JPH11313977A - Prize control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control reliably counterfeiting or abuse by providing an eternal magnet that polarizes a magnetic plate embedded in a prize to a prescribed polarity, near the prize dispensation opening of a prize dispenser and providing a magnetic sensor that detects the polarized state of the magnetic plate and discriminates a true prize. SOLUTION: A card-from prize 1 provided to a customer at a pachinko parlor, has a resin cover 3 in a manner of covering the top face of the body 2 formed into a rectangle, and contains a prize identification plate 4 and a magnetic plate 5 embedded inside. The magnetic plate 5 used is made of a magnet rubber having a prescribed thickness that can be polarized vertically (in the width direction), and is magnetized to prescribed polarity by an eternal magnet provided near the prize dispensation opening of the prize dispenser. As for the card-form prize 1 incorporating a polarized magnetic plate, the polarized state of its magnetic plate is detected by the magnetic sensor provided in the prize discrimination device, and from the result of detection, it is decided whether the prize is true or false.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prize management system, and more particularly, to a prize dispensing apparatus for paying out desired prizes one by one from a prize magazine storing a large number of prizes, and whether or not the prize is authentic. The present invention relates to a prize management system including a prize discriminating device for judging whether or not a prize is determined.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, as a prize provided to a customer in a pachinko parlor, a card in the form of a credit card is used. In this type of card-like prize, a magnetic stripe similar to a credit card is provided on the surface of the prize, and various information is written on the magnetic stripe by a magnetic recording device, and the written information is read by a reader. Thereby, forgery or unauthorized use of the card-like prize is prevented. Also, instead of providing such a magnetic stripe portion, I
There is also known a device in which a C chip is embedded to perform a similar function.

[0003]

However, in the conventional system using a card-like prize having a magnetic stripe portion or an IC chip burying portion, the production of the prize itself is expensive and the magnetic stripe portion or the like is expensive. There is a problem that an expensive and large-scale reader is required to read the written information. Also, in order to reliably prevent the unauthorized use of the prize, it is necessary to rewrite the information recorded on the magnetic stripe portion or the like, but in the case of this type of card-like prize, it is necessary to easily rewrite the information. However, there is a problem that an expensive and large-scale information recording device is required for the rewriting. Further, in the case of the magnetic stripe portion, there is a limit that the number of rewrites is about 1000 times, and since it is determined from the appearance that the medium is an information recording medium, there is a problem that a lot of fraud occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a prize management system capable of reliably preventing forgery or unauthorized use with a simple and compact structure. It is the purpose.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a prize management system according to the present invention provides a prize payout for paying out desired prizes one by one from a prize magazine storing a large number of prizes. A prize management system comprising a device and a prize determining device for determining whether or not the prize is genuine, wherein the prize dispensing device is a permanent prize for magnetizing a magnetic plate embedded in the prize to a predetermined polarity. A magnet is provided near the prize payout opening, and the prize discriminating apparatus includes a magnetic sensor for discriminating a genuine prize by detecting a magnetized state of the magnetic plate.

In the present invention, when desired prizes are dispensed one by one from the payout port of the prize dispensing apparatus, a magnetic plate embedded in the prize is magnetized to a predetermined polarity by a permanent magnet, and the authenticity of the magnetic plate is adjusted. When a prize having a magnetized magnetic plate is inserted into the prize discriminating apparatus, the magnetic sensor of the prize discriminating apparatus uses a magnetic sensor to determine the state of the magnetization polarity and magnetization strength (hereinafter, referred to as a magnetized state). ) Is detected, it is determined that the inserted prize is a genuine prize. On the other hand, in the case of a prize not genuinely magnetized on the magnetic plate or a prize without the magnetic plate itself,
Since an error is displayed when the prize is determined by the prize determination device, the genuine prize can be easily distinguished from the unauthorized prize. According to the present invention, with a simple and compact configuration in which a magnetic plate is buried on the prize side, a permanent magnet is provided in the prize payout device, and a magnetic sensor is provided in the prize discriminating device. Unauthorized use can be reliably prevented. In addition, since the magnetization of the magnetic plate by the permanent magnet and the detection of the magnetized state by the magnetic sensor can be performed in a non-contact manner, the effect that the durability of the prize itself is improved is also achieved.

