JPH10157879A - Paper sheet processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make an actual paper sheet and a paper sheet recognized by a control part always coinicide with each other, and eliminate erroneous sorting by measuring time of a paper sheet passing signal, comparing this value with predetermined passing time, and judging that the paper sheet normally passes when passing time is not less than a prescribed value. SOLUTION: In a control part 30, when a signal from a passing detecting sensor 20 comes in, the pulse number Nm generated by an encoder 36 installed on a roller of a transport passage or a rotary shaft of a pulley is counted, and a length of a passing signal is measured. On the other hand, Nj decided by considering an error from the pulse number Nr corresponding to a minimum length of a letter to be processed and the measured pulse number Nm are compared with each other, and when Nm is not less than Nj, it is regarded as the letter completely passes. Therefore, even if the letter retreats by a jam or the like after the light is once shielded from a sensor 31, the control part 30 does not regard it as the letter completely passes, and since an actual letter and a letter recognized by the control part 30 are made to still coincide with each other, erroneous sorting can be eliminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a paper sheet processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a device for processing paper sheets, for example, a mail sorting machine, an automatic cash handling device, etc., paper sheets such as letters and bills are separated one by one and then processed while being conveyed by conveying means. You. An optical or laser type passage sensor for detecting whether the paper sheet is being conveyed normally is provided on the conveyance path on which the paper sheet is conveyed.

In these apparatuses, paper sheets are conveyed while being held between endless belts and rollers. The paper sheet conveyed on the conveyance path, passes between the light emitting means and the light receiving means of the passage sensor provided near the conveyance path, and shields light or laser light,
The light or laser received by the light receiving means is converted into an electric signal, and the rise or fall of the electric signal detects the passage of the paper sheet.

[0004]

Most of endless belts and rollers for holding and transporting paper sheets are made of an elastic material such as rubber. In particular, the endless belt that holds and conveys paper sheets is made of an elastic material that is relatively easily stretched in order to reduce the driving load.

When a paper sheet is conveyed while being clamped by a belt made of an elastic material which is easily stretched, for example, when a paper sheet processing apparatus is stopped due to the occurrence of a jam, the belt itself has an inertia force, a roller, and the like. It expands and contracts under the influence of the inertial force of the pulley and the like. At this time, the paper sheets sandwiched between the endless belts also advance and retreat according to the behavior of the belt in elongation and contraction.

In such a paper sheet processing apparatus, when a paper jam or other obstacle occurs in the transport path and the apparatus is stopped, the paper sheet passage detection sensor detects the passage of the paper sheet at the place where the paper sheet is passed. If the leaf moves forward or retreats in an attempt to stop, the paper sheet blocks the light of the sensor when the leaf moves forward, but may not block the sensor light when retreating. In this case, although the paper sheet has not actually passed, the passage detecting means regards that the paper sheet has passed. For this reason, at the time of restart, the paper sheet detected by the detecting means is detected as being one sheet shifted from the actual paper sheet, and the paper sheet is transported to a storage unit different from the predetermined storage unit. There was a problem that caused misclassification.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the paper sheet processing apparatus, the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention comprises:
A control unit that controls the apparatus, a unit that measures the time of the sheet passing signal by the detecting unit, a comparing unit that compares the sheet passing signal with a predetermined passing time,
There is provided a judging means for judging a process based on a comparison result by the comparing means. If the passing time from the passing time measuring means is equal to or more than a predetermined value, it is determined that the paper sheet has passed normally.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a sorting machine for sorting postal letters, which is an embodiment of a paper sheet processing apparatus according to the present invention.

The letter sorter shown in FIG. 1 reads letters and addresses as well as the postal code written on the letter, and processes this letter by printing this information as a bar code on the letter. Therefore, a separator 1, which separates letters one by one, a detecting unit 2, which detects double feeding, thickness, etc. of letters,
In addition to the alignment unit 3 for correcting the skew and shift of a letter, a reading unit 4 for reading a postal code and an address 4, a printer 5 for printing a barcode 5, a barcode reading unit 6 for reading a barcode, 12. A transport path 7 for transporting letters is provided. As the printer 5 that prints barcodes, an ink jet printer is used to print letters in various thicknesses and materials.

There are two types of sorting machines, the offline type and the online type, for recognizing postal codes and addresses and printing barcodes. The sorting machine shown in FIG. This is an off-line type in which an ID code is added and excluded, and the classification is performed again using another device. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the off-line type letter sorter.

Next, the flow of a letter in the letter sorter shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

The letters set in the hopper 8 of the letter sorter are separated by the separator 1 one by one. The letters separated one by one are conveyed while being clamped by the conveying means of the conveying section 7. Then, in order to prevent erroneous classification of letters and obstacles during conveyance in advance, the detection unit 2 detects double feeding, bending rigidity (hardness) of letters, and thickness of letters. Letters that are regarded as double feed by the detection unit 2 or letters with a large bending rigidity (hardness) or letters whose thickness is larger than a predetermined value are:
The transport gate 9 on the downstream side of the detection unit 2 is switched and taken into the reject box 10.

