Lottery device and game machine using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10537786-B2
Application number	US-201816102072-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2018
Priority date	Feb 17, 2016
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A lottery device includes: a drawing body having medium entrance units which are provided along a circumferential direction thereof, and into each of which a game medium can enter; a driving mechanism driving the drawing body in the circumferential direction; a dividing device dividing a periphery of a path of the medium entrance units, in which path the medium entrance units travel, into lottery segments in the circumferential direction; a medium introduction mechanism introducing the game medium individually into each lottery segment; an entrance unit detection device detecting a medium entrance unit into which the game medium has entered; a displacement amount detection device detecting an amount of displacement in the circumferential direction; and a lottery segment distinguishing device distinguishing from which of the lottery segments the game medium has entered into the medium entrance unit based on a result of detection by the displacement amount detection device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lottery device, comprising:
a drawing body having a plurality of medium entrance units which are provided along a circumferential direction thereof, and into each of which a game medium configured for entering;
a driving mechanism that drives the drawing body in the circumferential direction;
a dividing device that divides a periphery of a path of the plurality of medium entrance units of the drawing body, in which path the plurality of medium entrance units travel, into a plurality of lottery segments in the circumferential direction so that the game medium is unable to interchange between the lottery segments;
a medium introduction mechanism that is provided so as to be configured for introducing the game medium individually into each of the plurality of lottery segments;
an entrance unit detection device that detects a medium entrance unit into which the game medium has entered;
a displacement amount detection device that detects an amount of displacement in the circumferential direction of the drawing body; and
a lottery segment distinguishing device that distinguishes from which of the lottery segments, among the plurality of lottery segments, the game medium has entered into the medium entrance unit based on a result of detection by the displacement amount detection device.

2. The lottery device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of introduction command devices for which a respective correspondence relationship with the plurality of lottery segments is set; and
an introduction control device that, in response to an introduction command from any one of the introduction command devices, controls the medium introduction mechanism so that the game medium is introduced into a lottery segment which corresponds to the one introduction command device.

3. The lottery device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the drawing body is provided so as to be rotatable around an axis of rotation in a vertical direction;
each of the plurality of medium entrance units is provided so that the game medium enters from an outer peripheral side of the path; and
the dividing device is provided so as to divide a region on the outer peripheral side of the path into the plurality of lottery segments.

4. The lottery device according to claim 3 , wherein the medium introduction mechanism further comprises a guidance device that guides the game medium so that the game medium is introduced into each of the lottery segments during shifting in a direction along an outer periphery of the plurality of lottery segments.

5. The lottery device according to claim 4 , wherein the guidance device is provided so that a guidance path extending in a spiral shape along the outer periphery of the plurality of lottery segments is defined for each lottery segment.

6. The lottery device according to claim 3 , wherein:
in a region of the drawing body on an inner circumferential side of the path, a lottery segment is further provided that has a plurality of medium entrance units so that the game medium is unable to interchange between the plurality of lottery segments on the outer peripheral side of the path and those on the inner circumferential side; and
the medium introduction mechanism is provided so as to be capable of configured for introducing the game medium into the lottery segment on the inner circumferential side, and distinguishing introduction thereinto from introduction of the game medium into each of the plurality of lottery segments on the outer peripheral side.

7. The lottery device according to claim 6 , wherein:
a special entrance unit is provided in a part of the plurality of medium entrance units corresponding to the plurality of lottery segments on the outer peripheral side, and configured so that entrance of the game medium thereinto becomes more difficult than another medium entrance unit; and
the lottery device further comprises an internal introduction control device that controls the medium introduction mechanism so that the game medium is introduced into the lottery segment on the inner circumferential side when achieving at least one condition in which the entrance of the game medium into the special entrance unit has been detected.

8. The lottery device according to claim 1 , wherein the medium introduction mechanism is provided so as to take out the game medium from a medium reservoir unit that is shared between the plurality of lottery segments, and so as to introduce the game medium individually into each of the plurality of lottery segments.

9. The lottery device according to claim 8 , wherein the medium introduction mechanism further comprises:
a unit introduction mechanism provided for each of the lottery segments, and configured for changing over between introducing the game medium and stopping the introducing; and
a medium supply mechanism that selectively supplies the game medium taken out from the medium reservoir unit to the unit introduction mechanisms.

10. The lottery device according to claim 9 , wherein an individual holding portion that is configured for holding a plurality of game media is provided to each of the unit introduction mechanisms.

11. The lottery device according to claim 10 , further comprising a supply control device that controls the medium supply mechanism so that the game medium taken out from the medium reservoir unit is distributed to any one of the unit introduction mechanisms based on a number of game media held by the individual holding portions of each unit introduction mechanism.

12. A game machine, comprising:
a drawing body having a plurality of medium entrance units which are provided along a circumferential direction thereof, and into each of which a game medium is configured for entering;
a driving mechanism that drives the drawing body in the circumferential direction;
a dividing device that divides a periphery of a path of the plurality of medium entrance units of the drawing body, in which path the plurality of medium entrance units travel, into a plurality of lottery segments in the circumferential direction so that the game medium is unable to interchange between the lottery segments;
a medium introduction mechanism that is provided so as to be configured for introducing the game medium individually into each of the plurality of lottery segments;
an entrance unit detection device that detects a medium entrance unit into which the game medium has entered;
a displacement amount detection device that detects an amount of displacement in the circumferential direction of the drawing body; and
a lottery segment distinguishing device that distinguishes from which of the lottery segments, among the plurality of lottery segments, the game medium has entered into the medium entrance unit based on a result of detection by the displacement amount detection device; and
a game control device that refers to a result of detection by the entrance detection device and to a result of distinguishing by the lottery segment distinguishing device, and that controls progression of a game for each of the plurality of lottery segments divided by the dividing device.

Assignees

• Konami Digital Entertainment Co Ltd

Inventors

• Azuma Shogo
• Yoshida Kensaku
• Kusano Toshihiro
• Tsubota Kazuo

Classifications

• A63F2007/282

  Gutter-shaped · CPC title

• A63F5/007

  Details about the compartments or sectors, e.g. sectors having different sizes · CPC title

• A63F5/0076

  Driving means · CPC title

• G07F17/329

  Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards · CPC title

• A63F2009/2442

  Sensors or detectors · CPC title