In the present invention, the prize discriminating apparatus includes:
It is preferable that a shape identification sensor is provided for detecting the shape of the prize identification plate embedded in the prize to determine the type of the prize. With this shape identification sensor, it is also possible to identify the type of prize inserted into the prize discriminating apparatus, and the convenience in reusing the prize is further improved.

It is preferable that the prize discriminating apparatus is provided with a permanent magnet for returning the polarity of the magnetized magnetic plate to an initial state. By providing such a permanent magnet, the magnetized state of the magnetic plate in the used prize can be reset and easily returned to the initial state, and the convenience when the prize is reused is further improved.

Further, the prize discriminating device is provided with a distributing means for distributing a genuine prize determined by the magnetic sensor and an unauthorized prize, and allocating the genuine prize for each scene type determined by the shape identification sensor. Is preferred. By providing such a sorting means, it is possible to sort the prize inserted into the prize discriminating device into a fraudulent prize and a genuine prize, and to further divide the genuine prize by each type of prize. There is an effect that prizes can be easily classified by a single device.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a specific embodiment of a prize management system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

This embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a system for managing premiums provided to customers in pachinko parlors. First, the structure of a card-like premium used in the present embodiment will be described with reference to a schematic exploded perspective view shown in FIG.

The prize 1 of this embodiment has a resin main body 2 having a concave upper surface center portion, and a resin main body 2 adhered to an edge of the main body 2 so as to cover the upper surface of the main body 2. A cover 3 is provided, and a premium identification plate 4, a magnetic plate 5, decorative parts (not shown) and the like are embedded in recesses of the main body 2.

The prize identification plate 4 has a shape in which a part of a stainless steel rectangular thin plate is cut out, and the position of the cutout portion is made different for each view type so that identification by view type can be performed. Have been. In the case of this embodiment, the rectangular thin plate is divided into three equal parts in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, and divided into nine sections, and any one of these nine sections is cut out. In the example of FIG. 1, notches 4 a and 4 b are formed in two sections of the rectangular thin plate at the upper center and the lower left corner, respectively. The prize identification plate 4 is configured so that the location of the cutouts 4a and 4b is detected by a proximity sensor 29 described later and its shape is recognized, so that the type of prize can be determined.

The magnetic plate 5 is made of a magnet rubber of a required thickness which can be magnetized in the vertical direction (thickness direction), and is formed in an elongated rectangular shape in the width direction of the main body 2. The magnetic plate 5 is magnetized to a predetermined magnetized state, and the magnetized state is detected by a magnetic sensor 30, which will be described later, so that a genuine prize and an unauthorized prize can be determined.

In the prize 1 of this embodiment, the main body 2
A plurality of (six on one side in the present embodiment) concave grooves 6 are formed on the outer surface of the, and the shape of the concave grooves 6 allows the user to visually determine whether or not the genuine prize is a genuine prize.

Next, a description will be given of the structure of a prize dispensing apparatus for dispensing prizes 1 having the above-described configuration one by one.

In the prize dispensing apparatus, prizes 1 are stored for each prize type, and when the prize 1 is provided to a customer, one prize is paid out from the prize dispensing apparatus. In this prize dispensing apparatus, a plurality of prize magazines 8 with a take-out mechanism 7 as shown in FIG. 2 are arranged in parallel (only one prize magazine 8 is shown in FIG. 2). Different types of prizes 1 can be stored in the prize magazine 8 in a stacked manner (see FIG. 3).

The take-out mechanism 7 is constituted by a belt conveyor 10 with a pusher 9 disposed below the premium magazine 8, and this belt conveyor 10 is indicated by an arrow A in FIG.
When the prize 1 is driven in the direction, the prize 1 that is second or more from the lowest layer among the prizes 1 stored in the prize magazine 8 is stopped by the front stopper 11 so that the prize 1 is moved to the lowermost layer. The prize 1 is taken out forward by the pusher 9. A weight 12 is placed on the uppermost surface of the prize 1 stored in the prize magazine 8, and the weight 12 is slidably supported vertically along a guide rail (not shown). Thus, after the lowermost prize 1 is taken out, the second or more prizes 1 can be smoothly dropped from the lowermost layer.

