Game media processor

Abstract

A game media processor of the present invention includes: a card insertion slot, into which a card is inserted; a shutter mechanism driven to make the card insertion slot closable; a card housing portion which allows the card to be housed therein; a carriage path, along which the card moves from the card insertion slot to the card housing portion; a card carriage mechanism which carries the card; and a control means for controlling the operations of the card carriage mechanism, the shutter mechanism including an oscillating member oscillatably supported by a shaft, the oscillating member having a closing portion formed on one end side configured to make the card insertion slot closable and a projecting / withdrawing portion formed on the other end configured to be able to project and withdraw from the carriage path, the closing portion being configured to close the card insertion slot by oscillation of the oscillation member caused upon engagement of the card with the projecting / withdrawing portion, wherein the controlling means controls the operations of the card carriage mechanism, on condition that a predetermined signal is received, so as to carry the card housed in the card housing portion to a position where the card is in engagement with the projecting / withdrawing portion.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims benefit of priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-049861 filed on Feb. 28, 2007. The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a game media processor for processing game media that is used in playing with various gaming machines such as pachinko gaming machines and slot machines.[0004]2. Discussion of the Background[0005]In the gaming machine as thus described, typically, a bill and a card-shaped recording medium such as a prepaid card and an IC card (hereinafter referred to as card) are used to play a game. These are game media for use in playing what is called a game. A game is executed by insertion of the game media into a game media processor adjacent to the gaming machine, or a game is executed by using secondary game media which are on loan, such as medals ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]In the game media processor having the above-mentioned configuration, when a bill is inserted into a bill processing unit, due to generation of a insertion detection signal for that bill, the card insertion slot comes into the closed state as described above to block mistaken insertion of an additional card, thereby reliably preventing occurrence of an error or the like associated with insertion of the bill in a typical information communication processing on the card.

[0017]In the game media processor having the above-mentioned configuration, the card is carried to the projecting / withdrawing portion at a stage where the bill is inserted, and subsequently, when the inserted bill is real, the card is carried to a position where communication of information on the card can be controlled. Since the card is not carried to the above-mentioned position where the communication can be controlled at the time of insertion of the bill, it is possible, for example, to save the carriage distance and time for returning the card to the card housing portion after the bill has been determined as not real.

[0019]According to the game media processor having the above-mentioned configuration, for example, it is possible to connect the game media processor to a gaming machine in which a game is actually played or connect the processor to a higher-level apparatus such as a host computer that manage the game arcade. In such a case, when, for example, a trouble such as a breakdown of the gaming machine occurs, since the card insertion slot is closed when an error signal is received from the higher-level apparatus, it is possible to reliably prevent occurrence of a new trouble associated with insertion of a card.

[0020]According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a game media processor capable of driving the shutter member without using a special driving mechanism.

Problems solved by technology

However, when the card insertion slot is intended to be closed while, for example, a bill is under processing or an error state is caused by a problem with a higher-level apparatus (gaming machine, etc.), each of the shutter members disclosed in JP-A 2005-296255 and JP-A 2004-152240 separately requires a drive mechanism for driving the shutter member.

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