CN108604397B - Value document processing device and value document processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a value document processing device capable of detecting partial loss of a security thread with higher precision. A value document processing apparatus according to the present invention is, for example, a banknote processing apparatus that detects partial loss of a security thread of a banknote, and includes: an image sensor that detects image information of the bill conveyed in a conveyance path; a magnetic sensor that detects magnetic information of at least the security thread of the bill conveyed in a conveyance path; and a defect detection unit that detects the partial defect based on the image information and the magnetic information.

Description

Value document processing device and value document processing method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a value document processing apparatus and a value document processing method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a value document processing apparatus and a value document processing method for processing value documents (value documents) having security threads.

Background

In some cases, various security features are imparted to value documents such as banknotes (bank notes), merchandise tickets, checks, securities, and card-like media for forgery prevention, and for example, security threads are provided in banknotes in many countries. The safety yarn is usually a thin band made of metal or resin, and is provided by being stuck or printed on a base material. There are cases where a plurality of security threads are provided as in 100-dollar banknotes of the people's republic of china that were issued in 2015. In addition, security threads are also provided with a plurality of features. For example, magnetic information may be provided to the security thread, or an Optically Variable Device (OVD) such as a reflective layer, hologram, or dynamic thread that reflects a specific color may be provided to the surface of the security thread.

As for a conventional security thread to which a plurality of features are added, for example, patent document 1 describes a security thread in which a hologram or a diffraction grating is provided on one surface of a base material, and a magnetic layer containing a magnetic material as a main component is provided on the other surface. According to patent document 1, a function capable of recording magnetic information is added to a security thread having an optical function such as a hologram, and the optical information such as a hologram is recorded as magnetic information in the security thread, and the authenticity is determined by comparing the optical information with the magnetic information, thereby making forgery of the security thread more difficult.

Further, detection of a safety wire is described in patent documents 2 and 3 in addition to patent document 1. Patent document 2 describes a technique of inspecting an image of a filament portion with a light-transmissive sensor and a magnetic sensor in order to accurately detect the presence of a filament (see fig. 7). Patent document 3 describes a technique for determining the contents of conveyance abnormalities and the degree of damage of a sheet based on a read signal of a safety wire.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2011-123722

Patent document 2: international publication No. 2004/023402

Patent document 3: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 9-44722

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

Since there is a possibility that banknotes collected from the market into banks are damaged in various types such as tearing, holes, stains, wrinkles, scribbles, and tape sticking, only the banknotes judged as genuine in the authenticity judgment are reused among the banknotes judged as genuine in the authenticity judgment, and the banknotes judged as intact in the authenticity judgment are not damaged. On the other hand, if the coupon is determined to be damaged in the damage completion determination, the coupon is separated from the damaged coupon so as not to be used again. In this case, it is required to treat the banknotes with damaged security threads as damaged banknotes. The damage of the security thread is based on various criteria, but banknotes in which the security thread is missing more than the criteria are collected as damaged banknotes.

Examples of sensors that can be used for detecting a security thread include an image sensor, a magnetic sensor, and a capacitance sensor. Although these sensors have a function required for authenticity judgment, partial loss (e.g., loss of 10mm of the security thread) cannot be detected with sufficient accuracy, and it is difficult to accurately recognize a finished ticket or a damaged ticket. If a damaged banknote is erroneously determined as a damaged banknote, the banknotes that can be used originally are discarded, and if a damaged banknote is erroneously determined as a damaged banknote, the banknotes that should be discarded originally are distributed on the market, so that it is required to prevent any erroneous determination.

Specifically, a Sensor having a shallow depth of field such as a CIS (Contact Image Sensor) is often used as the Image Sensor, and the banknote may be deviated from the focused region by shaking or the like, and the obtained Image may be unclear. Therefore, the image of the security thread may be blurred and thinned, and may be mistaken for a missing portion or, conversely, may be mistaken for a continuous missing portion. The detection of the security thread by the image sensor is accurate enough to be used for authenticity determination for determining the presence or absence of the security thread, but is not accurate enough for partial detection for complete damage determination.

In addition, in the magnetic sensor, although the analysis force in the banknote transport direction is sufficient for detecting the partial loss of the security thread with accuracy, the partial loss of the security thread and the simple decrease in the magnetic output may not be distinguished. Since the decrease in magnetic output does not hinder authenticity determination and appearance, it can be used as a finished ticket and needs to be distinguished from partial deletion.

Further, the electrostatic capacity sensor detects the entire safety wire, and cannot detect partial failure in principle.

As described above, in order to determine the complete loss, a technical means capable of detecting the partial loss of the safety wire with sufficient accuracy is required. On the other hand, in patent documents 1 and 2, the security thread is detected only for the purpose of authenticity judgment, and in patent document 3, a method for improving the detection accuracy of the security thread is not disclosed, and the above-described technical means is not provided.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described situation, and an object thereof is to provide a value document processing apparatus and a value document processing method capable of detecting a partial defect of a security thread with high accuracy.

Means for solving the problems

In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a value document processing apparatus for detecting a partial loss of a security thread of a value document, the apparatus including: an image sensor that detects image information of the value documents conveyed in the conveyance path; a magnetic sensor that detects magnetic information of at least the security thread of the value document transported in the transport path; and a defect detection unit that detects the partial defect based on the image information and the magnetic information.

In the above invention, the present invention further includes an authenticity determination section for performing authenticity determination of the value ticket.

In the above invention, the present invention is characterized in that a partial loss of the security thread of the value document determined as the genuine document is detected.

In the above invention, the defect detecting unit may detect the partial defect based on an optical detection result of the partial defect based on the image information and a magnetic detection result of the partial defect based on the magnetic information.

In the above invention, the deletion detector determines the magnetic detection result of the partial deletion when the optical detection result of the partial deletion is determined to be a deletion.

In the present invention, the optical detection result is a result of imaging the image information of the security thread included in the image information of the value document, and the magnetic detection result is a result of imaging the magnetic information of the security thread; the defect detection unit detects the partial defect based on a superimposed image of the image information of the security thread and the magnetic information of the security thread after imaging.

In the above invention, the defect detection unit may determine that the defective product is free of the partial defect when the optical detection result of the partial defect is free of defects and the magnetic detection result of the partial defect is free of defects.

In the above invention, the defect detection unit may determine that the defective product is free from the partial defect when the optical detection result of the partial defect is a defect and the magnetic detection result of the partial defect is non-defect.

In the above invention, the defect detection unit may determine that the defective product is free from the partial defect when the optical detection result of the partial defect is zero and the magnetic detection result of the partial defect is defective.

In the above invention, the present invention further includes: a storage unit that stores category information including reference image information prepared according to a category of the value document and position information of the security thread; and a type determination unit that compares the image information with the reference image information and determines at least a type of the value document; the defect detection unit detects the partial defect based on the position information of the safety yarn concerning the classification information of the classification determined by the classification determination unit.

