GB2335065A

GB2335065A - A coin metering device

Info

Publication number: GB2335065A
Application number: GB9804372A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew P Cole; Ian J Sapsed
Original assignee: ALBERICE METERS Ltd
Current assignee: ALBERICE METERS Ltd
Priority date: 1998-03-02
Filing date: 1998-03-02
Publication date: 1999-09-08
Also published as: GB9804372D0

Abstract

A coin operated metering device comprises a substantially enclosed housing 11 (figure 1) having a rear wall 14 and a front wall 13, a coin box 12 removably located within the housing via an aperture 16 in the front wall, and having locking means 30 and a mounting plate 20, the mounting plate 20 and housing rear wall 14 comprising co-operating mounting means which are rendered inseparable by the insertion of the coin box 12 into the housing and activation of the locking means. Preferably the mounting means comprise a plurality of retaining lugs 21 and orifices 22, the lugs 21 being held in a non-removable position from the orifices 22 by support lugs 31 mounted on a rear wall of the coin box. The mounting plate 20 may have adhesive tape on an opposite face of the plate to that which the retaining lugs are located. The mounting plate 20 may further comprise a detent means corresponding to at least one aperture in the housing rear wall to assist in positioning of the plate relative to the housing during mounting. There may be a coin operated metering device (figures 8 and 9) for use with electrical apparatus comprising; an enclosed housing and located inside the housing, a coin box and mains powered electrical circuitry mounted on a printed circuit board and including a mains socket for use with a mains plug connected to electrical apparatus, the mains socket being controlled by a switch. There may also be a coin operated device (figure 10) for use with electrical apparatus comprising; an enclosed housing and a coin box. The coin box is capable of monitoring the value of the coins inserted and outputting current to that value, and a current sensing circuit capable of determining whether the apparatus is not in use, on standby or is in full use and deducting the value of current accordingly.

Description

1 0 COIN OPERATED METERING DEVICES 2335065 The invention relates to coin

operated metering devices for use with television sets or other electrical apparatus which accepts payment in advance of use and gives timed usage of the connected apparatus.

Coin controlled meters are often used by rental companies and hotels with items of electrical apparatus such as television sets, video recorders, satellite receivers and so on which give a set amount of time-related operation per coin fed into the meter. It should be understood that all references to coins include currency, tokens, magnetic cards or smart cards/keys. Such meters enable the end user to accumulate an amount of money to pay for the use or rental of the equipment.

Known meters have a number of disadvantages. Most are free-standing and sit on top of the apparatus it controls. One disadvantage is that if the device is picked up and shaken, or dropped or knocked off, the electrical contacts within the meter can be damaged and affect the operation of the meter.

Such prior art meters also require skilled labour for installation, as the power cable from the electrical apparatus must be wired directly into the meter's internal circuitry.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome these disadvantages and to provide an improved coin controlled metering device.

The invention therefore provides a coin operated metering device for use with electrical apparatus comprising a substantially enclosed housing having a rear wall and a front wall, a coin box which is removably located within the housing via an aperture j 1 1 1 in the front wall, said coin box having locking means and a mounting plate, said mounting plate and housing rear wall comprising co-operating mounting means which are rendered inseparable by the insertion of the coin box into the housing and activating the locking means.

The invention further provides a coin operated metering device for use with electrical apparatus comprising a substantially enclosed housing, a coin box located, in use, within the housing and mains powered electrical circuitry also located within the housing, said circuitry being provided in the form of a printed circuit board and including a mains socket for receiving, in use, a mains plug from electrical apparatus the operation of which the device controls, said mains socket being connected via switching means to a mains input to the device, said switching means being activatable to disconnect the mains socket from the mains input.

The invention also provides a coin operated metering device for use with electrical apparatus comprising a substantially enclosed housing, a coin box; for monitoring the value of coins inserted into the device, for outputting an electrical current for a period of time according to the measured value of coins and electrical circuitry comprising a current sensing circuit which measures, in use, the current output from the device, compares the level to a set of predetermined measurements relating to full use, nonuse and standby conditions of said apparatus deducting the value from the time period only when the apparatus is in full use.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a metering device according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the metering device of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the metering device of Fig. 1 on the line III-III; Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged portions of the mounting mechanisms of the metering device shown in Fig. 3; Figs. 6 and 7 are end and side sectional elevations of part of the locking mechanism of the metering device; Fig. 8 is a partially sectioned side elevation of the metering device of Fig. 1 illustrating the electrical connection with the electrical apparatus being metered; Fig. 9 is a partially sectioned rear elevation of the metering device shown in Fig. 4; and Fig. 10 is the automatic current sensing circuit of the metering device of Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 there is shown a metering device 10 comprising a housing 11, a coin box 12 and a mounting plate 20.

