JP3442724B2 - Game machine time adjustment system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a time adjustment system, and more particularly to a time adjustment system for pachinko machines, pachi-slot machines and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Attempts have been made to make a game content interesting by providing a pachinko machine with a clock function. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-155025 describes a technique for displaying an image according to morning, daytime, and night according to time. By displaying an appropriate image according to the date and the season in addition to the time, it is possible to make the game contents interesting.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-333128 discloses a technique for displaying the jackpot occurrence time. By displaying this, it is possible to easily confirm whether or not the jackpot occurrence time is during the time service, and it is possible to avoid trouble between the player and the game hall.

[0004]

According to the above-mentioned prior art, the game contents are changed according to the time information,
It is considered that the game can be smoothly advanced by clearly specifying the time. However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique,
The time cannot be adjusted (adjusted). Generally, in a pachinko machine, it is completely prohibited to externally input a signal other than a certain signal necessary for a game to prevent fraud. Therefore, even a signal for time adjustment cannot be externally input to the pachinko machine. Therefore, even if the time is adjusted at the time of factory shipment, the time obtained by the internal clock operated by the backup power source often does not match the standard time. Therefore, it has been desired to realize a technique for adjusting the time.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and its object is to provide a time adjustment system capable of adjusting the time of an internal clock of a gaming machine.

[0006]

Game machine time adjustment system according to the present invention SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION can be a time adjustment system for adjusting the time of the internal clock of the game machine, a power-on detecting means for detecting a power cycle, the It corresponds to the "hour" of the time measured by the internal clock.
Within the specified time range before and after
The detection timing by the power-on detection means is any time
Included in the range, and one time range is
Within the specified time range so that they do not overlap,
When the input means detects that the power is turned on, the internal clock
And a time adjusting means for setting the clocked time of 1 to the time of said "hour" . The internal clock is set at the time of shipment of the game machine according to the time output from another reference clock.

In short, by providing the function of adjusting the time according to the power-on timing, the time by the internal clock can be matched with the standard time.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing referred to in the following description, the same parts as those in the other drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a time adjustment system according to the present invention. Time correction of the clock IC will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the power is turned on when the time near the standard time is reached, the power-on detection circuit H33 detects a change in the power supply voltage and causes the CPU to trigger the change point as a program necessary for clock correction in advance in the CPU. Clock adjustment circuit H34 stored in ROM
Generates the interrupt pulse signal required to activate the. Further, since the generated interrupt signal is generated at a specified timing after the power supply reset signal of the CPU is generated, the clock adjustment circuit H34 is always activated. Then, the activated clock adjusting circuit H34 reads the current time from the internal time register of the timepiece IC, selects the nearest hour on a predetermined time range (for example, 30 minutes before and after), and selects the selected hour. Is forcibly written in the internal time register of the clock ICH11 to complete the correction procedure. A specific method of correcting the timepiece IC will be described later. In addition, the clock adjustment circuit H34 is activated only once when the power is turned on, but the problem of interrupt signal generation due to malfunction due to disturbance (eg static electricity, power supply noise, etc.) due to the installation environment of the gaming machine is set within the normal business hours range in advance. When the interrupt within the specified range is activated, a program for limiting the time rewriting of the clock IC is set in the clock adjusting circuit H34.
It can be solved if it is incorporated into, and more accurate correction can be realized. Then, even if the internal time register of the timepiece IC shows an operation that deviates greatly for some reason, a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds) is provided on condition that the power is turned on several times within the specified time (for example, 10 seconds). By starting an emergency processing program that is forced to be rewritten at 8:00 am, it is possible to avoid damage to at least the immediate business. Since the reference clock generated by the oscillator circuit H08 is input to the clock ICH11 regardless of power interruption,
Perform accurate time operation continuously. Further, a backup power supply H12 is also provided, and by receiving the power supply from the power supply H12, the clock ICH11 continues to perform the time counting operation even when the power is off. In addition,
The clock IC is, for example, TC852, which is a Toshiba IC.
1AP / AM may be used.

FIG. 2 shows the time setting at the time of shipment.
Will be described with reference to. Watch I at the product shipping stage
It is necessary to initialize C to the current time. Therefore, the data of the reference timepiece IC is read in advance and the data is written in the IC mounted on the product. By doing so, it is possible to set the time at the time of shipment. In FIG. 2, the time is set for the main board 1, which is the shipping game control board, using the shipping clock IC time setting board 2. A shipping clock IC 11 is mounted on the main board 1, and a CPUI
A socket 10 for C is provided.

