance circuits 60a, 60
Each of the resonance frequencies b and 60c and the three bands output by the band-pass filter 58 maintain the relationship as shown in FIG. That is, the resonance frequencies fa, fb, and fc of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c are located substantially at the center of the bandwidths 1 #, 2 #, and 3 #, and are designed with sufficient frequency intervals so as not to interfere with each other. .

Each of the stop switches 22, 24,
The detection units 42, 44, 46 provided corresponding to the
The three parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c are electrically connected. Therefore, when the player touches the stop switches 22, 24, 26 to request the rotation of the drums 16, 18, 20 to stop, as shown in FIG. 2, the impedance Z presented by the player is detected by the detecting units 42, 44, 46, are connected in parallel to the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c, respectively.
This affects the resonance state of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c.

The throttle game apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment having the above-described structure operates as follows. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are flowcharts showing programs stored in the ROM 50b of the MPU 50. FIG. 4 shows a detection program for detecting the contact of the player with the stop switches 22, 24, and 26. FIG.
Counter executed at 0d count-up interrupt
This shows a timer interrupt program. Since these two programs are processed in close relation to each other, the operation of the throttle gaming device 10 will be described with reference to both flowcharts.

First, when power is supplied to the throttle game device 10, the MPU 50 stores a detection program in the ROM 50.
b and performs the initial processing (step 10
0). Here, the initial processing means that after performing a hard check including a check of the RAM 50c,
This is a process for setting an initial value to the counter / timer 50d and the flag F used in the timer interrupt program. When the initial processing (Step 100) is completed, the MPU 50 shifts to the storage processing (Step 110) of the reference Qn (n represents the suffixes a, b, and c).

Here, the reference Qn is stored (step 11).
0) is a process of storing the criterion for determining the sharpness Qa to Qc of the resonance of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c including the detection units 42, 44, and 46. The reference sharpness Qn may be given as a predetermined value in advance, or if it is assumed that the player does not touch the stop switches 22, 24, and 26 immediately after power-on, the respective parallel resonance circuits 60 immediately after power-on.
The power supply frequency to a to 60c may be scanned and learned. Hereinafter, the MPU 50 executes the processing of step 120 and subsequent steps. The CPU 50a receives the interrupt signal from the counter / timer 50d in which the set value CX has been set by the initial processing, and immediately after storing the reference Qn,
The processing of the counter / timer interrupt program shown in (1) is repeatedly executed at predetermined intervals. Hereinafter, the counter / timer interrupt processing routine shown in FIG. 5 will be described.

When this interrupt processing routine is started, CP
The U50a determines whether or not the output state of the output port PS is at the high level "H" (Step 200). If the output is already "H", it changes this to the low level "L" (Step 210). If the output is "L", it is changed to "H" (step 220). Thereafter, the state of the flag F indicating the frequency increase / decrease instruction is confirmed (step 2).
30) If the flag F is "H", the counter timer 5
The set value CX of 0d is incremented (step 24)
0), if the flag F is "L", the set value CX is decremented (step 250).

By the increment or decrement of the set value of the counter / timer 50d, the period during which the output of the output port PS changes from "H" to "L" and from "L" to "H" gradually increases or decreases. Become. In other words, the cycle T of the rectangular wave output from the output port PS is gradually increased or shortened by this processing, and the flag F is used as a switch for switching the increase or decrease of the cycle T.

When the set value CX of the counter / timer 50d has been incremented, it is determined whether or not the value has exceeded the upper limit value CH (step 260).
If the above is the case, it is determined that the increase in the cycle has reached the limit, and the flag F is set to “L” (step 270),
One process of this processing program ends. Similarly, when the set value CX of the counter / timer 50d is decremented, it is determined whether or not the value has become equal to or less than the lower limit value CL (step 280). It is set to "H" (step 29) and the program ends.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a rectangular wave signal output from the output port PS of the MPU 50 by this counter / timer interrupt program, and a sine wave signal obtained from the waveform conversion circuit 56 for inputting the rectangular wave signal. FIG. As can be easily understood from this figure, the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60
The frequency f of the AC signal applied to 0c gradually increases or decreases. In this embodiment, the resonance frequency fa of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c is about 8.0 [KHz], and fb is 1
2.0 [KHz], and fc is designed to be 16.0 [KHz]. The set value CX is set so that the frequency of the signal output from the output port PS scans so as to cover the entire resonance frequency. Upper limit value CH and lower limit value CL
Is determined, and in the embodiment, about 6 [KHz] to about 18 [K
[Hz].