The housing 11 comprises a front cover assembly 13, which includes one front, two side, one top and one bottom panels 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d and a back plate cover 14. The front cover assembly 13 and back plate 1 E cover 14 and are assembled to provide a substantially enclosed housing with an opening 16 for receiving the coin box 12.

The front cover assembly includes a display panel 18 for showing the amount of purchased time remaining and a coin slot 19.

The metering device 10 is mounted to the side or back of the electrical apparatus, such as a television set, by means of the mounting plate 20. The mounting plate 20 is adhered to the electrical apparatus, by means of a layer of an adhesive or adhesive tape. The mounting plate 20 has retaining lugs 21 which are passed through holes 22 in the back plate cover 14 of housing 11. The metering device 10 is slid vertically is downwardly until the upper perimeter of the holes 22 are resting on the lugs 21. Detent means 23 positioned at the upper edge of the mounting plate 20 locate in aperture 24 in the back plate cover 14.

The coin box 12 has flanged front 25, base 26, rear 27 and side walls 28. but is left open at its top to receive coins. A locking device 30 has a spindle 30a which, passes through apertures in the front and rear walls 25, 27. The head 30b of the locking device 30 remains outside the front wall 25 as the head 30b has a flange which is of greater diameter than the aperture in the front wall 25. The coin box rear wall 27 includes lugs 31 which pass through two lower holes 22 in the back plate cover 14 of the housing 11 directly beneath the mounting plate retaining lugs 21 when the coin box 12 is inserted in the housing 11. on the opposite end of the spindle 30a, to the head 30b, there are provided a pair of radially projecting barbs 32. When the locking device 30 is in an unlocked position, these barbs passed through a slot 33 in a retaining member 34 on which one embodiment is in an - 5 open box section attached to the back plate cover 14. The slot 33 is shaped such that when the spindle 30a is rotated through 909, the barbs 32 are retained behind the walls of the retaining member 34. This is illustrated in fig 6 and 7. In Fig 6 the barbs 32 as shown in solid lines illustrate the unlocked position of the locking device 30 and the barbs 32 is shown in dotted lines show the locked position. Rotation of the locking device 30 is effected by means of a key and the lock is prevented from further turning movement by removal of the key. Thus the complete assembly is positively locked when the coin box lock action is completed with the metering device 10 securely retained to the mounting plate 20 by the action of fitting and locking the coin box 12. This feature increases the coin validation reliability of the device 10 and reduces tampering and vandalism once the device 10 has been installed.

The device 10 is preferably mains controlled and electrical circuitry (see Fig. 10) which enables the metering device 10 to function is preferably provided in the form of a printed circuit board 35 mounted within the front cover assembly 13. The printed circuit board 35 incorporates a mains socket 36 for receipt of a standard electrical mains plug 37 fitted to the mains lead 38 of the electrical apparatus being metered, as illustrated in Figs 8 and 9. Most electrical apparatus is supplied in the United Kingdom with a three square pin mains plug, but for use in other countries which utilises the two round pin mains plug, an appropriate mains socket 36 can be incorporated. The electrical circuitry includes switching means, controlled by a relay, in a known manner which are activatable to connect or disconnect the live and neutral feeds from the mains input to the 1 1 1 device 10 to the socket 36. Disconnection will occur when no credit remains.

The connection of the metering device 10 to the electrical apparatus being metered merely requires the insertion of the plug 37 into the socket 36 before the back plate cover 14 is attached to the front cover assembly, with the mains lead 38 entering the housing through aperture 39 at the base of the back plate cover 14. The mains lead 11 is retained within a channel by retaining Fig 40 behind and to one side of the coin box 12. The metering device 10 becomes tamper proof once the back plate cover 14 is fitted and the coin box 12 inserted and locked. This simple means of installation removes the need to cut off the mains plug and strip the wires back as is the case with prior art meters and therefore can be fitted by anyone and does not require skilled labour.