In the present invention, the defect detecting unit detects a position of the security thread in the value document based on an information pattern included in the image information; detecting the partial absence based on the detected position of the safety wire.

In the present invention, the image information includes a transmitted light image generated based on an intensity distribution of light transmitted through the value document.

In the present invention, the image information includes a reflected light image generated based on an intensity distribution of light reflected by the value document.

In the present invention, the value sheet is a banknote, and the value sheet processing device is a banknote processing device.

In the above invention, the present invention further includes: a branch mechanism provided in the transport path and configured to switch a transport destination of the value documents; a plurality of stacking sections connected to the transport path and configured to stack the value documents; and a transport control unit that selects a specific stacking unit that is a transport target of the value documents from among the plurality of stacking units based on a determination result of the deficiency detection unit, and drives the branch mechanism.

The present invention is also a value document processing method for detecting a partial absence of a security thread of a value document, including: an image information acquisition step of acquiring image information of the value documents conveyed in a conveyance path; a magnetic information acquisition step of acquiring at least magnetic information of the security thread from the value document transported in the transport path; and a missing detection step of detecting the partial missing based on the image information and the magnetic information.

Effects of the invention

According to the value document processing apparatus and the value document processing method of the present invention, the accuracy of detecting partial defects of the security thread having magnetic information is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a sensor unit 10 of a banknote handling apparatus, fig. 1(a) is a side view, and fig. 1(b) is a plan view of a transport surface of fig. 1(a) as viewed in an arrow direction.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the image sensor module 15.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the front and back faces and the orientation of the transported bill 100.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the magnetic sensor module 19.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the type of the safety wire 101.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the magnetic information of the security thread 101 output by the magnetic detection element 19c, and fig. 6(a) corresponds to a case where the change amount of the magnetic flux density is output (for example, a magnetoresistive element), and fig. 6(b) corresponds to a case where the absolute value of the magnetic flux density is output (for example, a hall element).

Fig. 7 is a diagram for explaining magnetic information output when the normal safety wire 101 is detected, fig. 7(a) shows magnetic information obtained by the magnetic detection element 19c that outputs a variation in magnetic flux density, fig. 7(b) shows magnetic information obtained by the magnetic detection element 19c that outputs an absolute value of magnetic flux density, and fig. 7(c) shows magnetic information obtained by processing the magnetic information obtained in fig. 7(a) or fig. 7 (b).

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating magnetic information acquired when a normal safety wire 101 is detected, fig. 8(a) shows an output of the magnetic sensor module 19, fig. 8(b) shows a block image obtained by imaging the output of fig. 8(a), and fig. 8(c) shows a wire magnetic image obtained by comparing the block image of fig. 8(b) with a threshold value.

Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining magnetic information acquired when the missing security thread 101 is detected, fig. 9(a) shows the output of the magnetic sensor module 19, fig. 9(b) shows a block image obtained by imaging the output of fig. 9(a), and fig. 9(c) shows a thread magnetic image obtained by comparing the block image of fig. 9(b) with a threshold value.

Fig. 10 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the acquired magnetic information and image information and the detection of the absence of the security thread 101.

Fig. 11 is a determination table of the end loss determination in the case of detecting the absence of the safety wire 101 using both the results of the optical determination and the magnetic determination.

Fig. 12 is a determination flow of the end loss determination in the case of detecting the absence of the safety wire 101 using both the results of the optical determination and the magnetic determination.

Fig. 13 is a functional block diagram illustrating a processing system of the recognition unit 50 of the banknote handling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow of the missing detection unit 25 d.

Fig. 15(a) is a perspective view schematically showing the appearance of the banknote handling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 15(b) is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the outline of the structure inside the banknote handling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 16 is a perspective view schematically showing the appearance of another banknote handling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the present embodiment, a banknote handling apparatus is shown as an example of a value document handling apparatus. First, the configuration of the sensor unit 10, which is a main part of the banknote handling apparatus according to the present embodiment, will be described with reference to fig. 1. The sensor unit 10 has a configuration in which an optical sensor 13a, an image sensor module 15, a thickness detection sensor 17, a magnetic sensor module 19, and an optical sensor 13b are arranged in line along a conveyance path of the bill 100. The image sensor module 15, the thickness detection sensor 17, and the magnetic sensor module 19 are sufficiently long with respect to the width W of the conveyance path, and can detect the entire surface of the bill 100. Further, a conveyance mechanism 11 is provided in the sensor unit 10 so that the bill 100 can move in the conveyance path. The conveying mechanism 11 is not particularly limited, and for example, a roller, a belt, or the like is driven by a driving device such as a motor. A rotation amount detecting member, not shown, such as a rotary encoder, is connected to the transport mechanism 11, and the distance over which the bill 100 is transported can be detected from the detected rotation amount. During conveyance of the bill 100 by the conveyance mechanism 11, the image sensor module 15 acquires image information of the bill 100, and the magnetic sensor module 19 acquires magnetic information of the bill 100. Based on the acquired image information and magnetic information, a partial defect (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "defect") of a security thread (hereinafter, also simply referred to as "thread") 101 provided on the bill 100 is detected. Details of the missing detection method will be described later.

The type of the bill 100 to be used is not particularly limited as long as it has the thread 101 having magnetic information. The material of the bill 100 may be paper made of plant fibers, synthetic paper made of synthetic fibers, or a polymer sheet as a synthetic resin sheet.

The wire 101 may have magnetic information. In fig. 1, 1 wire 101 extending in the short side direction of the bill 100 is shown, but a plurality of wires may be provided in the bill 100. In addition, 1 wire 101 is preferably in a pattern such that magnetized portions and non-magnetized portions are alternately present along the length direction of the wire 101, for example, as in a bar code. The position and shape of the wire 101 are not particularly limited.

The thread 101 may be exposed on the surface of the banknote 100, or may be provided in the interior of the banknote 100. When the material of the bill 100 is paper or synthetic paper, the threads 101 may be printed on the bill 100. In this case, the threads 101 are not visible from the surface of the banknote 100 or are intermittently exposed, but cannot be confirmed unless light is transmitted through the banknote 100.

Further, the yarn 101 may be added with a reflective layer that reflects a specific color, or an Optically Variable Device (OVD) such as a hologram or a dynamic yarn.

The optical sensor 13a detects the banknotes 100 sequentially fed to the sensor unit 10, and generates a banknote detection signal for determining the timing of starting detection of the banknotes 100 in the sensor unit 10. On the other hand, the optical sensor 13b detects the passage of the bill 100. When the conveyance direction of the bill 100 is reversed, the optical sensor 13b detects the arrival of the bill 100, and the optical sensor 13a detects the passage of the bill 100. As the photosensors 13a and 13b, a light reflection type or a light transmission type photosensor is used. Instead of the optical sensors 13a and 13b, a sensor that mechanically detects the passage of the bill 100 may be provided.

