JP5883671B2 - Coin processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a coin processing device.

  There is known a coin sorting device that can surely fall into a predetermined sorting hole and surely eliminate false coins even if the inserted coins contain false coins (for example, Patent Document 1). reference).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-293189

  However, the above coin sorting device cannot respond immediately and easily when new fake coin information is obtained, and identifies and sorts out the coin based on specific old coin information. There is a problem that even if a need arises, it cannot be dealt with immediately and easily.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin processing device that can immediately and easily exclude a target coin when new fake coin information is obtained or when it is necessary to exclude a specific old coin. To do.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an image capturing unit that captures images on both sides of a coin, and a reading that reads year information stamped on the coin from the image captured by the image capturing unit. Means for storing the year information of the coin to be excluded, comparison means for comparing the year information read by the reading means and the year information stored in the storage means, and the comparison means The first exclusion means for selecting and removing coins whose year information read by the reading means matches the year information stored in the storage means from the comparison result, and separately from the first exclusion means And a second excluding means for excluding unacceptable coins that do not coincide with any of the master data of each denomination from the image at a predetermined coincidence or higher .

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention according to claim 1, the year information stored in the storage means is information specifying a range of the year of the coin.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the year information stored in the storage means is an era.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, an era specifying means for specifying an era name character for an era in the year information read by the reading means. It is provided with.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the images on both sides of the coin are captured by the image capturing means, the reading means reads the year information stamped on the coin from the image, and the comparison means reads the year read by the reading means. The coin number information and the year information stored in the storage means are compared, and from this comparison result, coins whose year information read by the reading means by the reading means matches the year information stored in the storage means are selected. Exclude. Therefore, if the year information of the coins to be excluded is stored in the storage means, when new fake coin information is obtained or when it is necessary to exclude a specific old coin, the target is immediately and easily Coins can be eliminated.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, since the year information which is the information which specifies the range of the year of a coin is memorize | stored in a memory | storage means, it becomes possible to exclude the coin of the range of a specific year as a target coin.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, since the year information which is the era is stored in the storage means, it is suitable particularly when old coins are excluded.

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the era specifying means specifies the era character for the era in the year information read by the reading means, it is difficult to be affected by wear and dirt.

It is a top view which shows the coin processing apparatus of reference technology . It is a block diagram of the control system of the coin processing apparatus of reference technology . It is a side view which shows the image taking-in part etc. of the coin processing apparatus of reference technology . It is a top view which shows an example of a coin.

A coin processing apparatus of reference technology will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The coin processing device 11 shown in FIG. 1 identifies the loose coins C inserted from the outside of the machine, excludes the unacceptable coins C from the identification results, and selects and stores the accepted coins C by denomination. To do.

  The coin processing device 11 receives the separated coins C from outside the machine, separates and feeds the inserted coins C one by one, and the coins C sent out by the separation and supply mechanism 12. It has the coin conveyance path 14 received on the conveyance surface 14a, and the conveyance belt mechanism 15 which pinches | interposes the coin C on the conveyance surface 14a with this conveyance surface 14a, and conveys it in the extension direction of the conveyance surface 14a. The separation supply mechanism 12 side in the coin conveyance path 14 is an upstream side in the coin C conveyance direction, and the opposite side to the separation supply mechanism 12 is a downstream side.

  The separation supply mechanism 12 includes a cylindrical wall portion (not shown) that receives the inserted coins C, a rotating disk 21 that is disposed at an inner lower portion of the cylindrical wall section, and one coin between the rotating disk 21. A gap that allows only C to pass therethrough is formed, and a regulating portion (not shown) that allows the coins C to pass one by one by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the rotary disk 21 is provided. The rotary disk 21 is connected to a disk drive motor 22 shown in FIG. 2 and is driven to rotate by the disk drive motor 22.

  The coin transport path 14 has the above-described transport surface 14 a that receives the coin C fed from the separation supply mechanism 12, and the transport surface 14 a extends in the tangential direction of the rotary disk 21 described above. The coin conveyance path 14 is provided with a wall portion 23, a wall portion 24, a wall portion 25 and a wall portion 26 which are erected in order from the upstream side on the left side when viewed from the upstream side of the conveyance surface 14a, and from the upstream side of the conveyance surface 14a. On the right side, the wall 28, the wall 29, the wall 30, the reject wall 31 and the reference rail 32 erected in order from the upstream side are provided.

  The wall portion 23 is erected on the most upstream side of the transport surface 14a, and has a side surface portion 23a extending from the outer peripheral portion of the rotating disk 21 on the transport surface 14a side.

