Input device for game machine

#This application is the national stage application pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT application PCT/JP2008/071877, filed Dec. 2, 2008, which claims the benefit of Japanese Application No. 2007-316334, filed Dec. 6, 2007. The entire contents of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated herein by this reference.

#The present invention relates to an input device for game machine.

#There is a known game apparatus includes an input device having plural transparent boards disposed on a surface of a CRT display, each of four corners of each transparent board being supported by a spring, the input device being provided in an on/off switchable manner by conductive bodies and electrodes displaced from the springs, each screen image on the display is caused to change for each transparent board, and it is competed to see whether or not push-down operation has been performed to the transparent board of a predetermined screen image (for example, cf. a patent document 1). Also, there is a known input device for a game machine where a display device causing a hit target to appear and disappear is disposed on the back surface of a transparent hit board where a plurality of hit detection devices are arranged, such that the display device and the hit board are corresponded to each other on one-to-one (for example, cl. a patent document 2).

#FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a game machine to which one embodiment of an input device of the present invention is applied;

#FIG. 2 shows a plane view of the interface unit;

#FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the interface unit of a set-up condition along the line III-III shown in FIG. 2;

#FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a game machine to which one embodiment of an input device of the present invention is applied. The game machine 1, which is installed in a commercial facility and the like, is configured as a game machine providing a player with a playing chance in exchange of consumption of a predetermined amount of play value. In the game machine 1, a chassis 2 is provided. At the front side of the chassis 2, a control panel part 3 is provided. In the control panel part 3, an interface unit 4 is provided in an inclined condition like a rising slop from a front edge thereof to an end edge thereof. The interface unit 4 is one unit into which display function and input function are integrated. The height of the interface unit 4 is set in a range that an adult player of standard-tall can put naturally his/her fingers on the interface unit 4. Additionally, the inclination angle to a horizontal plane of the interface unit 4 is inclined to the horizontal plane, in such a manner that the player faces the interface unit 4 when looking down diagonally forward with a kind of bent-over posture. The interface unit 4 is partitioned by an input display part 4a as a first display part and a multi purpose display part 4b as a second display part. In the input display part 4a, sixteen pieces of push button parts 4c are provided in such a manner that they are arranged in the shape of a matrix having 4 rows and 4 columns.

#FIG. 2 shows a plane view of the interface unit 4, and FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the interface unit 4 of a set-up condition, the sectional view being along the line III-III shown in FIG. 2. As shown in these drawings, the interface unit 4 has a monitor 10 as a display apparatus and an input module 11 as an input device. As an example of the monitor 10, a liquid crystal display is employed, which has a display surface 10a the aspect ratio of which is set to sixteen to nine or the neighborhood thereof and is put on the market as a PC monitor. Of course, not only the liquid crystal display, various kinds of display such as an EL display and an LED display can be employed as the monitor 10. On the back surface of the monitor 10 (the lower surface in FIG. 3), a terminal part 10b is provided to connect video cables or the like.

#FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of the interface unit 4 of a disassemble condition, and FIG. 5 shows an exploded perspective view of the input module 11. As shown in these drawings, the input module 11 is structured as an assembled part obtained by combining a base 12, a lattice base 13, panel substrates 14, a lattice panel 15, push button panels 16, rubber contacts 17 as plastic elastic bodies with electrodes, a button cover 18 and a lattice cover 19. The base 12 is a part functioning as a basal plate for joining the whole of the input module 11 and the chassis 2. The size of the base 12 (a vertical and horizontal size) is set in a range that can cover completely the display surface 10a of the monitor 10. The base 12 is configured as, for example, an opaque part obtained by applying sheet-metal processing to a metal plate. However, as long as the base 12 is composed of opaque material, it is not necessary that the base 12 is a metal product. In the base 12, for recognizing screen image in the monitor 10, 16 pieces of square-shaped button perforated parts 12a and a single display perforated part 12b are provided. The button perforated parts 12a are first perforated holes corresponding to the push button parts 4c on one-to-one, and are arranged in the shape of a matrix having 4 rows and 4 columns. The display perforated part 12b is a second perforated hole corresponding to the multi purpose display part 4b. The display perforated part 12b is in the shape of a rectangular, the width of which is slightly smaller than a entire width (the size in the right-left direction) of the display surface 10a of the monitor 10. At each of both sides of the base 12, a folding back part 12c is formed. The folding back parts 12c are provided to fix the input module 11 to the chassis 2.