The image sensor module 15 includes, for example, an image sensor in which image sensors such as CCDs and CMOSs are linearly arranged, and an imaging optical system such as a light source and a lens. The image sensor module 15 detects image information of the bill 100 conveyed in the conveyance path. The form of the image information may be a form in which the image information is formed, or a combination of the coordinates and the measurement values which are not formed into the image, but a case where the image information formed into the image is processed will be described below. As the image information, at least one of a transmitted light image generated from the intensity distribution of the light transmitted through the bill 100 and a reflected light image generated from the intensity distribution of the light reflected by the bill 100 can be used. Further, as the reflected light image, at least one of a front surface reflected light image based on light reflected by the front surface of the bill 100 and a back surface reflected light image based on light reflected by the back surface of the bill 100 can be used. The transmitted light image is appropriately used for detecting the thread 101, and the reflected light image may be used when the thread 101 is exposed on the front surface and/or the back surface of the banknote 100. The wavelength of light used for obtaining (capturing) image information is appropriately selected depending on the bill 100 to be captured, and monochromatic light such as red/green/blue, visible light such as white light, infrared light, ultraviolet light, or the like may be used, and imaging may be performed a plurality of times using a plurality of different spectra of light as necessary. The front reflection light image, the back reflection light image, and the transmitted light image may include a plurality of images captured by light of different spectra. Infrared light is suitable for imaging the thread 101, and when detecting the thread 101 provided in the banknote 100, it is preferable to use a transmitted infrared light image.

An example of the structure of the image sensor module 15 will be described with reference to fig. 2. The image sensor module 15 shown in fig. 2 includes a 1 st light receiving unit 15a, a light emitting unit 15b, and a 2 nd light receiving unit 15 c. In the 1 st light receiving unit 15a, light is irradiated from the light sources 15d and 15e toward the bill 100, and the reflected light reflected by the bill 100 is received by the imaging device 15g via the condenser lens 15 f. A transparent plate 15i is provided below the 1 st light receiving unit 15a facing the transport path. Further, a substrate 15h for supporting a plurality of image pickup elements 15g arranged in a line in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the bill 100 is provided above the 1 st light receiving unit 15 a. According to the 1 st light receiving unit 15a, the reflected light image of the upper surface of the bill 100 can be obtained.

The light emitting unit 15b is provided at a position facing the 1 st light receiving unit 15a with the conveyance path of the bill 100 therebetween. When light is irradiated from the light source 15j of the light emitting unit 15b toward the bill 100, the light transmitted through the bill 100 enters the light receiving unit 15a and is received by the image pickup device 15g via the condenser lens 15 f. A transparent plate 15k is provided on an upper portion of the light emitting unit 15b facing the conveyance path. By providing the light emitting unit 15b, a transmitted light image of the bill 100 can be obtained.

The 2 nd light receiving unit 15c is provided adjacent to the light emitting unit 15 b. In the 2 nd light receiving unit 15c, light is irradiated from the light sources 15m and 15n toward the bill 100, and the reflected light reflected by the bill 100 is received by the imaging device 15q via the condenser lens 15 p. A transparent plate 15s is provided above the 2 nd light receiving unit 15c facing the transport path. Further, a substrate 15r supporting a plurality of image pickup elements 15q arranged in a line in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the bill 100 is provided below the 2 nd light receiving unit 15 c. According to the 2 nd light receiving unit 15c, the reflected light image of the lower side of the bill 100 can be obtained.

The front and back surfaces and the direction of the transported bill 100 are not particularly limited, and the bill 100 may be in any state as shown in fig. 3(a) to 3 (d). The denomination, front and back sides, and the direction of orientation of the bill 100 are determined based on the image information obtained by the image sensor module 15, and the missing of the thread 101 is detected in accordance with the denomination and direction of the bill 100.

The thickness detection sensor 17 detects the thickness of the bill 100. The thickness detection sensor 17 is configured to detect the displacement of the banknote 100 on the rollers facing each other across the transport path when the banknote passes through the rollers, for example, by a sensor provided on each roller.

The magnetic sensor module 19 is used to detect magnetic information included in the bill 100 conveyed in the conveyance path, and detects at least magnetic information of the wire 101. The magnetic sensor module 19 may detect not only magnetic information of the wire 101 but also other magnetic information such as magnetic ink printed on the bill 100. The magnetic sensor module 19 is preferably a magnetic sensor in which a plurality of magnetic detection elements (magnetic heads) are linearly arranged. As the magnetic detection element, an element (differential type magnetic detection element) that outputs a change in the magnetic flux density of the wire 101 as a change in a signal is preferably used, and specifically, a magnetoresistive element (MR element), a coil, a flux gate (FG element), a magnetic impedance (MI element), and the like can be given. The magnetoresistive element (MR element) may be an anisotropic magnetoresistive element (AMR element), a giant magnetoresistive element (GMR element), a tunnel magnetoresistive element (TMR element), or the like. The magnetic detection element may be an element that outputs the intensity (absolute value) of the magnetic flux density of the wire 101, and for example, a hall element or the like may be used.

An example of the structure of the magnetic sensor module 19 will be described with reference to fig. 4. In the magnetic sensor module 19 shown in fig. 4, a magnet 19b for generating a bias magnetic field and a magnetic detection element 19c are disposed in a magnetic head 19 a. The magnetic detection elements 19c are arranged in a line in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the bill 100. Below the magnetic detection element 19c, a hair roller 19d provided with a hair-like material on the outer peripheral surface is disposed so that the bill 100 can be brought into close contact with the magnetic head 19 a.

According to the magnetic sensor module 19, the detection performance of high resolution force can be obtained with respect to the type of the wire 101. An example of detecting magnetic information of the wire 101 with an analytical force of 50 to 100dpi in the longitudinal direction of the wire 101 will be described below. The analytical force of the magnetic sensor module 19 is not limited to the above analytical force, and may be determined according to the magnetic pattern of the wire 101 to be detected.