  The wall portion 24 has a stepped side surface portion 24a disposed on an extension of the downstream end of the side surface portion 23a of the wall portion 23 on the conveying surface 14a side. The step side surface portion 24a has a step shape in which the downstream side is separated from the center in the width direction of the transport surface 14a.

  The wall portion 25 has a side surface portion 25a that is continuous with the downstream end of the stepped side surface portion 24a of the wall portion 24 on the conveying surface 14a side. The side surface portion 25a is along the extending direction of the transport surface 14a.

  The wall portion 26 has, on the conveyance surface 14a side, a side surface portion 26a extending in a step shape with respect to the downstream end of the side surface portion 25a of the wall portion 25, and this side surface portion 26a is the end of the conveyance surface 14a. Extends to position. The side surface portion 26a is located on the outer side in the width direction of the transport surface 14a than the side surface portion 25a.

  The wall portion 28 has an inclined side surface portion 28a extending from the outer peripheral portion of the rotating disk 21 on the conveying surface 14a side. The inclined side surface portion 28a is inclined so as to approach the center in the width direction of the transport surface 14a toward the downstream side with respect to the extending direction of the transport surface 14a, and comes into contact with the coin C moving on the transport surface 14a. To guide you. The inclined side surface portion 28 a matches the position in the extending direction of the transport surface 14 a with the stepped side surface portion 24 a of the wall portion 24.

  The wall portion 29 has a side surface portion 29a continuous to the downstream end of the inclined side surface portion 28a of the wall portion 28 on the transport surface 14a side. The side surface portion 29 a matches the position in the extending direction of the transport surface 14 a with the side surface portion 25 a of the wall portion 25. The side surface portion 29a is along the extending direction of the transport surface 14a.

  The wall portion 30 has an inclined side surface portion 30a that is continuous with the downstream end of the side surface portion 29a of the wall portion 29 on the conveying surface 14a side. The inclined side surface portion 30a is inclined so as to approach the center in the width direction of the conveyance surface 14a toward the downstream side with respect to the extending direction of the conveyance surface 14a, and comes into contact with the coin C moving on the conveyance surface 14a. To guide you. The inclined side surface portion 30a matches the position of the conveying surface 14a in the extending direction with the upstream end portion of the side surface portion 26a of the wall portion 26.

  The reject wall portion 31 has a side surface portion 31a that is continuous with the downstream end of the inclined side surface portion 30a of the wall portion 30 on the conveying surface 14a side. This side part 31a contacts the coin C moving on the conveyance surface 14a and guides the coin C. This side part 31a is along the extending direction of the conveyance surface 14a.

  The reference rail 32 has a reference side surface portion 32a disposed on the extension of the side surface portion 31a of the reject wall portion 31 on the transport surface 14a side. The reference side surface portion 32a is provided on the downstream side of the inclined side surface portion 30a, and contacts the coin C moving on the transport surface 14a to guide the coin C. The reference side surface portion 32a is along the extending direction of the transport surface 14a.

  At the positions of the wall portion 25 and the wall portion 29 on the transport surface 14a, an image capturing portion (image capturing means) 35 that captures images on both sides of the coin C is provided. As shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 3, the image capture unit 35 includes a lower surface image identification unit 35A that scans an image of the lower surface of the coin C that is embedded in the transport surface 14a and moves on the transport surface 14a, and the transport surface 14a. And an upper surface image identifying unit 35B that scans an image of the upper surface of the coin C that is disposed on the upper side of the coin C and moves on the transport surface 14a. Here, for example, a CCD camera or the like is used as the lower surface image identifying unit 35A and the upper surface image identifying unit 35B. The lower surface image identification unit 35A and the upper surface image identification unit 35B constituting the image capturing unit 35 are connected to the control device 50 as shown in FIG. 2, and the control device 50 includes the lower surface image identification unit 35A and the upper surface image identification unit. Based on the image data of the part 35B, whether or not the coin C is an acceptable coin C and the denomination of the acceptable coin C are identified, and the acceptable coin C is counted as a denomination. Note that the arrangement of the lower surface image identification unit 35A and the upper surface image identification unit 35B is not limited to the schematic diagram of FIG. 3, but captures images of both sides of the coin C and is imprinted on either side as will be described later. Any arrangement configuration may be adopted as long as the current year information can be reliably read.