An upper guide 13 and a lower guide 14 for guiding the prize 1 to be dispensed from the prize magazine 8 are provided in the vicinity of the prize payout port below the prize magazine 8.
Each of the guides 13 and 14 has embedded therein a permanent magnet 15 for magnetizing the magnetic plate 5 disposed in the premium 1 to a predetermined polarity. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the upper guide 13 is provided with a total of two permanent magnets 15, one each at the left and right positions in the payout direction of the prize 1, and a lower guide. 14, two permanent magnets 15, 15 are also arranged at right and left positions so as to face the upper permanent magnets 15, 15, respectively. In the case of this embodiment,
The polarity of the permanent magnet 15 on the side facing the prize payout passage is set such that the upper right side is the N pole, the lower side is the S pole, the upper left side is the S pole, and the lower side is the N pole. Thus,
The prize 1 in the passage sandwiched between these upper and lower permanent magnets 15
In other words, when the magnetic plate 5 passes, as shown in FIG. 4B, the right side surface of the magnetic plate 5
The pole and the back side are magnetized to the N pole, the front side at the left end is magnetized to the N pole, and the back side is magnetized to the S pole. In the present embodiment, a case has been described in which two pairs of permanent magnets 15 are provided, one pair each on the left and right sides.
By increasing the number of pairs or the number of pairs, the accuracy of the authenticity determination of the prize 1 is improved, and the security can be further improved.

Next, a prize discriminating apparatus for discriminating whether or not the prize 1 brought in by the customer is a genuine prize, discriminating each prize type, and sorting these for each defective item and for each type of prize. The structural description will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5 ((a) plan view, (b) front view), the prize discriminating apparatus includes a prize magazine 16 for storing the prize 1 to be discriminated. A belt conveyor 17 having a pusher (not shown) similar to the prize dispensing device is disposed below the prize delivery device 16. When the belt conveyor 17 is driven, a plurality of prizes stored in the prize magazine 16 are provided. The lowermost prize 1 is pushed forward by a pusher in a state where the prize 1 of the second or more from the lowermost layer among the prizes 1 is prevented from moving by the front stopper 18.

The belt conveyor 17 is driven by transmitting a driving force from a motor 19 to a driving pulley 22 via a belt transmission mechanism 20 and a clutch 21. The clutch 21 is a prize 1 from the prize magazine 16.
Is switched so that the belt conveyor 17 is intermittently driven only when one is taken out. In this example, it is described that a number of prizes 1 are stored in the prize magazine 16. However, when the prize magazine 16 is empty, a new prize 1 is transferred to the belt conveyor 1.
When the prize 1 is placed on the display 7, the prize 1 can be detected by a limit switch or the like to drive the motor 19.

In front of the belt conveyor 17, a belt conveyor 24 with a pusher (not shown) is disposed above the conveying path 23 of the premium 1 sent out by the belt conveyor 17. The belt conveyor 24 has a motor 19 common to the belt conveyor 17 described above.
Is driven via the belt transmission mechanism 20 and the clutch 21 and serves to receive the prize 1 from the belt conveyor 17 and convey it forward.

FIG. 6 (a partially enlarged view of FIG. 5 (b)) in the middle of the conveying path 23 of the prize 1 by the belt conveyor 24.
As shown in, from the upstream side along the transport direction,
A scene type discriminating unit 25, a genuine scene item discriminating unit 26, and a reset unit 27 are provided, and a journaling unit 28 is provided downstream of the reset unit 27.

As shown in FIG. 7, the scene type discriminating section 25 is composed of three proximity sensors 29 arranged in a horizontal line along the transport path 23. These proximity sensors 29 detect the shape of the prize identification plate 4 embedded in the prize 1, that is, the locations of the notch portions 4 a and 4 b of the prize identification plate 4, and thereby determine the type of the prize 1 (prize price). ) Is determined. As the proximity sensor 29, various types such as a photoelectric sensor and a capacitance sensor can be used.

