WO2002066926A1

WO2002066926A1 - Dice face reading device for game machine

Info

Publication number: WO2002066926A1
Application number: PCT/KR2002/000260
Authority: WO
Inventors: Young-Ho Kim
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-02-21
Filing date: 2002-02-20
Publication date: 2002-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 2003-08-21
Also published as: KR200232609Y1

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus for detecting the surface of a die for a game machine, which comprises magnets or insulators attached to surfaces of a usual die and surface detecting means such as a reed switch, or a conducting projection and a ground projection for detecting the magnets or the insulators provided on the surface of the die. The surface detecting means detects the grounding state of the magnets or the insulators which are attached in different patterns to their corresponding surface of the die. Thus, it is only required to attach magnets or insulators to surfaces of a usual die, in result of allowing easy fabrication of this apparatus. After being read with the surface detecting means, the information of the magnets or insulators attached to the surfaces of the die can be output directly through a simple logic circuit, so that its circuit design may be simplified.

Description

DICE FACE READING DEVICE FOR GAME MACHINE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a game machine having dice, and more particularly to a dice surface detecting device in a game machine, which throws up and rotates the dice with detecting parts on each surface and then reads a surface of the dropped dice, the dice surface detecting device being improved to have simple circuit design and convenient construction.

Description of the Related Art

Generally, the dice play is conducted by throwing several dice at one time and then checking designs exposed on surfaces of the dice. However, for such dice play, a manager should be attended, so troublesome. To avoid such trouble, there has been proposed a dice game, which is displayed with figures on a monitor. But, due to each circuitry fabrication, this game machine does not give enough reliability to customers.

There is also a game machine, which rotates one dice with a motor inside a case so that a customer forecasts and bets on one of six cases. This machine is very complex since mechanism for rotating an operating unit and since sensing structure for detection should be distinguishable in N and S poles. Nevertheless, game itself of the game machine is simple and not speedy, so it gives little interest to users.

The inventor of this application thus designed a game machine, which ensures speedy game and reliability without possibility of fabrication, filed under a Korean Patent Filing No. 2000-58095. This game machine throws up and rotates the dice seated on a striking plate of a solenoid valve, then detects a corresponding surface of the dice upon the bottom and then displays the surface to a user. There is also proposed a game machine using dice in Korean Patent Filing No.

2000-59654, in which, when a user pivots an operation lever like the case of a slot machine, many striking pieces strikes the dice to throw up the dice for rotation, and then the machine detects a corresponding surface of the dice fallen upon the bottom and then displays the surface to a user so that the user may be provided with various gifts.

These game machines of solenoid or slot machine type need that the dice itself has either different wiring or bar code therein so that a circuit or laser can detect the wiring or bar code. However, making dice with different wiring on each surface is very difficult and the circuit for detecting the wiring on surface is also very complicated. Additionally, the barcode detecting technique also requires very complex configuration and high manufacturing costs and is not qualified for quick response and speedy game, which are essential to game machines, and may cause errors due to radio interference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is designed to solve such problems of the prior art, and an object of the invention is to provide a game machine in which magnets or insulators are formed on surfaces of dice, and lead switches or conductive protrusions and grounding protrusion are formed in a surface sensing means for detecting whether the magnet or insulator attached to each surface of the dice differently is contacted thereto so as to recognize the surface.

This game machine can be very easily manufactured by just attaching magnets or insulators on surfaces of common dice. Additionally, since the surface figure is directly displayed through a surface sensor reading the corresponding surface of the dice or a simple logic circuit reading a grounding of the lead switch or protrusion, there can be provided the dice surface detecting device capable of unsophisticated circuit design according to the present invention.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a dice surface detecting device including, a coin insert unit, a striking unit for throwing up the dice activated by an operating unit, a surface sensing unit for detecting a figure or number on a surface of the dice, a display unit for displaying a recognized surface and a discharging unit for providing a suitable gift depending on arrangement of the figures or numbers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall game device of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side sectional view showing the game device of the present invention; Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an operating unit in the game device of the present invention; Fig. 4 is for illustrating operation of the operating unit in the game device of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a development view of dice used in the game device of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a circuit in the game device of the present invention;

Fig. 7 shows another example of the operating unit in the game device of the present invention; and

Fig. 8 exemplarily shows the number of cases, which can be obtained from the game device of the present invention. ** reference numbers of main units in the drawings ** 1 : body 2: display

3: operating button 4: coin inserting slit 5: gift discharging unit 6: transparent window

10, 10': operating unit

1 la, 1 lb, 1 lc, 1 Id: lead switch

12: striking shaft 13: solenoid

14: inclined surface 15, 15': magnet

16, 16': conductive protrusion 17: dice

18, 18': insulator 19: grounding protrusion

20: sensor

A,B,C,D,E,F: dice surface

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a game machine using a polyhedron according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side sectional view showing the game machine of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing essential parts of a dice surface detecting device according to the present invention.

A body 1 has a display 2 at an inner upper portion, an operating button 3 at a middle portion and a coin insert slit 4 and a gift discharging unit 5 at a lower portion.

A transparent window 6 is positioned between the display 2 and the operating button 3 to form an inner space. A plurality of operating units 10, 10' are formed in a bottom of the inner space. A striking shaft 12 is formed at the center of the bottom to be vertically movable. The operating units 10, 10' have inclined middle walls 14. Tops of the operating units 10, 10' are covered with the transparent window 6. And, dice 17 with different figures or numbers drawn on each surface is seated on top of the striking shaft 12.