Fig. 5 shows an example of the pattern of the thread 101. The wire 101 shown in FIG. 5 has a configuration in which magnetized portions 101a having a width of 5mm × a length of 5mm are arranged at 5mm intervals. In addition, in the case where the entire filament 101 is formed of a magnetic material, or in the case where only the magnetized portion 101a of the filament 101 is formed of a magnetic material, the following detection method can detect the absence of the filament 101 in either case. As shown in fig. 3, the longitudinal direction of the wire 101 is generally parallel to the short side direction of the bill 100. At this time, the direction in which the magnetic sensor module 19 detects the magnetic information of the wire 101 is the Y direction in fig. 5 when the bill 100 is transported in the short side direction, and the X direction in fig. 5 when the bill 100 is transported in the long side direction. A method of detecting the absence of the wire 101 in the case of short-side conveyance will be described below. As described later, the absence of the wire 101 can be detected even in the case of long-side conveyance. Even if the longitudinal direction of the thread 101 is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the banknote 100, the processing can be performed in the same manner as in the following example, depending on the longitudinal direction of the thread 101.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating magnetic information of the wire 101 output by the magnetic detection element 19c, and fig. 6(a) corresponds to a case where a change amount of the magnetic flux density is output (for example, a magnetoresistive element), and fig. 6(b) corresponds to a case where an absolute value of the magnetic flux density is output (for example, a hall element). In fig. 6(a) and 6(b), the vertical axis represents the output voltage Vout, and the horizontal axis represents the movement amount L of the magnetic head 19 a. If the magnetic flux density detected by the magnetic head 19a is largely changed at the end of the magnetized portion 101a of the wire 101, the output of the magnetic head 19a largely changes as shown in fig. 6(a) and 6 (b).

Fig. 7 is a diagram for explaining magnetic information output when a normal wire 101 is detected, fig. 7(a) shows magnetic information obtained by the magnetic detection element 19c that outputs a variation in magnetic flux density, fig. 7(b) shows magnetic information obtained by the magnetic detection element 19c that outputs an absolute value of magnetic flux density, and fig. 7(c) shows magnetic information obtained by processing the magnetic information obtained in fig. 7(a) or fig. 7 (b). By converting the magnitude of the change in signal in the magnetic information shown in fig. 7(a) or 7(b) into the magnetic information shown in fig. 7(c) using a circuit, a signal having an output at a predetermined interval P can be obtained. Instead of the above-described circuit, the magnetic information may be converted by a/D conversion (digitization) and then processed by software.

Fig. 8 is a diagram in which the output of the magnetic sensor module 19 is imaged as an example of magnetic information acquired when the normal wire 101 is detected. The magnetic information is not limited to an image, and may be in other forms such as a numerical value.

When the magnetic sensor module 19 detects the change in the magnetic flux density of the wire 101 shown in fig. 5 as magnetic information, an output as shown in fig. 8(a) is detected. If the a/D conversion is performed so that the numerical value becomes larger as the downward output of the output becomes larger, and an image having the converted value as a pixel value is created, a magnetic image in which the magnetic information of the wire 101 is imaged can be obtained. Fig. 8(b) is a block image obtained by dividing the magnetic image into 5mm blocks at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the wire 101 and setting the maximum pixel value in each block as the pixel value of each block. Fig. 8(c) is a filament magnetic image in which the pixel values of the respective blocks are compared with a predetermined threshold value, the blocks having a change in magnetic flux density are represented in black, and the blocks not having a change in magnetic flux density are represented in white. Thus, it is possible to detect that the magnetized portion 101a of the magnetic wire exists at a predetermined position, in this example, at a predetermined interval of 5 mm.

Fig. 9(a) to 9(c) are views showing an example of magnetic information acquired when the missing wire 101 is detected, in the same manner as in fig. 8. The missing portion of the filament detected in fig. 9(a) is shown in white in the magnetic image of the filament in fig. 9 (c).

These magnetic filament images indicate the presence or absence of a defect in the filament 101, and can be used as magnetic information in the detection process of a defect in the filament 101 described later. In addition, the position of the block image and the division width in the width direction of the filament 101 are determined so as to include the filament 101. Further, if the processing for removing the output at the position different from the predetermined interval is performed before the block image is created, the absence of the magnetized portion 101a of the wire 101 can be detected more accurately.

In addition, when the interval of the downward extremum in fig. 8(a) and 9(a) of the output of the magnetic sensor module 19 is obtained and no extremum is present in a predetermined interval, the wire 101 may be missing at that position. Further, since the absence of the filament 101 is detected in combination with the image information as described later, the absence may be partially detected based on the position where the filament 101 is determined to be absent from the image information, instead of detecting the absence in the entire filament 101. In addition to the above method, for example, if the downward extremum is not detected in a section of a predetermined length of the magnetic information corresponding to a position missing in the image information, it may be determined that the wire 101 is missing at the position. Here, the predetermined length may be, for example, a length of a predetermined interval of 5mm or more in the longitudinal direction of the wire 101 with respect to a predetermined interval of 5mm or a length based on a missing length detected from the optical information. In any case, if there is a position where no change in the magnetic flux density is detected among the predetermined positions where a change in the magnetic flux density is to be detected, it is determined that the filament 101 is missing at that position.

In the present embodiment, the acquired magnetic information is compared with the image information to detect the absence of the thread 101 provided on the bill 100. The relationship between the acquired magnetic information and image information and the detection of the absence of the wire 101 will be described below with reference to fig. 10(a) to 10 (e). In fig. 10(a) to 10(e), the missing portion of the wire 101 is indicated by a dotted line. In the examples of fig. 10(a) to 10(e), image information is used in which the infrared light transmission image is binarized at a predetermined threshold value to represent the filament 101 as a black line, and if a white portion is present in the black line, it is determined that there is a defect in the image information. Further, the magnetic information of the portion corresponding to the missing portion of the image information is referred to, and if there is also a missing portion in the magnetic information, it is determined that there is a missing portion of the thread 101, and if there is magnetic information, it is determined that there is no missing portion of the thread 101.

Fig. 10(a) shows a case where the magnetized portion 101a of the wire 101 is entirely missing. In this case, since the pulse of magnetic information is not present in the portion where the image information is missing, it can be determined that the filament 101 is missing.

Fig. 10(b) shows a case where a part of the magnetized portion 101a of the wire 101 is missing. In this case, since the position and intensity of the pulse of the magnetic information change at the position where the image information is missing, it can be determined that the filament 101 is missing.

Fig. 10(c) shows a case where most of the magnetized portion 101a of the wire 101 is missing. In this case, at the position where the image information is missing, the pulse of the magnetic information disappears, and therefore it can be determined that the filament 101 is missing. Thus, when the remaining portion of the magnetized portion 101a is small, the number of pulses corresponding to 1 magnetized portion 101a becomes 1. The magnetic information is shown in fig. 10(b) and 10(c), and can be adjusted by the constant of the circuit.

Fig. 10(d) shows a case where the filament 101 is not missing but a part of the image information is missing. In this case, since the magnetic information pulse is present at the position where the image information is missing, it is determined that the wire 101 is not missing (normal).

Fig. 10(e) shows a case where a part of the filament 101 is missing but is difficult to detect. In fig. 10 e, since magnetic information is present at a predetermined position, when an output of the amount of change in the magnetic flux density is used, it is determined that there is no missing (normal) of the filament 101. However, if the output of the absolute value of the magnetic flux density is used at the same time, the lack can be detected.