As shown in FIG. 8, a true prize determining unit 26 disposed downstream of the varieties determining unit 25 includes a pair of right and left halves arranged so as to sandwich the prize 1 along the transport path 23. Magnetic sensor (Hall element in this embodiment)
30. This magnetic sensor 30
The magnetic plate 5 embedded in the prize 1 has its magnetic sensor 30
And the gap between the magnetic sensor 30 and the magnetic sensor 30 changes to measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field. Thus, in the genuine prize discriminating section 26,
It is determined whether or not the magnetic plate 5 in the prize 1 is properly magnetized by the prize payout device.
Note that the determination results in the scene type classification unit 25 and the true genuine item identification unit 26 are appropriately displayed on a display device (not shown).

Next, the reset unit 27 is provided for returning the polarity of the magnetic plate 5 of the prize 1 after passing through the genuine prize discriminating unit 26 to the initial state, as shown in FIG. As described above, the pair of right and left permanent magnets 31 are arranged so as to sandwich the premium 1 along the transport path 23. In the case of the present embodiment, the polarity of the permanent magnet 31 on the side facing the transport path 23 is such that the permanent magnet 31
Are all N poles, and the permanent magnets 31 disposed below are all S poles. Thus, when the prize 1, that is, the magnetic plate 5, passes through the transport path 23 sandwiched between the upper and lower permanent magnets 31, as shown in FIG. 9B, the right end and the left end of the magnetic plate 5 The front side of the portion is magnetized to the S pole, and the back side is magnetized to the N pole.

A sorting section 28 is arranged downstream of the reset section 27, and a pressing roller 32 for holding the upper surface of the premium 1 is provided slightly upstream of the sorting section 28, and is opposed to the pressing roller 32. A face plate 33 and a guide roller 34 are provided. Here, the pressing roller 32
The guide roller 34 serves to smoothly guide the prize 1 to the flap 35 by supporting the rear end side of the prize 1 conveyed along the conveyance path 23.

The sorting section 28 is provided with flaps 35 as distribution means for distributing the prizes 1, and chutes 36, 37, and 38 for guiding the prizes 1 for each type distributed by the flaps 35 are provided. Have been. The flap 35 includes three comb-like plates 35a, 35b, and 35c having a rotation fulcrum on the front side in the transport direction. Each of the comb-like plates 35a, 35b, and 35c includes the proximity sensor 29 and the magnetic sensor. The prize 1 is moved to a predetermined stock portion 39, 40, 41, 42 by being rotationally operated by an individual solenoid based on the detection signal from 30.
It is to be distributed to.

The magnetic sensor 3 of the authentic prize discriminating section 26
0, when it is determined that the magnetic plate 5 of the prize 1 is not properly magnetized, in other words, when the polarities of the front and back surfaces at the left and right end portions of the magnetic plate 5 are different from the polarity of the genuine prize 1 Or, if the polarities match, but they do not fall within the prescribed magnetic field level range, or if the magnetic plate 5 itself does not exist in the prize 1, the flap 35 is rotated to the position shown in FIG. 1 is placed on the upper surface of the comb-like plate 35a and is conveyed to a stock unit 39 for stocking defective products. When the prize 1 is determined to be a genuine prize in the determination by the genuine prize determining unit 26, the prize is determined according to the shape of the prize identification plate 4 detected by the proximity sensor 29 of the prize type determining unit 25. 1 is allocated to one of the stock units 40, 41, and 42. That is, based on the detection signal from the proximity sensor 29, when the prize 1 is to be sorted to the stock unit 40 (for example, in the case of a prize equivalent to 5000 yen), the flap 35 is turned to the position shown in FIG. Then, the prize 1 is placed on the upper surface of the comb-like plate 35b, and is conveyed to the stock unit 40 through the chute 36. When the prize 1 is to be sorted to the stock unit 41 (for example, in the case of a prize worth 1000 yen), the flap 35 is rotated to the position shown in FIG.
The prize 1 is placed on the upper surface of the comb-like plate 35c and the chute 3
7 and is conveyed to the stock unit 41. When the prize 1 is to be distributed to the stock unit 42 (for example, in the case of a prize equivalent to 200 yen), the flap 35 is rotated to the position shown in FIG. The sheet 35 is conveyed to the stock section 42 through the chute 38 while being in contact with the back surface of 35c. In this way, the sorting section 28 sorts genuine prizes and defective products,
True prizes are sorted into three types of prizes for each type. Since the polarity of the magnetic plate 5 is reset to the initial state, the sorted genuine prizes can be reused by returning them to the prize dispensing apparatus as they are.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 5A, the prize outlets of the stock portions 39, 40, 41, and 42 are provided with a cover 43 that opens and closes in the left-right direction. Easily removed.

