Lottery ring, lottery ring unit with lottery ring, game machine with lottery ring unit, control method of controlling computer used in game machine, and computer program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9704334-B2
Application number	US-201214385109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2012
Priority date	Mar 19, 2012
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A lottery ring includes a first ring and a second ring that have a ring shape and are concentrically arranged so as to form a layer; and a constraining device that operates between a constraint state for constraining the first ring and the second ring such that the first ring and the second ring integrally rotate on the same center and a release state for releasing the constraint state such that the first ring and the second ring relatively rotate, wherein accommodating units that accommodate a physical lottery medium are provided at the first ring along a rotation direction, and information providing units that are arranged along the rotation direction so as to respectively correspond to the accommodating units through the layer, and associated respectively with predetermined information is provided at the second ring.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lottery ring comprising:
a first ring having a plurality of accommodating units along its circumference in a rotation direction, each accommodating unit configured to accommodate a physical lottery medium;
a second ring parallel with and atop the first ring, both rings being concentrically arranged along a central axis to form a layer and perform concentric movement relative to each other;
a plurality of information providing units arranged to correspond with the plurality of accommodating units along the layer, each information providing unit configured to provide predetermined information along the second ring;
a switching device comprising a plurality of lifting units spaced radially from the central axis and arranged in symmetrical positions; and
a constraining device provided in the second ring so as to correspond to the plurality of lifting units and engaged and disengaged by the lifting units to raise and lower the constraining device in communication with the layer that operates between a constraint state wherein the constraining device is lowered relative to the first ring for constraining the first ring and the second ring such that the first ring and the second ring integrally rotate together about the center axis and a release state wherein the constraining device is raised relative to the first ring for releasing the constraint state such that the first ring and the second ring relatively rotate independently of each other, where the physical lottery medium moves along the rotation direction and into an accommodating unit on the first ring such that the lottery medium interacts with at least one information providing unit and provides corresponding predetermined information; and
a control unit including a processor to communicate with the lifting units and to determine whether a predetermined condition has been satisfied to activate the lifting units.

2. The lottery ring according to claim 1 , wherein the first ring and the second ring are arranged so as to form upper and lower layers.

3. The lottery ring according to claim 2 , wherein the first ring is arranged under the second ring so as to form the lower layer of the upper and lower layers.

4. The lottery ring unit according to claim 1 , the lottery ring further comprising
a rotary drive device that rotationally drives at least one of the first ring and the second ring.

5. A game machine, comprising:
a first ring having a plurality of accommodating units along its circumference in a rotation direction, each accommodating unit configured to accommodate a physical lottery medium;
a second ring parallel with and atop the first ring, each ring being concentrically arranged along a central axis to form a layer and perform concentric movement relative to each other;
a plurality of information providing units arranged to correspond with the plurality of accommodating units along the layer, each information providing unit configured to provide predetermined information along the second ring;
a constraining device provided in the second ring and in communication with the layer that operates between a constraint state for constraining the first ring and the second ring such that the first ring and the second ring integrally rotate together on about the center axis and a release state for releasing the constraint state such that the first ring and the second ring relatively rotate independently of each other, where the physical lottery medium moves along the rotation direction and into an accommodating unit on the first ring such that the lottery medium interacts with at least one information providing unit and provides corresponding predetermined information;
a switching device comprising a plurality of lifting units spaced radially from the central axis and arranged in symmetrical positions and engaging and disengaging the constraining device and configured to move to raise and lower the constraining device relative to the first ring that switches a state of the constraining device between the constraint state and the release state; and
a rotary drive device that rotationally drives at least one of the first ring and the second ring;
a switching control device that controls the switching device such that the state of the constraining device is switched from the constraint state to the release state when a predetermined condition is satisfied and comprising a control unit including a processor to communicate with the lifting units to activate the lifting units when the predetermined condition has been satisfied; and
a drive control device that controls the rotary drive device such that at least one of the first ring and the second ring rotates in the release state.

6. The game machine according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a rotation limiting device that operates between a limiting state and a permission state for limiting rotation of at least one of the first ring and the second ring; and
a rotation limiting control device that controls the rotation limiting device such that a state of the rotation limiting device is switched to the permission state in the constraint state and is switched to the limiting state in the release state,
wherein the drive control device controls the rotary drive device such that one of the first ring and the second ring whose rotation is not limited by the limiting device rotates in the release state.

7. The game machine according to claim 5 , wherein attribute information related to a predetermined privilege is used as the predetermined information.

8. The game machine according to claim 7 , further comprising a privilege providing device that provides the predetermined privilege corresponding to the attribute information based on the attribute information of the information providing unit corresponding to the accommodating unit which accommodates the physical lottery medium as a result of the lottery using the lottery ring.

9. The game machine according to claim 5 ,
wherein a predetermined number of times using the lottery ring unit is the predetermined condition.

10. The game machine according to claim 5 ,
wherein the drive control device controls the rotary drive device such that a corresponding relationship between the accommodating unit and the information providing unit is deviated in the rotation direction by a degree corresponding to one accommodating unit.

11. A control method of controlling a computer which is incorporated in a game machine including a lottery ring having a first ring having a plurality of accommodating units along its circumference in a rotation direction, each accommodating unit configured to accommodate a physical lottery medium; a second ring parallel with and atop the first ring, each ring being concentrically arranged along a central axis to form a layer and perform concentric movement relative to each other; a plurality of information providing units arranged to correspond with the plurality of accommodating units along the layer, each information providing unit configured to provide predetermined information along the second ring; a constraining device provided in the second ring and in communication with the layer that operates between a constraint state for constraining the first ring and the second ring such that the first ring and the second ring integrally rotate together about the center axis and a release state for releasing the constraint state such that the first ring and the second ring relatively rotate independently of each other, where the physical lottery medium moves along the rotation direction and into an accommodating unit on the first ring such that the lottery medium interacts with at least one information providing u

Assignees

• Inoue Astsuhi
• Kogure Shoki
• Konami Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Inoue Astsuhi
• Kogure Shoki

Classifications

• G07F17/329

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

• G07F17/3216 Primary

  Construction aspects of a gaming system, e.g. housing, seats, ergonomic aspects · CPC title