At this time, a sensor 20 is mounted to a lower sidewall of the operating units 10, 10'.

Lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, l id are laid under the bottom of each operating unit 10, 10'. And, magnets 15, 15' of different arrangement and different number are buried on each surface A, B, C, D, E and F of the dice 17 corresponding to the lead switches 1 la, 1 lb, l ie, 1 Id.

In addition, it is also possible that the dice 17 is wholly made of conductive material. At this time, insulators 18, 18' are attached to each corresponding surface A, B, C, D, E and F with different shape. Also, corresponding conductive protrusions 16, 16' are formed on a bottom of the operating unit 10, 10' and a grounding protrusion 19 is formed between the conductive protrusions 16, 16' separately.

Now, operation of the dice surface detecting device according to the present invention is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Fig. 6, the dice surface detecting device of the present invention is configured that both ends of the lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, l id are respectively connected to a positive-voltage (+) gate and GND. And, as shown in Fig. 5, the dice 17 to which the magnets 15, 15' with different arrangement and number are attached is seated on the bottom of the operating unit 10, 10'. And, owing to magnetic force of the magnets 15, 15', the lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, 1 Id on the bottom of the operating unit 10, 10' are grounded. Thus, if the number and arrangement of the grounded lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, 1 Id are regulated on each surface A, B, C, D, E and F as shown in Fig. 8, the circuit for detecting a surface can be configured with only simple circuitry.

In other words, this configuration is based on positive logic or negative logic that an input gate normally stays at a high state (HI) by flip resistance, but when the dice 17 is seated on the bottom, the gate turns into a low state (LO) by grounding. As shown in Fig. 4, the striking shaft 12 gives an impact on a lower surface of the dice 17 by the solenoid 13 so that the dice 17 is thrown up and rotated. At this time, the operating unit 10, 10' has the inclined wall 14 so that the thrown-up and rotated dice 17 may fall down and seat onto its initial position. The lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, 1 Id are formed to each corner of the bottom, and one ends of the lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, 1 Id are all connected to the grounding GND, while the other ends are connected to the input gate (VCC voltage). The dice 17 is capable of turning with ascending and descending inside the operating unit 10, 10' configured as above. In addition, since the magnets 15, 15' with different arrangement and number are buried at corner of each surface A, B, C, D, E and F of the dice 17, the lead switches 11a, 1 lb, l ie, 1 Id may response to magnetic force of the magnets 15, 15'. Thus, surface detection of the dice 17 can be significantly simplified, and the game machine can be entirely automatized.

The magnets 15, 15' can be buried in the surface of the dice 17 without consideration of their polarity, so enabling easy manufacturing. In addition, since the sensor 20 is formed at the lower sidewall of the operating unit 10, 10', the sensor 20 may recognize whether the dice is properly seated. Thus, when the dice is seated improperly, it is possible to output a warning message to rearrange the dice by playing the game again. In addition, it is also possible to operate the sensor and the display only when the sensor detects that the dice is properly seated, for more reliability.

The simple logic circuit enables to easily detect surfaces of the different dice. As shown in Fig. 7, if the whole surface of the dice 17 is made of conductive material and insulators 18, 18' are attached to each surface A, B, C, D, E and F with different number, the surface can be detected with result of grounding of the conductive protrusions 16, 16' and the grounding protrusion 19 formed on the bottom.

Additionally, as another alternative, it is also possible to replace the magnets 15, 15' buried on the surfaces of the dice 17 with steel plates and replace the lead switches 11a, l ib, l ie, l id with coils so that the sensor detects inductive current of the coil due to the steel plate. It may obtain the same results. As described above, the dice surface detecting device for a game machine according to the present invention can be easily manufactured and simplify circuitry design since it may output a surface figure with a simple logic circuit through the surface detecting means for reading out a surface of the dice and a simple logic circuit and through reading out a grounding of the lead switch without other calculation process.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A dice surface detecting device for a game machine, which includes a body (1) having a display (2) at an upper portion, an operating button (3) at a middle portion and a coin insert slit (4) and a gift discharging unit (5) at a lower portion, in which a transparent window (6) is positioned between the display (2) and the operating button (3) to form an inner space, a plurality of operating units (10, 10') are formed in a bottom of the inner space, a striking shaft (12) is formed at the center of the bottom to be vertically movable, the operating units (10, 10') have middle walls (14) inclined, tops of the operating units (10, 10') are covered with the transparent window (6), and dice (17) with different figures or numbers drawn on each surface are seated on top of the striking shaft (12), wherein a sensor (20) is mounted to a lower side wall of the operating units (10, 10'), wherein lead switches (11a, l ib, l ie, l id) are laid under to bottom of each operating unit (10, 10'), and magnets (15, 15') of different arrangement and different number are buried on each surface (A, B, C, D, E, F) of the dice (17) corresponding to the lead switches (11a, l ib, 1 lc, 1 Id).

2. A dice surface detecting device for a game machine according to claim 1 , wherein the dice (1 ) is wholly made of conductive material, and wherein insulators (18, 18') are attached to each corresponding surface (A, B, C,

D, E, F) with different shape, and corresponding conductive protrusions (16, 16') are formed on a bottom of the operating unit (10, 10') and a grounding protrusion (19) is formed between the conductive protrusions (16, 16') separately.

3. A dice surface detecting device for a game machine according to claim 1 , wherein the magnets (15, 15') of the dice (17) is steel, and the lead switches (11a, lib, lie, lid) are coils.