On the other hand, a clock IC 21 for reference and a game machine control CPU 20 are mounted on the time setting board 2. The reference clock IC 21 is assumed to output time data that matches the standard time. The CPU 20 is electrically connected to the socket 10 mounted on the main board 1 via the terminal group on the back surface of the board 2. In this state, when the power is turned on, a program installed in advance in the ROM in the CPU 20 is activated, and the CPU 20 causes the contents of the reference clock IC 21 (time output from the clock IC).
Is read, and the read content is written in the shipping clock IC 11. With this operation, the time of the clock IC can be set. Further, even after the power is turned off, the power is supplied by the timepiece IC backup power supply (not shown), so that the original timepiece function is maintained after the setting.

The correction of the timepiece IC after shipment may be performed as follows. (1) The hall computer is turned on at regular intervals.
By doing so, it is possible to refer to the time closest to the time at the time of insertion by the clock IC and forcibly rewrite the time. By doing this, the time can be corrected. For example,
If the power is turned on every 8 o'clock while listening to the time signal of television or radio broadcasting, the clock IC can be rewritten at 8 o'clock. That is, the power is turned on at the timing of the time signal.

However, it is not always necessary to set the time exactly at 8 o'clock, and a slight difference in front and back may be processed by a program. In other words, if the power is turned on at 8: 5 or 7:55, it may be processed as if the power was turned on at 8:00. (2) The delay or advance time per day is calculated in advance from the accuracy error of the clock IC. And, for example, the value is 1
Since the error per day is small in terms of seconds, it should be corrected only once every first month. By doing so, it is not necessary to adjust the time every day as in the above (1), and the correction work may be performed only once a month. In this case, the work required for the correction can be reduced and the time can be adjusted accurately. In this case, it may be programmed in advance so that the time correction function works every first month.

A method of adjusting the time will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the time by the clock IC, the power supply voltage, and the standard time are shown. In the figure, the time T0 when the power supply voltage rises is the power-on time. When opening a store, set the power-on time of each store or island as standard time, and
The standard time is compared with the time by the clock IC. And
The time of the clock IC is forcibly rewritten at a time within which the difference between before and after that is within a predetermined time (specified time). For example, if the specified time is ± 30 minutes, it is 9
If the power is turned on from 30 minutes to 10:29, the time of the clock IC is set to 10:00. In other words, if the power is turned on within 30 minutes before and after the time indicated by the clock IC centering around 10:00, the time is set to 10 o'clock.
Forcibly set it to 0 minutes. A time correction processing routine for this purpose is installed in the control program.

In FIG. 3, among times T1, T2, and T3, time T0 within a specified time TA centered on time T2.
At, the power is turned on. That is, the difference TD between the standard time and the time according to the clock IC is a value within the specified time TA centered on the time T2. Therefore, the time of the clock IC is forcibly set to the time T2.
That is, the time is set to the nearest "hour" unit. The specified time TA can be freely set in units of 1 minute.

By the way, a recent pachinko machine is usually equipped with a backup power supply. From this,
Even when the power is cut off, the same time correction as described above can be performed. From the control board of each pachinko machine, a terminal with a limited function for time correction is provided to periodically (1
The clock IC in the board is corrected by sending a reference signal from the hall computer or the like every hour or every noon. However, as a measure against fraud when rewriting, a means to protect rewriting that exceeds or falls below the specified time must be used. Further, a correction switch may be simply provided on the control board.

[0016]

[Example] When the timepiece IC is mounted on the symbol control board, it becomes as shown in FIG. In the figure, on the symbol display board H01, a video display processor (VDP) H02 for controlling the liquid crystal panel, an image ROM H03 in which various images are stored, and a VRAMH05.
And a control CPUH04 for controlling the entire pattern display board
And firmware ROMH that stores the firmware
09, a reset circuit H06 for resetting a display image, an oscillation circuit H07 for VDP, a clock ICH11 for timing, an oscillation circuit H08 for clock IC, a backup power supply H12 for the clock IC, Input interface circuit H10 that interfaces with the main control board
And a power-on detection circuit H33. As shown in the figure, the time information of the clock ICH11 is
It can be read by the control CPU H04 at an arbitrary timing, and based on this time information, the control CPU can change the image display content according to the time, season, or the like.

When the clock IC is mounted on the game board,
The structure is as shown in FIG. In the figure,
The game board has a CPUH21 that controls the entire game board.
, A symbol control board interface H22, a prize ball control board interface H23, a sound control board interface H24, a lamp control board interface H25, an interface H26 for external information, solenoids, ordinary symbols, etc., and each winning opening switch Interface H27
A reset circuit H31 for the CPU, an oscillation circuit H32 for the CPU, a clock ICH28 for clocking, an oscillation circuit H29 for the clock IC, a backup power supply H30 for the clock IC, and a power-on detection circuit H33. Is provided. As shown in the figure, the time information of the clock ICH28 can be read by the control CPUH21 at any timing, and based on this time information, the CPU
The image display content can be changed according to the time of day, the season, and the like.