When the reference Qn is learned as the storage process (step 110) of the reference Qn shown in FIG. 4, the counter / timer interrupt program (FIG. 5) scans the frequency immediately after the power is turned on. Frequency band 6 ~
The 18 [KHz] AC signal is supplied to the parallel resonance circuits 60a-60.
c, and read the output value in from the current detection circuit 62 at each frequency to detect the sharpness Qn of resonance of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c, and store this. However, in this case, it is assumed that the player does not hold the stop switches 22, 24, and 26. By storing the reference Qn (step 110), the three resonance frequency characteristics indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 3 are recognized as learning or preset frequency characteristics, and the RAM 50c is used as the reference Qn.
Is stored in a predetermined area.

When the initial state of the throttle game apparatus 10 is determined by the initial processing (step 100) and the storage processing of the reference Qn (step 110), the control circuit 40
Enters a stationary process (steps 120 to 180), and repeatedly executes the stationary process until the power is turned off. Needless to say again, the counter / timer interrupt program shown in FIG. 5 is repeatedly executed at the timing set by the CPU 50a even during the repetition period of the steady processing.

At the beginning of the regular processing, the counter / timer 5
The current set value CX of 0d and the value of the flag F are input (step 120), and the output values ia, ib, ic of the current detection circuit 62 at that time (hereinafter, these three values are represented by in) are represented. It is stored (step 130). By this processing, the frequency f value of the AC signal applied to the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c by execution of the counter / timer interrupt program, the frequency scan state (gradual increase or decrease), and the resonance state of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c are changed. Can be entered.

Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the flag F has been inverted from the previous state (step 140). If it has not been inverted yet, the processing of steps 120 to 140 is repeatedly executed. That is, the parallel resonance circuit 60
The frequency of the AC signal applied to each of the a to c is 6 [KH
Steps 120 to 140 are repeatedly executed until one scan is completed in the range from [z] to 18 [KHz]. When this one frequency scan is completed, the flag F is inverted (step 270 or 290 in FIG. 5). When this is determined by the determination processing of step 140, the output value obtained by the one frequency scan is determined. The current resonance sharpness Q1, Q2, Q3 of each of the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c is calculated based on the data in (see the dashed line in FIG. 3), and the data obtained so far for the next processing is deleted. (Step 150).

Then, in the next step 160, it is determined whether or not the current resonance sharpness Q1 to Q3 calculated in step 150 is close to the reference Qa to Qc stored in step 110. to decide. Here, the determination of whether or not approximation is made refers to the resonance frequency fn as shown in FIG.
Width Δf, maximum impedance difference ΔZ at the resonance frequency, frequency width f at which the maximum impedance is と
It is to judge the change of the resonance state by using the difference of z alone or by appropriately combining these information.

In step 160, the reference values Qa to Qc
When any one of the current Q1 to Q3 is not approximated, that is, when the player
4 or 26, the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60
When it is determined that any of the resonance states 60c greatly changes, the excitation signal gates of the stepping motors 70, 72, 74 corresponding to the stop switches 22, 24, 26 whose resonance states have changed from the output port PG are closed. For the corresponding drums 16, 18, 2
The rotation drive of 0 is stopped, and the monitor 1 process is executed (step 170). The monitor 1 process is defined as the reference Qa
ＱQc and the current deviation amount of Q1 学習 Q3 are learned and stored, the degree of influence of the player's unique impedance Z on the parallel resonance circuits 60a〜60c is measured, and the accuracy of the approximation judgment performed in step 160 is determined. It refers to processing to improve. It should be noted that although the drums 16, 18, and 20 are stopped upon determining that the stop switches 22, 24, and 26 have been operated, and whether or not the symbols match, the determination is made in the main program. Illustration and explanation of those processes are omitted.

On the other hand, when it is determined by the approximation determination processing in step 160 that the references Qa to Qc and the current Q1 to Q3 are similar, the processing in step 180 is performed instead of the step 170. That is, each stepping motor 7 is output without outputting a gate signal from the output port PG.
The rotation drive of 0, 72, and 74 is continued, and the monitor 2 process is executed. The monitor 2 processing referred to here is a step 160
The subtle changes in the reference Qn due to environmental changes such as humidity and temperature or changes over time are stored based on the amounts of deviation between the references Qa to Qc and the current Q1 to Q3 calculated in step 160.
Means to improve the detection accuracy by updating the value of the reference Qn used in the processing.

Note that the stop switches 22, 24, and
If it is only necessary to determine whether or not the player has touched 26,
These monitor 1 processing and monitor 2 processing need not always be performed.