  The reject wall portion 31 shown in FIG. 1 constitutes a gate portion (exclusion means) 52 that is driven by the rotary solenoid 51 shown in FIG. 2 and distributes coins. The reject wall 31 is driven by a rotary solenoid 51 and can be rotated between a standby position and a reject position. At the standby position, the side wall 31a is connected to the downstream end of the inclined side wall 30a of the wall 30 and the reference rail. The other side surface portion 31b is positioned in the width direction of the transport surface 14a more than the inclined side surface portion 30a of the wall portion 30 and the reference side surface portion 32a of the reference rail 32 at the reject position. Project to the center side.

  At the downstream position of the reject wall 31 on the transport surface 14a, a reject hole (exclusion means) 37 for dropping the coin C identified as unacceptable by the control device 50 is formed. For the coin C identified as acceptable based on the image captured by the image capturing unit 35, the control device 50 does not drive the rotary solenoid 51 and positions the reject wall 31 in the standby position. Therefore, the acceptable coin C moves while being guided by the side surface portion 31 a of the reject wall portion 31. At this time, the reject hole 37 moves the coin C guided by the side surface portion 31a to the downstream side of the transport surface 14a without dropping. On the other hand, for the coin C identified as unacceptable based on the image captured by the image capture unit 35, the control device 50 drives the rotary solenoid 51 to position the reject wall 31 at the reject position. Therefore, the unacceptable coin C moves while being guided by the side surface portion 31 b of the reject wall portion 31. At this time, the reject hole 37 drops the coin C guided by the side surface portion 31b from the transport surface 14a. The coins C that have fallen from the reject hole 37 are discharged through a chute (not shown) to an exclusion storage box (or reject port) (not shown).

  At the downstream position of the reject hole 37 on the transport surface 14a, the type of denomination for dropping the coin C identified as acceptable by the control device 50 and guided by the side surface portion 31a and the reference side surface portion 32a from the transport surface 14a as described above. Sorting holes 40 to 45 are formed. In other words, in order from the upstream side, only the 50-yen coin, which is narrower than the sorting hole 40 for dropping only the 1-yen coin guided by the reference side part 32a and guided by the reference side part 32a, is wider than the sorting hole 40. A selection hole 41 for dropping the 5 yen coin having a width wider than that of the selection hole 41 and guided by the reference side surface 32a, and a width of which is guided by the reference side surface 32a wider than the selection hole 42. A sorting hole 43 for dropping only 100-yen coins, a sorting hole 44 for dropping only 10-yen coins having a width wider than that of the sorting hole 43 and guided by a reference side surface 32a, and a width being guided by the reference side surface portion 32a A sorting hole 45 for dropping only 500 yen coins is provided.

  The conveyor belt mechanism 15 has a pair of pulleys 47 and 48 disposed on the upstream side and the downstream side above the conveyance surface 14a, and is wound around the pulleys 47 and 48 so that the coin C is sandwiched between the conveyance surfaces 14a. And an endless transport belt 49 for transporting. The pulley 48 is a driving pulley that is connected to the belt driving motor 53 shown in FIG. 2 and applies a driving force to the conveying belt 49, and the pulley 47 is a driven pulley that rotates with the conveying belt 49.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 50 includes the disk drive motor 22, the lower surface image identification unit 35 </ b> A and the upper image identification unit 35 </ b> B constituting the image capturing unit 35, the rotary solenoid 51, and the belt. A drive motor 53 is connected, and further, an operation unit 56 to which a setting input or the like is input by an operator, a display unit 57 that displays the image to the operator, and a storage unit (storage) that stores reference data and the like. Means) 58 is connected.

  The storage unit 58 stores master data of a reference denomination for comparison with the image data of the coin C detected by the lower surface image identification unit 35A and the upper surface image identification unit 35B.

  The control device 50 includes a comparison control unit (comparison unit) 60 and an exclusion control unit (exclusion unit) 61. The comparison control unit 60 compares the image data of the coin C detected by the lower surface image identification unit 35A and the upper surface image identification unit 35B of the image capturing unit 35 with the master data of each denomination, so that The coin C that matches the denomination master data with a predetermined coincidence or higher is an acceptable coin C and is counted as a coin of this denomination. Such counting is performed for each denomination. On the other hand, the comparison control unit 60 determines that the coin C that does not match the master data of any denomination with a predetermined matching degree or more is an unacceptable coin C, and does not perform counting. For the coin C identified as unacceptable by the comparison control unit 60, the exclusion control unit 61 drives the rotary solenoid 51 to position the reject wall 31 at the reject position. The coin C falls from the reject hole 37 and is discharged to a not-shown exclusion storage box via a not-shown chute.