As described above, the clock ICHI1 (H28) mounted on the symbol display control board and the game board is powered by the backup power supply H12 (H30) even when the main power is turned off, so the clock function is stopped. By continuously executing the clock operation without the use of the power-on detection circuit and the clock adjustment circuit, the time correction function of the clock IC is provided.
Since the accurate time can be continuously compensated, the following entertaining game specifications relating to game play can be accurately and easily realized. The timepiece function is the same for other sub control boards (eg, sound control board, lamp control board, etc.).

An example of changing the game specification according to the time data output from the clock IC will be described below. A plurality of types of game specifications and a plurality of types of reference dates are stored in advance in the ROM (firm ROM in FIG. 4 or ROM in the CPU in FIG. 5) as data. By doing so, it is possible to provide a game content different from the previous specifications on the basis of the reference date. The shipping date D is shown in FIG.
Game specification S1 in the period from 0 to the reference date D1, game specification S2 in the period from the reference date D1 to the reference date D2, game specification S3 in the period from the reference date D2 to the reference date D3, and the reference date D3 or later. Shows the case of game specification S4. When changing the game contents in this way, as shown in FIG. 7B, main control data DATA1 to DATA4 corresponding to the respective game specifications S1 to S4 are prepared. Then, an area for storing data for storing each of these data is prepared in the ROM. In the figure, during the period from the shipping date D0 to the reference date D1, data regarding the game specification S1 is read from the corresponding area,
Used as main control data. Similarly, during the period from the reference date D1 to the reference date D2, data regarding the game specification S2,
Within the period from the reference date D2 to the reference date D3, game specifications S3
Data relating to the game specification S4 after the reference date D3 is read from the corresponding address area and used as main control data. Similarly to the main control data, the image data, the sound control data, and the lamp control data are also read from the address area corresponding to the game specification and used.

For example, regarding the game specification of changing the number of special symbols, the corresponding game control board data and the data of the special symbol display device are stored in the ROM of the predetermined address, and the reference is made to the data. After the day, it is possible to provide game contents with a specification in which the number of symbols is changed. At this time, if the image data is completely different from the previous one, the same product as the new product can be provided. Naturally, it is necessary to change the probability value and the like related to it. Similarly, with respect to the lamp control board and the sound control board, it is possible to deal with them by mounting their data. Although the ROM has been described as such a storage medium, other semiconductor storage media, DVDROM, CD
Any storage medium that can be stored in a storage medium such as a ROM or MO may be used.

Further, by using the time data,
It is also possible to display the time on a part of the liquid crystal screen to inform the player of the time, or to display fortunetelling information such as money fortune on a part of the symbol display device. If necessary, information such as the winning time can be sent to the management computer of the pachinko machine to leave evidence of winning. Although the pachinko machine has been described above, it is obvious that the present system can be provided for time adjustment of other gaming machines such as pachi-slot machines.

With respect to the description of the claims, the present invention can have the following aspects. (1) The time adjustment system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the internal clock is provided on a symbol control board that controls a symbol to be displayed on a display provided on the gaming machine. (2) The time adjustment system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the internal clock is provided on a game board for performing game control of a game machine.

[0023] (3) according to claim, wherein the further comprising a backup power source for supplying power to the internal clock 1 or
The time adjustment system described in 2 . (4) The time adjustment system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the power is turned on at the timing of a time signal.

[0024]

As described above, the present invention has an effect that the time by the internal clock can be made to coincide with the standard time by providing the function of adjusting the time according to the power-on timing. Further, according to the present invention, since the clocked time of the internal clock is adjusted at the power-on timing, the time information of the internal clock can be made to coincide with the standard time, and further, the game machine in the game arcade or the game machine island. Since the times can be matched, the information such as the winning time can be managed accurately.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a time adjustment system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing time adjustment at the time of shipment of a pachinko machine.

3 is a waveform diagram showing a time adjustment operation of the time adjustment system in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration when a timepiece IC is mounted on a symbol control board.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration when a watch IC is mounted on a game board.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a relationship between a shipping date and a reference date and a game specification, and FIG. 6B is a memory map showing a storage area of data for realizing each game specification.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Main board 2 Time setting board 10 socket 11 Shipping clock IC 20 CPU for game machine control 21 Clock IC

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A time adjustment system for adjusting the time of an internal clock of a game machine, wherein power-on detection means for detecting power-on and “time” of time measured by the internal clock.
It is the time range specified before and after the power supply.
The detection timing by the input detection means is in any time range
Included in and one time range overlaps another
If the power is turned on within the specified time range,
Stage detects that the power is turned on, the internal clock
A time adjustment system comprising a time adjustment means for setting the hour and time to the time of the "hour" . 2. The internal clock is set when the game machine is shipped.
Time according to the time output from another reference clock.
The time adjustment according to claim 1, wherein the time adjustment is performed every second.
system.