According to the detection apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained. In order to detect that the player has touched any of the stop switches 22, 24, 26, in this embodiment, the coil L and the capacitor C are used.
The parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60 having a simple circuit configuration
c is adopted. For this reason, the constituent circuit elements of the entire detection device are largely omitted, and the detection device can be configured to be small and inexpensive. Further, it is not necessary to perform any circuit adjustment such as the amplification factor and the feedback phase as in the conventional oscillation circuit, which simplifies the manufacturing process and enables mass production of products with stable quality. These advantages become more pronounced as the number of switches to be detected increases. Further, in this embodiment, the contact / non-contact
Detected by PU50. Therefore, even if the number of stop switches increases or decreases, it can be dealt with by adding or deleting a small amount of hardware.

When the player operates the stop switches 22 and 2
4, 26 are determined based on the criteria Qa to Q
The change state between c and the current Q1 to Q3 is represented by the deviation width Δf of the resonance frequency fQ, the difference ΔZ of the maximum impedance at the resonance frequency, and the frequency width fz at which the maximum impedance becomes １ ／.
The difference is determined singly or by combining these pieces of information. Therefore, the accuracy of the determination is significantly improved as compared with the conventional binary determination of whether the oscillation circuit is oscillating.

Moreover, the output power from the output port PS is divided into three by the band-pass filter 58 in accordance with the output frequency, and only one resonance circuit 60a to 60c is resonantly excited at any time. Yes, a small amount of power is sufficient. For this reason, as shown in FIG.
It can be easily configured.

Further, after such a high-precision determination is made, the monitor 1 or monitor 2 process is executed to learn or update the impedance information unique to each player and the situation where the detecting device is placed, and It is possible to adapt to various changes so that the judgment accuracy does not decrease.

The embodiment described above is an example in which the output from the output port PS is distributed based on the frequency. In addition, as a configuration that can be easily analogized, a configuration in which an output port PS is prepared for each detection unit can be considered. For example, as shown in FIG.
1, PS2, and PS3, these outputs are connected to waveform conversion circuits 56, 57, and 59, and each output is connected to the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c. In this case, the state of the output ports PS1 to PS3 is turned on / off simultaneously or independently, and the frequency is set to 10 to 14
Scanning is performed in the range 2 # of [KHz], and contact / non-contact of a high-impedance object can be detected from a change in each resonance state.

In addition, the output from the output port PS can be time-divided in accordance with the number of detection units and supplied to the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c at predetermined time intervals. The configuration of such a time-division system is one of design changes that can be easily made by those skilled in the art, and employs a known switching circuit that changes the output destination at regular intervals in place of the bandpass filter 58. I suffice. When a time division system is constructed in this manner, each parallel resonance circuit 6
The resonance frequencies fQ of 0a to 60c need not be different from each other, and may be substantially the same. That is, a single resonance frequency fQ
Is output from the output port PS, the signal is time-divided by the switching circuit and supplied to each of the resonance circuits 60a to 60c, so that the time required for one scan scan is reduced. This is because the process of determining the resonance state is sped up. A switching circuit such as an analog switch is also interposed between the current detection circuit 62 and the parallel resonance circuit 60 so that the current detection circuit 6
It is also possible to reduce the number of twos.

In the above-described embodiments and modified examples, the parallel resonance circuits are prepared by the number of the detection units, but the switching circuit for time division is composed of one parallel resonance circuit 60 and the plurality of detection units 42 and 4.
4 and 46, the parallel resonance circuit 60 can be reduced. Therefore, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced. In this case, only one current detection circuit 62 is required.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be carried out in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention. is there. For example, in this embodiment, the contact / non-contact state to the stop switches 22, 24, and 26 is detected by the LC parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c. Instead, a CR resonance circuit or a series resonance circuit is used. Is also good. Further, instead of detecting the current in flowing through the resonance circuit in order to detect the resonance state of the resonance circuit, the impedance Z of the resonance circuit is detected using a bridge circuit or the like, or the voltage V and the current i are not detected. It is embodied in various modes such as detecting the phase difference Θ. The determination of the deviation amount of the resonance state is not limited to parameters such as the deviation amount Δf of the resonance frequency fQ shown in the present embodiment.
Needless to say, it may be used for detecting contact / non-contact of a high impedance object other than the human body.

In this embodiment, the circuit constants are designed so that the parallel resonance circuits 60a to 60c exhibit the sharpest resonance state when the player is not in contact with the stop switches 22, 24 and 26. However, it may be designed so that the sharpest resonance state is obtained when a general player is in contact with the stop switches 22, 24, 26. Further, since it is sufficient to detect a change in the resonance state, it is not always necessary to design the circuit constant so as to show the sharpest resonance state in either contact or non-contact.