Next, an outline of the recognition processing will be described based on an example of the recognition processing of the banknote 100 according to the present embodiment. The identification process of the bill 100 is performed by comparing information (acquisition information) acquired by the image sensor module 15, the magnetic sensor module 19, the thickness detection sensor 17, and other sensors (not shown) with denomination information (denomination information) of each denomination (hereinafter, also referred to as "denomination") of the bill 100. The denomination information is stored in advance in a storage unit of the banknote handling apparatus, which will be described later. The denomination information is information obtained by converting the position and amount of the feature of the bill 100 corresponding to the output of each sensor, and an image of the bill 100 into data for recognition processing, and 4 types of denominations having different front and back sides and orientations are prepared as shown in fig. 3(a) to 3 (d).

The identification process includes denomination determination, authenticity determination, and damage completion determination. Using the acquired information and the denomination information, various types of determination processing of the bill 100 are performed by a determination unit, which will be described later, of the bill processing apparatus.

In the denomination determination, the acquired information is collated with the denomination information to determine the denomination and direction of the banknote 100. In the authenticity judgment, the acquired information is compared with the denomination information corresponding to the denomination and direction specified in the denomination judgment, and the authenticity of the banknote 100 is judged. In the end damage determination, the acquired information is compared with the denomination information corresponding to the denomination and direction specified in the denomination determination, and the end damage of the banknote 100 is determined.

As for the information used in each determination process, appropriate information is selected. For example, in the damage completion determination, the contamination is determined based on the comparison using the reflected light image or the transmitted light image. Further, based on the comparison using the thickness information, a defect, a fold, a tape sticking, or the like is determined.

When the banknote 100 includes the thread 101, the presence or absence of the thread 101 is also determined in the authenticity determination. Specifically, since the filament 101 is detected as a black line in the transmitted infrared light image, it is determined whether or not a black line corresponding to the filament 101 is present at a predetermined position in the acquired transmitted infrared light image. When the wire 101 is made of metal, the change in the capacitance of the bill 101 passing therethrough may be measured. When the wire 101 has magnetic information, it is also possible to determine whether or not there is a change in the magnetic flux density corresponding to the wire 101 at a predetermined position of the acquired magnetic information. In addition, the predetermined position that the yarn 101 should have is stored as the denomination information.

In the present embodiment, in addition to the determination of the presence or absence of the wire 101 in the authenticity determination, the determination of the presence or absence of the wire 101 is performed in the end loss determination. Fig. 11 shows a determination table of the damage complete determination in the case of detecting the absence of the wire 101 using both the results of the optical determination and the magnetic determination as shown in fig. 10(a) to 10(e), and fig. 12 shows a determination flow. As shown in fig. 11, when the optical detection result of the missing is absence and the magnetic detection result of the missing is absence, the coupon is determined to be a finished coupon (good product without the missing). When the missing optical detection result indicates that there is a missing magnetic detection result and the missing magnetic detection result indicates that there is no missing, the ticket is determined to be a complete ticket. This corrects erroneous determination of optical determination that occurs when the optical image is blurred and unclear, and prevents erroneous detection of a missing image.

Further, if the missing optical detection result is no missing and the missing magnetic detection result is missing, the ticket is determined to be finished. Note that, as the banknote 100 judged to be not defective by the missing optical judgment although the missing magnetic judgment is defective, a case where a black line is drawn instead of the thread 101 may be considered, but such a banknote 100 is judged to be a counterfeit note by the authenticity judgment performed before the end damage judgment, and therefore can be excluded from the objects of the end damage judgment in advance. In this case, the setting of the device can be changed to determine a coupon loss. If the missing optical detection result indicates that there is a missing and the missing magnetic detection result indicates that there is a missing, the coupon is determined to be a damaged coupon.

The determination flow shown in fig. 12 corresponds to a flow of determining a magnetic detection result based on the absence of magnetic information when it is determined that there is a absence from the optical detection result. In this flow, first, the wire 101 is detected based on the image information (step S11). Next, the presence or absence of the filament 101 is optically determined (step S12). If it is determined in step S12 that there is a defect, the wire 101 is detected based on the magnetic information (step S13). Then, the presence or absence of the wire 101 is magnetically determined (step S14). If it is determined at step S14 that there is a missing ticket, it is determined that the ticket is damaged (step S15: missing detection step). On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no missing in either of steps S12 and S14, it is determined that the ticket is complete (step S16: missing detection step).

Next, the recognition unit 50 that performs various types of determination on the banknotes 100 using the detection results obtained by the sensor unit 10 will be described based on the functional block diagram shown in fig. 13. As shown in fig. 13, the recognition unit 50 includes a control unit 20 that controls the sensor unit 10 and the like, and a storage unit 30 that stores various information.

When the optical sensor 13a detects the bill 100 and the bill 100 is conveyed a predetermined distance after the detection, the control section 20 controls the image sensor module 15 to acquire the reflected light image and the transmitted light image on both sides and to acquire the magnetic information by the magnetic sensor module 19. The control unit 20 includes at least a light source control unit 21, an image processing unit 23, and a determination unit 25. The light source control unit 21 controls the lighting of the light source in the image sensor module 15, starting from a bill detection signal or the like generated by the optical sensor 13 a. The image processing unit 23 performs various processes such as amplification, a/D conversion (digitization), imaging, image correction, and storage in the storage unit 30 on the image information generated by the image sensor module 15. The imaging may be performed by combining a plurality of different pieces of image information. The magnetic information generated by the magnetic sensor module 19 may be processed in the same manner by the image processing unit 23.

The determination unit 25 includes a type determination unit 25a for performing denomination determination, an authenticity determination unit 25b for performing authenticity determination, a finish determination unit 25c for performing finish determination, and the like. The determination unit 25 performs various determinations by referring to the denomination information 31 stored in the storage unit 30 as appropriate.

The denomination information 31 stored in the storage unit 30 is collated with the image information processed by the image processing unit 23 in the category determination unit 25a to determine the denomination. As shown in fig. 3(a) to 3(d), 4 types of denomination information 31 having different front and back surfaces and different orientations are stored in the storage unit 30 for each denomination, and not only the denomination but also the direction of the banknote 100 can be determined simultaneously.

In the authenticity judging section 25b, the denomination information 31 corresponding to the denomination specified by the denomination judging section 25a is collated with the image information acquired by the image sensor module 15 and the magnetic information acquired by the magnetic sensor module 19 to judge whether the banknote 100 is a genuine article (genuine note) or a counterfeit article (counterfeit note). In the authenticity determination, the presence or absence of the thread 101 is determined using the detection results such as the transmitted infrared light image, the magnetic information, and the electrostatic capacitance. That is, the presence or absence of the thread 101 is detected as part of the authenticity judgment, and if the thread 101 is not present, the banknote 100 is judged as a counterfeit note.