The letter which is not regarded as abnormal by the detection unit 2 is conveyed to the alignment unit 3 and the skew and shift are corrected.
The positioning unit 3 corrects the posture of the letter or sets the printing position of the bar code to the reading sensor position in order to perform reading by the address reading unit 4 and the bar code reading unit 6 on the downstream side normally. It is provided to match.

The letter 8 that has passed through the positioning section 3 is read by the address reading section 4 first, where the postal code and the address are read, and then the bar code reading section 6 provided on the downstream side, and the letter is read by the sender or another station. Is read.

For letters without a bar code, a bar code is printed at a letter position determined by the ink jet printer 5 based on the information read by the address reading unit 4.

The letter on which the barcode is printed is read by a barcode reading unit 12 located downstream of the printer 5. With this barcode information, the gate 14 and a gate (not shown) provided on the upper part of the sorting shelf are switched so that the letters are accumulated on the predetermined sorting shelf 13. The letter whose address could not be read is provided with an ID code and is conveyed to the reject section 13A.

In the sorting machine shown in FIG.
On the downstream side of 2, there is provided a letter-shaped overlapping transport path 15 composed of two long and short transport routes. This is to improve the reliability of stacking by stacking the next letter on the preceding letter and stacking the two letters on the sorting shelf when two letters are consecutively stacked on the same shelf. It is for. Usually, a letter is one of
Although the longer letter 15A of the conveying path is conveyed, when overlapping letters, the subsequent letter is conveyed on the shorter conveying path 15B and is overlapped with the preceding letter. By stacking letters in this manner, when letters are successively accumulated on the same section shelf, a jam caused by a subsequent letter colliding with a preceding letter is prevented.

A transport path 16 for transporting letters to the section shelves is provided above each section of the section shelves 13. The conveying means is endless belts 17A and 17B which are opposed and contact with each other to pinch and convey the letter. These transport belts 17 are rotated by a driving force transmitted from a transport belt drive motor (not shown).

FIG. 2 shows a transport path 16 of a sorting shelf module as an example of a transport path in the sorting machine of the present invention shown in FIG.
FIG. The transport path 16 includes an endless transport belt 17 which is in contact with and faces the opposite side for sandwiching and transporting the letters, a sorting gate 18 for sorting and accumulating letters on a sorting shelf provided below the transport path, and a transport guide. 19 and an optical passage sensor 20 for detecting passage of a letter.

The transport belt 17 is a long transport belt 17A.
And a short conveyor belt 17 provided one per section shelf
B. Also, these transport belts 17 are relatively stretchable belts which are usually used at an elongation ratio of about 3% to about 8%.

Each of the conveyor belts 17 is driven to rotate by a conveyor belt drive pulley 21. Another driving pulley 23 is fixedly held at the other end of the rotating shaft 22 on which the conveyor belt driving pulley 21 is fixedly held. This pulley 2
A drive belt 24 that transmits a driving force from a transport belt drive motor mounted on the final module is wound around the drive belt 3. As a result, all the conveyor belts are driven.

In this embodiment, the passage sensor 20 for detecting passage of a letter is an optical passage sensor, and is connected to the control unit 30 so as to exchange electric signals. In this sensor, when there is no letter, the light emitted from the light emitting element 20A of the passage sensor is received by the light receiving element 20B as it is, but when the letter passes, the letter shields the light from the light emitting element. Therefore, the light receiving element cannot receive light. For this reason, the electric signal of the light received by the light receiving element changes, thereby detecting the passage of the letter. The principle of operation of this sensor is the same as that of a commonly used optical pass sensor.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the control section 30 in the present invention. The control unit includes a passage sensor control unit 31, a passage time measurement unit 32, a passage determination unit 33, and a predetermined pulse storage unit 3.
4, a main control unit 35.

The passage sensor control unit supplies power to the passage sensor 20 and detects a passage signal, and is connected to the passage time measurement unit 32. In addition, the transit time measuring unit 32
It is connected to an encoder 36 as a pulse generating means attached to at least one roller or pulley of the transport path 7 or 16, and performs power supply to the encoder and pulse detection from the encoder. Further, here, when a letter passing signal from the passing sensor 20 is input, pulses from the encoder are counted. The counted pulses are then sent to the passage determining unit 33, and are stored in the predetermined pulse storage unit 3.
4 is compared with a pulse input in advance. The main control unit 35 is a unit that controls the subsequent processing device based on a signal from the passage determination unit 33. As the pulse generating means, a signal obtained by converting a signal from a tachometer, a belt speed measuring device or the like into a pulse may be used, or a pulse from a clock circuit may be used instead.

Next, a description will be given of an embodiment for judging whether a letter to be conveyed is normal or abnormal, and judging whether the letter is passed.