In the reference technique , the control device 50 causes the storage unit 58 to store the year information of the coins to be excluded, that is, the excluded year information, input to the operation unit 56. That is, the control device 50 enables the input of the excluded year information via the operation unit 56 in the setting input mode in which the input guidance is performed using the display unit 57, and the excluded year information is input via the operation unit 56. When input, this is stored in the storage unit 58. Here, as the exclusion year information, not only the yearly name (for example, 2005, 2007) but also the year range (for example, before 1985) can be entered. Furthermore, it is also possible to input in the original name (for example, Showa). When a single year is input, the control device 50 stores the input single year in the storage unit 58 as excluded year information, and when a range of the year is input, the range. All the year numbers are stored in the storage unit 58 as excluded year information, and when the era is input, only the era name (year information is irrelevant) is stored in the storage unit 58 as excluded year information. Become. Of course, it is also possible to store them together.

  The control device 50 is provided with an OCR unit (reading unit) 62. The OCR unit 62 is an optical character reader, and reads character information from the image data of the coin C detected by the lower surface image identifying unit 35A and the upper surface image identifying unit 35B, and the coin C is imprinted from the character information. The year D shown in FIG. Since the year D is only stamped on one side of the coin C, it is necessary to detect both the upper and lower images by the lower surface image identifying unit 35A and the upper surface image identifying unit 35B.

  In addition, the control device 50 is provided with an era name specifying means 63 for specifying an era name character particularly for an era name in the year information read by the OCR unit 62. The comparison control unit 60 compares the year D read by the OCR unit 62 with the year information stored in the storage unit 58. The exclusion control unit 61 selects a coin C whose year information included in the year D read by the OCR unit 62 matches the exclusion year information stored in the storage unit 58 from the comparison result of the comparison control unit 60. And eliminate.

  That is, in the control device 50, the year information included in the year D read by the OCR unit 62 from the images captured by the image capturing unit 35 matches the excluded year information stored in the storage unit 58. The coin C is determined to be unacceptable, and the rotary solenoid 51 is driven to place the reject wall 31 in the reject position so that the coin C is dropped from the reject hole 37 and is not shown through a chute (not shown). To discharge.

  For example, when “2005” and “2007”, which are single-year names, are stored in the storage unit 58 as the exclusion year information, the control device 50 captures the image capture unit 35. Of the images, the year D read by the OCR unit 62 is determined to be unacceptable for the “2005” and “2007” coins C that are the exclusion year information stored in the storage unit 58. Then, it is dropped from the reject hole 37.

  In addition, when “excluded in 1985”, which is the range of the year, is stored in the storage unit 58 as the exclusion year information, the control device 50 uses the OCR unit 62 of the images captured by the image capture unit 35. The read year D is one of “excluded year 60”, “Showa 59”, “Showa 58”, “Showa 57”, etc., which is the excluded year information stored in the storage unit 58. The coin C is determined to be unacceptable and is dropped from the reject hole 37.

  In addition, when “Showa”, which is the original name, is stored in the storage unit 58 as the excluded year information, the control device 50 reads the year D read by the OCR unit 62 among the images captured by the image capture unit 35. The coin C whose name is “Showa”, which is the excluded year information stored in the storage unit 58, is determined to be unacceptable and dropped from the reject hole 37.

  In addition, if the coin C which has the year information contained in the year name D which corresponds to the exclusion year information memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 58 is detected, the control apparatus 50 will display that on the display part 57, and will operate it. Call attention.

According to the reference technique described above, when the images on both sides of the coin C are captured by the lower surface image identifying unit 35A and the upper image identifying unit 35B, the year included in the year D in which the OCR unit 62 is imprinted on the coin from the image. The comparison control unit 60 compares the year information included in the year D read by the OCR unit 62 with the year information stored in the storage unit 58, and the exclusion control is performed based on the comparison result. The coins whose year information included in the year D read by the OCR unit 62 matches the year information stored in the storage unit 58 are selected and excluded in the reject hole 37. Therefore, if the year information of the coins to be excluded is stored in the storage unit 58 by an operation input via the operation unit 56, it is necessary to exclude new fake coin information or specific old coins. When it occurs, the target coin can be immediately and easily removed. In other words, since multiple false coins are manufactured with a fixed year such as, for example, 2005, if you want to eliminate the false coins, register the year information of 2005 in the storage unit 58. If it is, it becomes possible to eliminate the false coins when they are identified. Similarly, if the year information of the old currency such as 1985 is registered in the storage unit, the old currency can be excluded in the same manner. The old coins excluded in this way are collected for the purpose of not being distributed in the market.