In the end-of-banknote judging section 25c, the denomination information 31 corresponding to the denomination specified by the denomination judging section 25a is collated with the image information acquired by the image sensor module 15, the magnetic information acquired by the magnetic sensor module 19, and the thickness information acquired by the thickness detection sensor 17, and the end of banknote 100 is judged as being an end of banknote or a damaged banknote. Specifically, damage such as tearing, holes, dirt, wrinkles, scribbling, or tape adhesion is detected. For example, an image of the banknote 100 with black lines drawn in the width direction is compared with reference image information, which is one of the denomination information 31, to detect the black lines, and if the size of the detection target portion exceeds a threshold value, it is determined that the banknote is damaged by scribbling. Here, the reference image information is, for example, image information of a coupon, and is image information as a reference for determining a loss.

The determination process by the determination section 25 is efficiently performed in the order of denomination determination by the type determination section 25a, authenticity determination by the authenticity determination section 25b, and damage completion determination by the damage completion determination section 25 c.

The breakage completion determination unit 25c includes a breakage detection unit 25 d. That is, the missing detection unit 25d performs a process of detecting the missing of the thread 101 as a part of the damage completion determination, and the banknote 100 found to be missing in the thread 101 is determined as a damaged banknote.

A first example of the detection process performed by the absence detecting unit 25d is as follows.

First, if the transmitted infrared light image is binarized at a predetermined threshold value, the filament 101 appears as a black line. If there is a white portion in the black line, the optical judgment is missing. Next, with reference to the magnetic information of the portion corresponding to the deletion, it is finally determined that the thread 101 is deleted when it is determined that the magnetic information is deleted by the magnetization, and it is finally determined that the thread is not deleted when it is determined that the magnetic information is deleted by the magnetization.

An example of the processing flow of the deletion detecting unit 25d of the first example will be described with reference to the flowchart of fig. 14. First, the filament arrangement region set in the template of the denomination specified by the type determination unit 25a is read out, and a determination site used for detecting the absence of the filament 101 is determined. Then, a portion of the determination region that satisfies the condition that the pixel value is greater than the first threshold value for wire detection is determined as the wire 101 (first determination). In the infrared light transmission image, the filament 101 is substantially black, and if the darker the portion, the larger the pixel value, the filament 101 and the defect thereof can be detected by determining whether or not the first threshold is exceeded. Further, since the filament 101 is slightly whitish black when the transmitted infrared light image is blurred, a second threshold value slightly smaller than the first threshold value is set in advance, and when the position (X) is less than the second threshold value, the comparison with the pixel value at the position (X + shift) shifted by a predetermined amount in the width direction of the filament 101 is further performed, and when a condition that the difference between the pixel values at the position (X) and the position (X + shift) is larger than the third threshold value is satisfied, the filament 101 is determined (second determination). The portion that does not satisfy the first determination and the second determination is determined to be missing. As described above, optical determination based on the absence of the transmitted infrared light image is performed, and based on the result, the confirmation position based on the magnetic information is determined (step S1).

Next, at the confirmation position determined by the optical determination, the output value of the magnetic information is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and if the output value is less than the threshold value, it is determined that the filament 101 is missing. The determination of the presence or absence of the wire 101 in the magnetic information is described with reference to fig. 8 and 9 (step S2).

In the second example of the detection process by the deletion detecting unit 25d, the deletion is optically determined from the transmitted infrared light image, the deletion is magnetically determined from the magnetic information, and the portion lacking in both the optical determination and the magnetic determination is finally determined as the absence of the filament 101. The optical determination and the magnetic determination may be performed in the same manner as in the first example.

In the first example, there are an advantage that the amount of processing of magnetic information can be reduced and a disadvantage that a defect that cannot be detected from image information cannot be found, as compared with the second example.

Next, in the third example of the detection process performed by the missing detection unit 25d, as in the first example, a missing portion is obtained from the transmitted infrared light image, a second binarized image in which a portion where no magnetic information is present at a position where magnetic information is supposed to be present is made 0 (white) and the other portion is made 1 (black) based on the first binarized image in which the missing portion is made 0 (white) and the other portion is made 1 (black) and an OR operation is further performed with values of corresponding positions of the first and second binarized images to make a superimposed image in which it is determined that there is a missing portion when a predetermined number OR more of portions of the value of 0 are present.

In the fourth example of the detection process performed by the missing detection unit 25d, a superimposed image is created in which the average value of the pixel values at the corresponding positions is the pixel value between the transmitted infrared light image acquired by the image sensor module 15 and the magnetic image obtained by setting the magnetic information acquired by the magnetic sensor module 19 as a block image as shown in fig. 8(b), and it is determined that there is a missing pixel when a predetermined number or more of pixels having pixel values less than a predetermined threshold value are present in the portion of the filament 101 in the superimposed image.

In addition, the missing detection unit 25d may use image information other than the transmitted infrared light image. Further, the method of detecting the absence of the wire 101 may be performed not by comparison with the threshold value but by comparison with the denomination information 31 stored in the storage unit 30. The comparison method is not particularly limited, and various methods such as comparison of image shading, comparison of gradients of information amounts, comparison of average values, and the like can be employed.

The information used by the missing detection unit 25d to detect the missing of the thread 101 may be information of the entire banknote 100, or may be information of the thread 101 extracted from the information of the entire banknote 100 after the position of the thread 101 is specified. As a method of extracting the information of the filament 101, there is a method of extracting a pixel corresponding to the position of the filament 101 that is the target of the missing detection, using the position information of the filament 101 corresponding to the denomination and direction specified by the type determination unit 25 a. As another form of the position information of the wire 101, the missing detection unit 25d may multiply the mask image having the style corresponding to the wire 101 of the denomination specified by the type determination unit 25a (for example, image information in which the wire portion is "1" and the other portion is "0"). Further, a method of specifying the position of the thread 101 in the banknote 100 by using a pattern included in information used for detecting the absence of the thread 101 may be employed. Specifically, the optical information or the magnetic information is a portion in which detected features are arranged in a straight line.

As described above, the banknote handling apparatus according to the present embodiment includes at least the recognition unit 50 including the sensor unit 10, the control unit 20, the storage unit 30, and the like, and thus can determine the absence of the thread 101 using the image information obtained by the image sensor module 15 and the magnetic information obtained by the magnetic sensor module 19. In the method using only the image information obtained by the image sensor module 15, if the threshold for the missing determination is set strictly, the erroneous determination occurs, so the threshold cannot be set strictly. On the other hand, if the magnetic information obtained by the magnetic sensor module 19 is combined, the person whose magnetic information is detected can be determined as having no missing again among the persons determined as having missing in the determination of missing based on the image information. Therefore, by using both the image information and the magnetic information and setting the threshold for determining the absence based on the image information strictly, it is possible to prevent erroneous determination and reliably detect even a small absence.