The determination as to whether the letter to be conveyed is normally conveyed is made as follows. As shown in FIG. 4, a certain letter E1 is transmitted by a passage sensor 20 having a conveying path 7.
When passing through the section A, the passing sensor 20A detects this and generates a passing signal as shown in the figure. Conveyance speed V of letter E
Is determined in advance, and the distance L between the passage sensor 20A and the next passage sensor 20B is also determined. Therefore, the control unit calculates the reference time t = L calculated from the transport speed V and the value of the distance L between the passage sensors. / V before t1 time to reference time after t
During the two hours, it is checked whether or not a pass detection signal in the form of a letter is generated from the pass sensor 20B. If the passage detection signal is generated within this time, it is assumed that the letter E has been normally conveyed to the passage sensor 20B. While performing such operations one after another, the gates are switched so that the letters are conveyed to the sorting shelf where the letters are stored.

If the passage detection signal of the letter is not generated within a predetermined time, the processing is stopped assuming that a jam has occurred, or it is regarded that the letter has jumped out of the conveyance path on the way, and the processing is stopped at E1. The process moves to the processing of the next subsequent letter E2. When it is determined that the letter E1 has jumped out of the transport path on the way, the information of the storage shelf relating to the letter E1 is deleted from the control unit, and the control operation for transporting the letter E1 to a predetermined storage shelf is interrupted.

The determination of the passage of a letter is performed as follows. FIG.
As shown in (1), when the passage signal from the passage detection sensor 20 is input, the control unit 30 determines the number of pulses Nm generated by the encoder 36 attached to the roller of the transport path 7 or 16 or the rotating shaft of the pulley. Count and measure the length of the passing signal. On the other hand, since the length of the letter processed by the letter sorter is predetermined, the pulse number Nr corresponding to the minimum length is obtained in advance by calculation.
The control unit compares the actually measured pulse number Nm with the pulse number Nj determined in consideration of the error from the calculated pulse number Nr, and determines the measured pulse number Nm as Nj.
In the above case, a signal is generated to consider that the letter has completely passed.

By the way, in the sorting machine shown in FIG. 1, for example, when a jam occurs in the conveyance path or when an emergency stop button is pressed, the conveyance means of the whole or a part of the conveyance path is stopped. I do. At this time, the letter remains in the transport path, but when the operation such as jam removal is completed and the apparatus is restarted, the letter remaining in the transport path is transported to the predetermined sorting shelf as it is. Is also desirable for improving the processing capacity.

In the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention, when the apparatus is stopped, the paper sheet moves forward or backward due to the expansion and contraction of the belt near the detection point of the passage detection sensor, and the passage detection sensor Even if the light is shielded, the number of pulses Nm counted at this time decreases, so that the predetermined number of pulses Nj
Does not reach. For this reason, even when the letter temporarily blocks the passage sensor and then retreats, even if the light of the passage sensor is in a transmission state, the control unit does not consider that the letter has completely passed, and the control unit recognizes the actual letter. The letter you have remained consistent.
At the time of restart, the number of pulses measured after the restart is continuously added to the number of pulses measured at the time of the stop, and measurement is performed to determine whether the letter has passed.

As described above, the determination of the passage of a letter is made while measuring the passage time, so that the actual letter in the transport path matches the letter recognized by the control unit.
It is possible to solve the above-described problem of misclassification.

[0033]

According to the present invention, since the letter in the transport path matches the letter recognized by the control unit, erroneous processing can be prevented, and a decrease in processing capacity can be prevented. A paper sheet processing device can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mail sorting machine as an embodiment of a paper sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing one embodiment of a transport path in the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a control unit in the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a method for determining whether a letter is normally passed.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for determining whether a letter has passed.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Separator, 2 ... Detection part, 3 ... Alignment part, 4 ... Reading part,
5: bar code printer, 6, 12: bar code reading section, 7, 16: transport path, 8: hopper, 9, 14, gate, 10: reject box, 13: sorting shelf, 15:
Overlap transport path, 17: transport belt.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A paper for separating paper sheets one by one from a supply means and storing the paper sheets in a designated storage means based on information written on the paper sheets. An apparatus for processing leaves, comprising: conveying means for holding the paper sheets in contact with each other for conveying the paper sheets; driving pulley means for rotating and driving the conveying means; and driving means for driving the driving pulley means. A driving belt means for transmitting a driving force from a source, a motor serving as the driving source, a detecting means for detecting passage of the paper sheet, a switching means for switching a conveying direction of the paper sheet, and In a sheet processing apparatus having a control unit that performs control, the processing apparatus includes: a unit that measures a time of a sheet passing signal by the detection unit; and a passing time that is determined in advance by the sheet passing signal. Comparing means for comparing Sheet processing apparatus according to claim further comprising a determination means based on the comparison result by the stage makes the determination of passage of the paper sheet.