JPH09178434A - Bill identifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the necessity of cumulative addition of measured data for identifying a bill, and the necessity of changing the set position of an optical sensor so as to analyze several data in order to locate a position which is optimum for setting the sensor. SOLUTION: An optical sensor 4 for measuring a thickness of a bill 3 is set so as to carry out the measurement at a marginal edge part of the bill 3. Further, outputs from the optical sensor 3 for measuring data from the marginal edge part of the bill 3 are successively compared with a threshold value so as to determine whether a number of bills 3 is one or more. Since no pattern is present in the marginal edge part of the bill 3, no gradation caused by printing is found, and accordingly, by using this edge part as an area to be measured, data concerning intensities of received light and delivered from the optical sensor 4, become substantially constant in accordance with a number of bills. Accordingly, the identification of the number of bills 2 can be made only by successively comparing the data delivered from the optical sensor 4 with a known threshold value.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bill discriminating apparatus using an optical sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A bill number discriminating device for discriminating whether the number of bills is one or a plurality is determined by measuring the thickness of bills passing through the discriminating device using an optical sensor, The identification is performed by comparing with a threshold value based on a value obtained by cumulatively adding data of one banknote measured in advance.

FIG. 5 shows a conventional bill number discriminating apparatus, in which an optical sensor 4 comprising a light emitting element 1 and a light receiving element 2 detects a bill 3 passing through the discriminating apparatus as a light emitting element 1 and a light receiving element. Banknotes 3 are placed in a position to be sandwiched between 2 and 3
As they move along the transport path in the traveling direction, they pass between the light emitting element 1 and the light receiving element 2, and the light emitted from the light emitting element 1 during that time passes through the banknote 3 and is received by the light receiving element 2. It As a result, the optical sensor 4 measures and outputs the light intensity corresponding to the light transmittance of the banknote 3 sequentially from side to side in the lateral direction of the banknote.

By the way, conventionally, the measurement by these optical sensors 4 is performed by the optical sensor 4 indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.
As can be seen from the locus of the measurement place by the above, it was performed in the portion a of FIG. 6 where the design of the bill 3 is printed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of received light intensity output from the optical sensor 4 in this case. FIG. 7 shows the intensity of light output from the optical sensor 4 when one bill 3 passes through the identification device together with the locus of the measurement location of the bill 3, and a complicated pattern is printed for the measurement. When the portion a of the bill 3 is printed, the light receiving intensity of the light received by the light receiving element 2 largely changes in accordance with the light transmittance due to the shade of the pattern printed on the bill 3.

FIG. 8 shows the received light intensity of the light passing through the banknote 3 output by the optical sensor 4 when the two banknotes 3 pass through the identification device in a state where they are partially overlapped with their loci. Is. As described above, the received light intensity changes in a larger and more complicated manner than in the case of FIG. 7. Further, the way of changing the output greatly varies depending on the number of banknotes, the degree of overlap, and the like, and changes greatly even if the measurement position is slightly shifted in the vertical direction of the banknotes.

As can be seen by comparing the received light intensities output from the optical sensor 4 of FIGS. 7 and 8, it is not possible to simply determine the number of bills 3 by comparing the received light intensities. Therefore, in order to identify whether the number of banknotes 3 inserted in the device is one or a plurality of banknotes, the measurement value of the received light intensity measured in advance when the number of banknotes 3 is one is cumulatively added for one horizontal row of banknotes. (Corresponding to the shaded area in FIG. 7) is performed, a threshold value is determined from the value, and the cumulative addition value of the received light intensity data from the optical sensor 4 of the banknote 3 for which the number of bills is identified (the shaded portion in FIG. 8). It is determined whether the number of banknotes is one or more by comparing whether the number of banknotes is larger or smaller than this threshold value. That is, when the number of banknotes 3 is one as shown in FIG. 7, the cumulative addition value of the received light intensities is equal to or more than the above threshold value, and therefore, when the number of banknotes 3 is plural as shown in FIG. Since the cumulative addition value of the received light intensity is less than or equal to the above threshold value, it is identified as a plurality of sheets.