The banknote handling apparatus according to the present embodiment may be configured such that the recognition unit 50, which is a separate apparatus, is combined with another banknote handling unit, or the sensor unit 10 is incorporated in another banknote handling unit including the control unit 20 and the storage unit 30.

The banknote handling apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a conveyance processing unit that controls conveyance of the banknotes 100 in the banknote handling apparatus. The conveyance processing unit controls driving of the conveyance mechanism 11, the branch mechanism, and the like. The diverter is provided in the transport path and is a mechanism for switching the transport destination of the banknotes 100, and the transport control unit selects a specific stacking unit, which is the transport destination of the banknotes 100, from among the plurality of stacking units connected to the transport path based on the determination result of the failure detection unit 25d and drives the diverter. The transport processing unit is included in a control unit of the entire banknote processing apparatus, which is provided at a higher level than the control unit 20 of the recognition unit 50.

The banknote handling apparatus according to the present embodiment may have a configuration shown in fig. 15 or 16, for example. The banknote processing apparatus 200 shown in fig. 15 includes: a hopper 210 on which a plurality of banknotes can be placed; a conveyance path 211 that conveys the banknotes placed in the hopper 210; a sensor unit 10 for performing a banknote recognition process; a stacking unit 213 for stacking the banknotes recognized by the sensor unit 10; and a reject unit 214 that stacks the banknotes satisfying the predetermined condition separately from the other banknotes. By incorporating the sensor unit 10 into the banknote apparatus 200 and using the sensor unit, a plurality of banknotes placed in the hopper 210 can be successively processed, and banknotes determined to be counterfeit, damaged, or unidentified banknotes can be returned to the reject unit 214 and distinguished.

The banknote handling apparatus 300 shown in fig. 16 is a small-sized banknote handling apparatus installed on a desk for use, and includes: a sensor unit (not shown) for performing a banknote recognition process; a hopper 301 for placing a plurality of banknotes to be processed in a stacked state; 2 reject units 302 to which, when the banknotes fed out from the hopper 301 into the casing 310 are reject banknotes such as counterfeit banknotes or counterfeit banknotes, the reject banknotes are discharged; an operation unit 303 for inputting instructions from an operator; 4 stacking units 306a to 306d for sorting and stacking banknotes of which denomination, authenticity, and damage are recognized in the box 310; and a display unit 305 for displaying the recognition and counting results of the banknotes and information such as the stacking status of the stacking units 306a to 306 d. Based on the result of the damage determination by the identification means, the 4 stacking units 306a to 306d store the damaged tickets in the stacking units 306a to c, and the stacking unit 306d stores the damaged tickets. Note that the method of distributing the banknotes to the stacking units 306a to 306d may be set arbitrarily.

Note that the banknote handling apparatus 200 shown in fig. 15 or the banknote handling apparatus 300 shown in fig. 16 may perform banknote handling 2 times, such as performing denomination determination and authenticity determination by the first processing, sorting banknotes by denomination, and performing completion determination of sorted banknotes by the second processing.

Further, the authenticity determination may be performed for a banknote that has been subjected to the authenticity determination at another place. When the banknote processing apparatus is an apparatus for handling banknotes 100 that have been discriminated as genuine banknotes, the authenticity determination unit 25b may be omitted.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the contents described in the above embodiments. The respective configurations described in the embodiments may be appropriately deleted, added, changed, or combined as long as they do not depart from the scope of the present invention.

(modification example)

In the above-described embodiment, the banknotes 100 are shown as the processing medium of the value document processing apparatus, but the value document processing apparatus of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is an apparatus that processes value documents (value documents) provided with a thread having magnetic information, and may be an apparatus that processes, for example, a gift certificate, a check, a securities, a card-shaped medium, or the like.

In the above embodiment, the case where the wire 101 is a linear continuous body is shown, but the wire 101 may be a discontinuous body divided into a plurality of portions by gaps. In this case, the yarn shape is included in the denomination information in advance, and the gap between the yarns is set as a target for missing detection, thereby preventing false detection of missing.

The structure of the recognition unit 50 may be changed as appropriate. For example, although the recognition unit 50 of the above embodiment shows an example in which the conveyance direction of the banknote 100 is parallel to the short side direction of the banknote 100 and parallel to the long side direction of the wire 101 (short side conveyance), the conveyance direction of the banknote 100 may be parallel to the long side direction of the banknote 100 and perpendicular to the long side direction of the wire 101 (long side conveyance). In this case, although the orientations of the bill 100 and the wire 101 with respect to the image sensor module 15 and the magnetic sensor module 19 are different from those of the above-described embodiment, image information and magnetic information can be acquired in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment as long as the analytical forces in the main scanning direction (perpendicular to the conveying direction) and the sub-scanning direction (conveying direction) of the image sensor module 15 and the magnetic sensor module 19 are sufficient, and the missing detection process can be similarly performed.

In the case of long-side conveyance, the detection order of the magnetized portion 101a differs because the direction of the wire 101 differs as compared with the case of short-side conveyance described in the above embodiment. After the detection of the magnetized portion 101a, the absence of the wire 101 can be detected as in the case of the short-side conveyance described above. In the detection of the magnetized portion 101a, a magnetic detection element 19c that detects a change in magnetic flux density or a magnetic detection element 19c that detects the intensity of magnetic flux density may be used. Regardless of the type of the magnetic detection element 19c, not only the position where the magnetic flux density changes greatly, but also the magnetized portion 101a can be detected. Therefore, the missing portion of the wire 101 detected optically can be compared with the missing portion of the magnetized portion of the wire 101 detected magnetically, and a smaller missing portion can be detected as shown in fig. 10(e), for example.

Hereinafter, a method of detecting the magnetized portion 101a of the wire 101 will be described. In the case of long-side conveyance, the magnetic head 19a moves in the X direction of fig. 5 with respect to the wire 101. Therefore, the magnetized portion 101a is not detected by a part of the magnetic detection elements 19c a plurality of times as in the case of short-side conveyance, but the magnetized portion 101a is detected by each of a plurality of magnetic detection elements 19c arranged in the width direction of the conveyance path. The outputs of the respective magnetic detection elements 19c when detecting the magnetized portion 101a are the same as those in fig. 6.

Specifically, when the output of each magnetic detection element 19c of the magnetic sensor module 19 is larger than a predetermined value, it is determined that the magnetized portion 101a is present at a position corresponding to each magnetic detection element 19 c. Based on this determination, magnetic information regarding the presence or absence of the magnetized portion 101a is created for at least the thread 101 of the bill 100. The form of the magnetic information may be image information or numerical information according to the subsequent processing. In this case, as the analysis force of the magnetic sensor module 19 is higher, a small missing portion of the wire 101 can be detected. For example, if a magnetic sensor module 19 of 50dpi is used, a missing portion of the wire 101 of 1 to 2mm can be detected.