A further improvement in the metering device 10 lies in the automatic current sensing circuit as shown in Fig. 6 together with the associated control software. Essentially the metering device 10 automatically senses the current output of the individual electrical apparatus and adjusts itself accordingly so the device 10 does not count down the credited time when the electrical apparatus is in standby mode. Previous current sensor detection circuits work by using a fixed level above which all "loads" are considered to be in "full operation" and below which all "loads" are considered to be in Ustandby" or off. When a range of loads are used which have overlapping perameters, the circuit has to have components changed to adjust the fixed levels of each load during installation.

The automatic current sensing circuit of the present invention is designed to give automatic detection of the standby current, where some current is drawn but the apparatus is not operating fully, and full operating current of the attached load (i.e. the electrical apparatus is drawing near to maximum current). It works by using three fixed levels, therefore creating four bands (band 0-3) one of which all load current conditions must fall into. The levels have been determined to ensure that the following conditions are always met:

1) The current of a "load" must never fall into the same band whilst in "standby" and "full operation".

2) The "full operation" current must never fall into band 0.

3) The threshold level between band 0 and band 1 must be higher than the "standby" current of any "load" operating with a "full operation" current in band 1.

4) Band 2 must be larger than any variation in the mfull operation" current of a "load". This ensures that no wfull operation" state can move between band 1 and band 3.

During installation the "load" should be switched from. standby" to "full operation" to allow the circuit to monitor the two levels reached.

The circuit contains three similar sections, each one of which consists of an operational amplifier (part of IC2) configured as a comparator. The threshold levels are determined by R6 and R9, R10 and R12 or R14 and R15. These three comparator circuits all measure a voltage drop across R4. The voltage drop across resistor R4 is deternined by the current being drawn by the uload'.

The control software monitors the outputs (CSO, CS1 and CS2) of the three comparator circuits where one of the four following states will be seen.

State 1 CSO=0 CS1=0 Band 0 CS2=0 State 2 CSO=1 is CS1=0 Band 1 CS2=0 State 3 CSO=1 CS1=1 Band 2 CS2=0 State 4 CSO=1 CS1=1 Band 3 CS2=1 When new, or prior to connecting to a new load", the current sensing software should be reset to allow the calibration to take place. The software will monitor the inputs to establish the highest band reached by the "load". The following logic will be applied to the result.

1) If the highest band reached is band 3, then the software will accept band 2 or 3 as a "full operation" state. Band 0 and 1 will be considered as "standby" or off.

2) If the highest band reached is band 2, then the software will accept band 1 or 2 as a "full operation" state. Band 0 will be considered as Ustandbym or off.

3) If the highest band reached is band 1, then the software will accept only band 1 as a "full operation" state. Band 0 will be considered as astandby" or off.

1 1 - 10

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A coin operated metering device for use with electrical apparatus comprising a substantially enclosed housing having a rear wall and a front wall, a coin box which is removably located within the housing via an aperture in the front wall, said coin box having locking means and a mounting plate, said mounting plate and housing rear wall comprising cooperating mounting means which are rendered inseparable by the insertion of the coin box into the housing and activating the locking means.

2. A coin operated metering device as claimed in claim 1 in which the mounting means comprise a plurality of retaining lugs and orifices, said lugs being held in a non-removable position from the orifices by support lugs mounted on a rear wall of the coin box.

3. A coin operated metering device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which the mounting plate has a layer of adhesive or adhesive tape on an opposite face of the plate to that on which the retaining lugs are located.

4. A coin operated metering device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the mounting plate further comprises a detent means corresponding to at least one aperture in the housing rear wall to assist in the position of the plate relative to the housing during mounting.

5. A coin operated metering device for use with electrical apparatus comprising a substantially 11 - enclosed housing, a coin box located, in use, within the housing and mains powered electrical circuitry also located within the housing, said circuitry being provided in the form of a printed circuit board and including a mains socket for receiving, in use, a mains plug from electrical apparatus the operation of which the device controls, said mains socket being connected via switching means to a mains input to the device, said switching means being activatable to disconnect the mains socket from the mains input.

6. A coin operated metering device for use with electrical apparatus comprising a substantially enclosed housing, a coin box; for monitoring the value of coins inserted into the device, for outputting an amount of electrical current according to the measured value of coins deducting the value of the current output and electrical circuitry comprising a current sensing circuit which measures, in use, the current output from the device, compares the level to a set of predetermined measurements relating to full use, nonuse and standby conditions of said apparatus deducting the value of the current output only when the apparatus is in full use.

7. A coin operated metering device substantially as herein before described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.