[0008]

In the above conventional identification device, the cumulative addition for one row in the lateral direction of the banknotes 3 output from the optical sensor 4 to the banknote thickness identification section 5 from the end of the banknote of the received light intensity to the end. Was required, and there was a problem that calculation became complicated.

Further, the received light intensity data greatly differs depending on which part of the bill is measured in the vertical direction, and as a result, the location where the optical sensor 4 is installed greatly affects the discrimination ability. Therefore, in order to find a measurement location that maximizes the identification ability, the installation location of the optical sensor 4 is gradually shifted little by little in the vertical direction of the bill, and a large amount of data obtained is collected and analyzed to measure at which portion of the bill. It was necessary to investigate whether the identification rate would increase.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the need to cumulatively add the received light intensities from the optical sensor 4 when discriminating a bill, and to change the installation location of the optical sensor 4 to obtain a large amount of data. An object of the present invention is to provide a bill identifying device that does not need to search for an installation place where collection and analysis are performed to maximize identification ability.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the identification apparatus of the present invention optically measures the thickness of a bill by measuring a margin portion (b portion in FIG. 6) of the bill. It is configured to identify the number of bills passing through the identification device.

Since the pattern is not printed in the blank portion of the edge portion of the bill, there is no shading due to the printing, and therefore the data of the received light intensity output from the optical sensor 4 is obtained by using this portion for measurement. It becomes a constant value depending on the number of bills, and therefore the number of bills can be identified only by sequentially comparing the data output from the sensor and a known threshold value.

[0013]

1 is a schematic diagram of a bill number discriminating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The optical sensor 4 including the light-emitting element 1 and the light-receiving element 2 is arranged so that the blank portion of the banknote 3 sent out on the conveying path is sandwiched between the light-emitting element 1 and the light-receiving element 2 and the thickness of the banknote 3 is as shown in the figure. The light emitted from the light emitting element 1 at the time of measuring the height is attached to a position where the light receiving element 2 receives the light passing through a blank portion (b portion in FIG. 6) of the edge of the bill 3. In this figure, the locus of the light emitted from the light emitting element 1 and passing through the banknote 3, that is, the locus of the position where the measurement is performed by the optical sensor 4 is shown by a dashed line. Then, this locus passes over the marginal portion (b portion in FIG. 6) of the edge of the bill 3.

FIG. 2 shows a section of the bill number discriminating apparatus of the embodiment of FIG. 1 in the present invention. In the figure, the optical sensor 4 is composed of a light emitting element 1 that emits light such as an LED and a light receiving element 2 that outputs based on the intensity of the received light such as a photodiode and a phototransistor. It is installed so that the light-emitting element 1 and the light-receiving element 2 sandwich the blank portion of the edge of the bill 3 conveyed from the left to the right in the drawing. When the bill 3 is conveyed by the bill conveying unit 6 and passes between the light emitting element 1 and the light receiving element 2 of the optical sensor 4, the light emitted from the light emitting element 1 passes through the bill 3 and is received by the light receiving element 2. Received light. Since the light transmittance of the bill 3 changes depending on the thickness of the bill, that is, the number of bills 3, the light receiving element 2
The received light intensity of the light received by changes depending on the number of bills. The data of the light reception intensity of the light is sent from the optical sensor 4 to the banknote thickness identification unit 5, and the banknote thickness identification unit 5 obtains the known data obtained from the data of the emission intensity and the light reception intensity of the blank portion of one banknote 3. The threshold value is sequentially compared to identify whether the bill 3 is one or a plurality of bills.