According to the prize discriminating apparatus of this embodiment, since the stock parts 39 to 42 are arranged in the height direction, the apparatus is used to take out the sorted prizes stocked in these stock parts 39 to 42. Can be freely accessed from both the front side and the rear side. Further, since the entire length of the device can be shortened, the entire device can be made compact. Further, according to the prize management system of the present embodiment, the magnetic plate 5 is embedded in the prize 1, the permanent magnet 15 is provided on the prize payout device side, and the magnetic sensor 30 is provided on the prize discriminating device side. With the configuration, forgery 1 of the premium 1 can be reliably prevented from being illegally used. Furthermore, the prize 1 can be easily sorted for each type by determining the prize identification plate 4 embedded in the prize 1 by the proximity sensor 29 provided in the prize determination device.

In the present embodiment, the case where there are three types of landscape types has been described. However, even if there are four or more types, they can be sorted by the same mechanism. Further, the magnetization polarity of the magnetic plate 5 is not limited to the above-mentioned polarity, but can be set as appropriate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view of a premium according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the premium payout apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the premium payout apparatus.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a magnetized portion with respect to the magnetic plate, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view showing a magnetized state of the magnetic plate after passing through the magnetized portion.

FIG. 5 is a plan view (a) and a front view (b) of the premium determining device.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 5 (b).

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a scene type classification unit;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a genuine prize item discriminating unit;

FIG. 9A is a perspective view of a reset unit, and FIG. 9B is a perspective view showing a magnetized state of a magnetic plate after passing through the reset unit.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (1) of an operation mode of a flap in a sorting unit.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view (2) of an operation mode of a flap in a sorting section.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram (3) of an operation mode of a flap in a sorting unit.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram (4) of an operation mode of the flap in the sorting section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS 1 prize 4 prize identification plate 4 a, 4 b cutout portion 5 magnetic plate 7 take-out mechanism 8 prize magazine 9 pusher 10 belt conveyor 13 upper guide 14 lower guide 15 permanent magnet 16 prize magazine 17 belt conveyor 19 motor 24 belt conveyor 25 Unit 26 genuine prize discriminating unit 27 reset unit 28 sorting unit 29 proximity sensor 30 magnetic sensor 31 permanent magnet 32 holding roller 35 flap 36-38 chute 39-42 stock unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A prize management system comprising: a prize dispensing device for paying out desired prizes one by one from a prize magazine for storing a large number of prizes; and a prize discriminating device for determining whether or not the prize is genuine. The prize payout device includes a permanent magnet near the prize payout port, which includes a permanent magnet for magnetizing a magnetic plate embedded in the prize to a predetermined polarity.
The prize management system, characterized in that the prize discriminating device includes a magnetic sensor for discriminating a genuine prize by detecting a magnetized state of the magnetic plate. 2. The prize management system according to claim 1, wherein the prize discriminating device is provided with a shape identification sensor for discriminating the type of prize by detecting the shape of a prize identification plate embedded in the prize. 3. The prize management system according to claim 1, wherein the prize discriminating apparatus is provided with a permanent magnet that returns the polarity of the magnetized magnetic plate to an initial state. 4. The prize discriminating device is provided with a distributing means for distributing a genuine prize determined by the magnetic sensor and an unauthorized prize, and allocating a genuine prize for each scene type determined by the shape identification sensor. The prize management system according to claim 2 or 3.