  Moreover, since the year information which is the information which specifies the range of the year D of the coin C is memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 58, the coin of the range of the specific year D can be excluded as an object coin. That is, for example, if the year information is registered as before 1985, the trouble of registering the individual eras of 1986, 1982,. Further, for example, it may be registered as the Showa 60s, and coins from 1985 to 1964 may be excluded. Of course, for example, it is also possible to register the era so that it spans the era of 1985-1989. It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned “Showa 60”, the year and year may be omitted and only the numeral “60” may be registered as year information. In other words, “year” is the common year information common to all coins, and there is no need to register or to check whether the comparison control unit 60 matches. Also, the original name “Showa” may be omitted if it is clear that the range designated for registration does not overlap with the Heisei era.

  Moreover, since the year information which is an era is memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 58, it becomes suitable especially when removing an old coin. That is, for example, if the year information is registered as only the Showa era, all coins of the Showa era can be eliminated.

  Further, since the era name specifying means 63 specifies the era name character for the era name in the year information read by the OCR section 62, it is less susceptible to wear and dirt. In other words, characters of the year, for example, 60 years in the year D, when worn or dirty, cannot be recognized correctly because they cannot be distinguished as 5 or 6 or 8 or 0. However, since there is no place where the character structure is clearly similar for the era characters, such as “Heisei” and “Showa”, for example, if at least a small part of “Showa” is read correctly, “Showa” The provision of the era name specifying means for specifying the era name is convenient because the year name D can be specified and used even when worn or dirty.

In addition to the depositing machine that accepts and stores the coins outside the machine as in the above-described reference technique , the coin processing device 11 is an organizing machine that accepts and sorts the coins outside the machine and discharges them outside the machine. The present invention is applicable to all coin processing devices such as a dispensing machine that discharges in-machine coins to the outside of the machine, and a deposit / withdrawal compound machine that can self-examine the in-machine coins. In short, any configuration that can selectively exclude specific coins (fake coins or old coins) at the time of identification at the time of sorting counting, depositing, withdrawing, or self-examination is sufficient.

Furthermore, in the reference technique , one reject means is constituted by one reject wall 31, one rotary solenoid that drives the reject wall 31, and one reject hole 37 (and an exclusion storage box not shown). However, as described above, in this exclusion means, it is determined that a coin C that does not match the master data of any denomination with a predetermined matching degree or more is an unacceptable coin C and is not counted. The exclusion control unit 61 performs control so that the coins are dropped from the hole 37, and the year information of the coins to be excluded is stored in the storage unit 58 by an operation input via the operation unit 56, and the same exclusion means is used. When it is made to be excluded, it may be unclear whether it is an unacceptable coin C or an excluded coin C based on year information. In the embodiment of the present invention, another set of exclusion means configured by the reject wall 31, a rotary solenoid that drives the reject wall 31, and a reject hole (and an exclusion storage box) in which coins are excluded by the reject wall portion. By providing, the coin C which cannot be accepted by one exclusion means is excluded, and the coin C to be excluded based on the year information is excluded by the other exclusion means . By comprising in this way, the coin C of the exclusion object based on year information can be excluded reliably.

11 Coin Processing Device 35 Image Capture Unit (Image Capture Unit)
37 Reject hole (exclusion means)
52 Gate part (exclusion means)
58 storage unit (storage means)
60 Comparison control unit (comparison means)
61 Exclusion controller (exclusion means)
62 OCR section (reading means)
C Coin D Year

Claims (4)

Image capturing means for capturing images on both sides of a coin;
Reading means for reading the year information stamped on the coin from the image;
Storage means for storing year information of coins to be excluded;
Comparison means for comparing the year information read by the reading means with the year information stored in the storage means;
First exclusion means for selecting and eliminating coins whose year information read by the reading means matches the year information stored in the storage means from the comparison result of the comparison means;
A second excluding unit that is provided separately from the first excluding unit and excludes unacceptable coins that do not coincide with any of the master data of each denomination from the image with a predetermined coincidence or higher;
A coin processing apparatus comprising: The coin processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the year information stored in the storage unit is information for specifying a range of a coin year. The coin processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the year information stored in the storage unit is an era.   The coin processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: an era specifying means for specifying an era character for an era in the year information read by the reading means. .

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