The banknotes 3 whose number is to be discriminated are carried in from the left side of FIG. 2, and are conveyed by the banknote conveying section 6 in the rightward direction of FIG. The optical sensor 4 is installed on the transport path so as to pass through the marginal portion of the edge of the bill 3 to which the optical sensor 4 is transported in such a manner as to sandwich the space between the light emitting element 1 and the light receiving element 2. When the banknote 3 approaches the optical sensor 4, the light emitting element 1 irradiates the banknote 3 with light from one surface, and the light receiving element 2 measures the intensity of the light transmitted through the banknote 3 from the opposite surface. The output of the optical sensor 4 is input to the bill thickness discriminating unit 5, and the bill thickness discriminating unit 5 compares the received light intensity data with a known threshold value, and the bill 3 is one or a plurality of bills. Is determined.

When the number of bills passing through the identification device is one, the measurement position of the bill 3 by the optical sensor 4 and the light receiving element 2
FIG. 3 shows the relationship of the received light intensity data output by the. In this way, if the blank area of the banknote 3 is identified, the printing of the banknote 3 is not affected, so that the optical sensor 4 can be used regardless of the measurement position.
The output of is a constant value.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the measurement position and the received light intensity data when two banknotes are partially overlapped and inserted in the identification apparatus of this embodiment. In this case, the thickness of the portion where the two banknotes are overlapped is doubled, and the light transmittance is reduced accordingly.

Therefore, in the identification apparatus of this embodiment, the threshold value is determined from the measurement value when there is one banknote, and the data of the received light intensity from the optical sensor 4 in the measurement of the banknote 3 in which the number of the banknotes is identified is measured. It is judged whether the number of banknotes is one or more by sequentially comparing whether or not is larger or smaller than this threshold value. That is, the identification is started by the identification device,
In FIG. 4, when the received light intensity of the portion where the banknotes 3 are overlapped is output from the optical sensor 4 (FIG. 4A) and the received light intensity becomes less than or equal to the threshold value, the output is sequentially compared with the threshold value. Immediately, the banknote 3 is identified as a plurality.

As described above, since the data of the received light intensity is a constant value even in the overlapping portion of the bills 3, the received light intensity data sent from the optical sensor 4 is not accumulated and the bill 3 is not added. The number of sheets can be detected.

In the present embodiment, only the threshold value based on the received light intensity for one banknote is used to identify whether the banknote 3 is a single banknote or a plurality of banknotes 3. In the identification device of the present embodiment, the optical sensor 4 is the bill 3
Since a constant value is output according to the thickness (the number of bills), the number of bills 3 is 1, 2, 3 ,. . Can also be identified. It can also be applied to identify the types of banknotes with different thicknesses (thousand yen bills, five thousand yen bills, ten thousand yen bills, etc.).

[0021]

According to the bill discriminating apparatus of the present invention, the bill 3 is discriminated in the discriminating device only by sequentially comparing the received light intensity data output from the optical sensor 4 with a known threshold value. Can be done. Further, it is not necessary to cumulatively add the data of the light reception intensity from the optical sensor 4, and the amount of calculation required for identification is less than half as compared with the conventional device. Therefore,
The processing speed of the identification device is increased, and the arithmetic circuit can be simplified.

The optical sensor 4 including the light emitting element 1 and the light receiving element 2 may be installed anywhere as long as the measurement position is within the margin of the bill 3, and the optical sensor having a high identification rate is provided. It is not necessary to collect and analyze the measurement values at a plurality of positions of the bill in order to search the installation place of No. 4.

Further, even if the bill has some stains or wrinkles and the light transmittance varies a little, the discrimination ability is not deteriorated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the operating principle of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between received light intensity and a measurement position in the case of one banknote in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the received light intensity and the measurement position in the case of two banknotes in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation principle diagram of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship between a printed portion and a blank portion of a bill.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relationship of data of received light intensity in the case of one banknote in the prior art.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a relationship of light reception intensity data in the case of two banknotes in the conventional technique.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1 light emitting element 2 light receiving element 3 banknote identified by an identifying device 4 optical sensor 5 banknote thickness identifying section 6 banknote transport section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for identifying banknotes using an optical sensor, wherein the number of banknotes or the type of the banknote is identified by measuring a margin portion of the banknote by the optical sensor. apparatus.