When the magnetic detection element 19c that detects a change in magnetic flux density is used for short-side conveyance, the presence or absence of a missing portion of the wire 101 can be detected based on the presence or absence of the magnetized portion 101a, as well as the position where the magnetic flux density changes greatly. Specifically, the result of fig. 6(b) is obtained by integrating the outputs as shown in fig. 6(a), and the presence or absence of the magnetized portion 101a is detected.

In addition, although the above description has been given of the example of detecting the magnetized portion 101a of the filament 101, the magnetized portion 101a may be a portion of a magnetic material that is not magnetized. In the case of the magnetic information detection method in which a magnet for magnetization and a magnetic detection element are combined, the magnetic material portion that is not magnetized can be detected in the same manner as the magnetized portion 101a, and therefore, the missing portion of the wire 101 including the magnetic material portion that is not magnetized can be detected in the same manner.

In addition, if a method of detecting magnetic information using a combination of a magnet for magnetization and a magnetic detection element is used in long-side conveyance, when the entire wire 101 is made of a magnetic material and a portion which is partially magnetized is a magnetized portion 101a, the magnetic information may be output from the magnetic detection element 19c even in a non-magnetized portion. However, since the magnetic flux density of the non-magnetized portion is different from that of the magnetized portion 101a, the absolute value and the amount of change of the output are different, and the non-magnetized portion can be distinguished from the magnetized portion 101a by setting an appropriate threshold value.

In the above-described embodiment, the wire 101 having the magnetized portions 101a at a constant interval as shown in fig. 5 is taken as an example, but the wire 101 having the magnetized portions 101a with a variable length or interval can be similarly applied as long as it is repeated in a constant pattern. Specifically, first, the magnetic information of the wire 101 detected by the magnetic sensor module 19 is compared with the magnetic pattern information of the wire 101 stored in the partial denomination information corresponding to the determined denomination and direction, while one of the pieces of information is shifted in a ring shape in the longitudinal direction of the wire 101 (shift handled so as to connect one end to the other end), and the position of the magnetic pattern is specified. Then, the filament magnetic image is obtained by blocking the filament magnetic image according to the magnetic pattern information. In this way, the absence of the filament 101 can be detected in the same manner as in the above-described method.

Industrial applicability of the invention

As described above, the present invention is a technique useful for accurately identifying the end damage of a value document using a security thread for forgery prevention.

Description of the reference symbols

10 sensor unit

11 conveying mechanism

13a, 13b light sensor

15 image sensor module

15a 1 st light receiving unit

15b light emitting unit

15c 2 nd light receiving unit

15d, 15e, 15j, 15m, 15n light source

15f, 15p condenser lens

15g, 15q image pickup element

15h, 15r base plate

15i, 15k, 15s transparent plate

17 thickness detection sensor

19 magnetic sensor module

19a magnetic head

19b magnet

19c magnetic detecting element

19d wool roller

20 control part

21 light source control part

23 image processing part

25 determination unit

25a type determination unit

25b authentication judging section

25c wear determination unit

25d missing detection part

30 storage part

31 cent denomination information

50 identification unit

100 paper currency

101 safety wire (silk)

101a magnetized portion

200 paper money processing device

210 hopper

211 conveying path

213 accumulating part

214 reject part

300 paper money processing device

301 hopper

302 reject part

303 operating part

305 display unit

306a to 306d stacking part

310 case body

Claims (14)

1. A value document processing device for detecting partial absence of a security thread of a value document, comprising:

an image sensor that detects image information of the value documents conveyed in the conveyance path;

a magnetic sensor that detects magnetic information of at least the security thread of the value document transported in the transport path; and

a defect detection unit for detecting the partial defect based on the image information and the magnetic information,

the deletion detector detects the partial deletion based on an optical detection result of the partial deletion based on the image information and a magnetic detection result of the partial deletion based on the magnetic information,

the defect detection unit determines that the defective product is free from the partial defect when the optical detection result of the partial defect is a defect and the magnetic detection result of the partial defect is a non-defect.

2. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1,

the device further comprises an authenticity determination unit for performing authenticity determination of the value ticket.

3. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in claim 2,

partial absence of the security thread of the value document determined to be a genuine document is detected.

4. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the deletion detector determines the magnetic detection result of the partial deletion when the optical detection result of the partial deletion is determined to be a deletion.

5. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the optical detection result is a result of imaging the image information of the security thread included in the image information of the value document, and the magnetic detection result is a result of imaging the magnetic information of the security thread;

the defect detection unit detects the partial defect based on a superimposed image of the image information of the security thread and the magnetic information of the security thread after imaging.

6. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the defect detection unit determines that the defective product is free of the partial defect when the optical detection result of the partial defect is zero defect and the magnetic detection result of the partial defect is zero defect.

7. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the defect detection unit determines that the defective product is free of the partial defect when the optical detection result of the partial defect is zero and the magnetic detection result of the partial defect is zero.

8. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

further provided with:

a storage unit that stores category information including reference image information prepared according to a category of the value document and position information of the security thread; and

a type determination unit that compares the image information with the reference image information and determines at least a type of the value document;

the defect detection unit detects the partial defect based on the position information of the safety yarn concerning the classification information of the classification determined by the classification determination unit.

9. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the aforementioned deficiency detection unit

Detecting the position of the security thread in the value document according to the information pattern contained in the image information;

detecting the partial absence based on the detected position of the safety wire.

10. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the image information includes a transmitted light image generated from an intensity distribution of light transmitted through the value document.

11. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the image information includes a reflected light image generated based on an intensity distribution of light reflected by the value document.

12. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

the value sheet is a banknote, and the value sheet processing apparatus is a banknote processing apparatus.

13. A value document handling apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,

further provided with:

a branch mechanism provided in the transport path and configured to switch a transport destination of the value documents;

a plurality of stacking sections connected to the transport path and configured to stack the value documents; and

and a transport control unit that selects a specific stacking unit that is a transport target of the value documents from among the plurality of stacking units based on a determination result of the deficiency detection unit, and drives the branch mechanism.

14. A value document processing method for detecting partial absence of a security thread of a value document, comprising:

an image information acquisition step of acquiring image information of the value documents conveyed in a conveyance path;

a magnetic information acquisition step of acquiring at least magnetic information of the security thread from the value document transported in the transport path; and

a deletion detecting step of detecting the partial deletion based on the image information and the magnetic information,

the deletion detecting step detects the partial deletion based on an optical detection result of the partial deletion based on the image information and a magnetic detection result of the partial deletion based on the magnetic information,

and a deletion detecting step of determining that the defective product is free from the partial deletion when the optical detection result of the partial deletion is a deletion and the magnetic detection result of the partial deletion is a non-deletion.

Images