Since the one-chip microcomputer 50 generally has 4 to 16 input / output ports, it is easy to increase the number of switches to be detected by using unused input / output ports. is there. 8 output ports
In this case, if the frequency band is divided into three frequency bands as in the present embodiment, it is possible to detect the operation of 8 × 3 = 24 switches. These switches are assigned to the frame of the gaming machine, internal mechanisms, and the like, and it is determined that the impedance Z at a location that the player should not touch is largely changed. , Drum 16, 1
It is also possible to take measures such as prohibiting rotation of 8, 20.

In the embodiment, the detection device is used for judging whether the stop switch of the throttle game device is in contact or non-contact. However, the detection device is not limited to the throttle game device, and can detect a high impedance object such as a human body. It can be used for any application that detects contact with a part. For example, the present invention can be applied to a wide range of applications, such as a device for detecting operation of a switch of a vending machine, a device for detecting contact of a human body in a security facility or the like, or a touch switch having no moving parts. Even in such applications, the detection device of the present invention has effects such as miniaturization, high detection accuracy, and low cost.

[0050]

As described above, according to the detection apparatus of the present invention, by using a plurality of resonance circuits having a simple configuration, it is possible to accurately contact / non-contact a high impedance object such as a human body at a plurality of locations. It is possible to make a judgment. Further, as a result of using the resonance circuit, labor such as complicated circuit adjustment can be saved.

Further, the detecting device of the present invention can be realized as a device for detecting on / off of a plurality of switches. However, detection of contact with a high-impedance object has a sufficient margin in view of the capability of the microcomputer. Therefore, the configuration for causing the microcomputer to execute other processing together with the detection processing is also easy. In particular, if a process closely related to detection is executed, the merit is great. For example, it is also possible to use the detection device of the present invention as a device for detecting an operation of a key on a keyboard, and at the same time, apply a configuration in which processing such as kana-kanji conversion is performed by a microcomputer. Further, as shown in the embodiment, it is also useful to adopt a configuration in which the detection of the operation of the switch or the steering wheel and the game processing are both performed in the throttle game device or the pachinko game device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a throttle game device provided with a detection device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit of the throttle game device provided with the detection device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a relationship between a scan frequency of an MPU 50 and a resonance frequency of a resonance circuit 60 and various parameters for determining a resonance state shift.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a detection program executed by the MPU 50.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a counter / timer interrupt program.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a frequency scan executed by the counter / timer interrupt program.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Throttle game device 12 ... Coin slot 14 ... Throttle lever 16, 18, 20 ... Drum 22, 24, 26 ... Stop switch 30 ... Receiving tray 40 ... Detector 42, 44, 46 ... Detector 50 ... Microcomputer (MPU ) 50a CPU 50b ROM 50c RAM 50d Timer 50f A / D converter 52 Crystal 54 Driver 56 Waveform conversion circuit 58 Bandpass filter 60 Parallel resonance circuit 60a, 60b, 60c Parallel resonance circuit 62 ... Current detection circuit 70,72,74 ... Stepping motor

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A detection device for detecting that one of m (where m is an arbitrary natural number) detection units is in contact or non-contact with an object having high impedance such as a human body, m resonant circuits provided corresponding to each of the m detectors and extending circuit components to the corresponding detectors, and turning on / off a power supply voltage of the resonant circuits at a predetermined cycle. Means for oscillating the resonance circuit and varying the on / off cycle within a range including the vicinity of the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit; and resonance of the resonance circuit with a change in the on / off cycle. Resonance state detection means for detecting a state, and determination means for determining contact / non-contact of the high impedance object with the detection unit according to the detection result; the resonance excitation means and the resonance state detection means , Another means detecting device realized by one-chip microcomputer. 2. A detection device for detecting that one of m (where m is an arbitrary natural number) detection units is in contact or non-contact with an object having high impedance such as a human body, A number of resonance circuits prepared less than the number of the detection units; a selection connection means for extending circuit components of the resonance circuit to selectively connect to the m detection units; and a power supply voltage of the resonance circuit. A resonance excitation unit that oscillates the resonance circuit by turning on and off at a predetermined cycle, and varies the on / off cycle within a range including the vicinity of the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit; Resonance state detection means for detecting a resonance state of the resonance circuit due to a change; anddetermination means for determining contact / non-contact of the high impedance object with respect to the detection unit according to the detection result, Selective connection A detection device in which the connection means, the resonance excitation means, the resonance state detection means, and the determination means are realized by a one-chip microcomputer.