CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is based on and claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-010133 filed with the Japan Patent Office on Jan. 24, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The disclosure relates to an illumination device that is suitably mounted on a game machine.

In game facilities such as casinos, multiple game machines such as slot machines made by various game machine makers are installed, and a player selects a favorite game machine to play a game. Therefore, the game machines need to have appeal that attracts player's interest and make them want to play the game.

In order to attract player's interest, an illumination device is mounted on the game machines. Examples of the illumination device include a technique of causing light emitted from a light source to be incident on a light incident surface of an end surface of a light guide plate to propagate inside, and reflecting the light with a prism provided on a back surface of the light guide plate and emitting the light from a front surface of the light guide plate serving as a light exit surface. As an illumination device provided in a game machine using such a technique, the applicant of this application also has proposed and applied for a patent for a display device in which a plurality of light guide plates are arranged in a depth direction (JP 2016-206240 A).

Although JP 2016-206240 A described above is intended to perform light presentation using a light guide plate, there is room for further improvement over just switching a lighting pattern of the light guide plate in order to attract player's interest.

SUMMARY

An illumination device according to one or more embodiments may realize an illumination device that is more appealing and attracting players.

An illumination device according to one or more embodiments may include: a light guide plate unit having a light guide plate configured to emit, from a light exit surface, light incident inside from a light incident surface; a light projecting unit having an optical element configured to supply light to the light guide plate; a moving mechanism configured to cause the light guide plate unit to reciprocate in a depth direction; a detector having a detection region in front of the light guide plate unit in the depth direction and configured to detect presence or absence of an object without contacting; and a base configured to support the light guide plate unit, the light projecting unit, the moving mechanism, and the detector. The moving mechanism moves the light guide plate unit in accordance with a detection result of the detector.

According to the above described configuration, the detector may detect the presence or absence of an object in front of the light guide plate unit in the depth direction, and the moving mechanism may move the light guide plate unit in the depth direction in accordance with a detection result. That is, the light guide plate unit may be moved in conjunction with a movement of a player's hand moved in front of the light guide plate unit. Moving the light guide plate unit in accordance with the movement of the player's hand may allow the player to experience surprise and play the game more enjoyably, which may attract more interest of the player.

In addition, by adding movement presentation by movement of the light guide plate unit to the light presentation by the light guide plate, a range of presentation may be expanded, which may also attract more interest of the player.

An illumination device according to one or more embodiments may further have a configuration in which the light guide plate unit has a plurality of the light guide plates, the plurality of light guide plates are arranged at a predetermined interval in a depth direction, and the light projecting unit is arranged at a side of the light guide plate unit and has an optical element of an amount for one piece among the plurality of light guide plates. In the above described configuration, the moving mechanism may move the light guide plate unit to cause the light incident surface of any one light guide plate in the plurality of light guide plates to be opposed to the light projecting unit.

According to the above described configuration, the moving mechanism may move the light guide plate unit in a depth direction to cause the light incident surface of any one light guide plate in the plurality of light guide plates to be opposed to the light projecting unit, and may illuminate the light guide plate that is arranged to be opposed. That is, by providing the light projecting unit having the optical element separately from the light guide plate and moving the light guide plate unit, the light projecting unit having the optical element of an amount for one light guide plate may be shared by the plurality of light guide plates.

In the configuration in which the optical element is arranged on the light incident surface of the light guide plate, an optical element of an amount for the number of light guide plates may be required. Therefore, as a size of the light guide plate increases, the number of optical elements required for each piece may increase, resulting in higher cost. However, the above described configuration may significantly reduce the number of required optical elements and reduce cost. In principle, any number of light guide plates may be illuminated by an optical element of an amount for one piece.

An illumination device according to one or more embodiments may further have a configuration in which the moving mechanism has a voice coil motor as a drive source. In the above described configuration, as a holding member configured to hold the voice coil motor, there are provided a fixed-side holder configured to hold a fixed portion of the voice coil motor and fixed to the base, and a movable-side holder configured to hold a movable portion of the voice coil motor and fixed to the light guide plate unit. Further, the fixed-side holder and the movable-side holder are slidably fitted to each other, and the light guide plate unit is movably supported by the fixed-side holder and the movable-side holder.

According to the above described configuration, the fixed-side holder and the movable-side holder, which are holding members to hold the voice coil motor, may support the light guide plate unit movably in the depth direction, which may enable a guiding mechanism for reciprocation of the light guide plate unit to be easily realized.

An illumination device according to one or more embodiments may further have a configuration in which the moving mechanism has a coil spring. In the above described configuration, the coil spring is sandwiched between the fixed-side holder and the movable-side holder, is compressed or expanded as the movable portion of the voice coil motor moves, and is configured to restore to move the light guide plate unit to a predetermined position and hold when the voice coil motor is not energized. Accordingly, the light guide plate unit may be allowed to be held at a predetermined position when the voice coil motor is not energized.

An illumination device according to one or more embodiments may further have a configuration in which the light guide plate unit, the light projecting unit, and the moving mechanism constitute an illuminator, and a plurality of the illuminators are arranged side by side on the base. Accordingly, a presentation may be enabled in which the illuminators are combined rather than a configuration with one illuminator, and in which a wider range is provided.

A game machine according to one or more embodiments may include: a game machine main body; and the illumination device according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure installed to face a side opposed to a player, in the game machine main body.

According to one or more embodiments, it may be possible to realize an illumination device that is more appealing and can attract players more.

