JP2001331845A - Device for handling paper sheets - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper sheet handling device which is small and inexpensive by making the distance between the last sensor of a discriminating part and the first carrying direction switching means as short as possible. SOLUTION: A detour carrying path is made short by decelerating the carrying speed of the paper sheet (or stopping the carrying) and accelerating the carrying speed of the paper sheet (restarting the carrying) after discrimination processing is finished when the rear end of the paper sheet is passed through the last sensor 205 of the discriminating part 201. Thus, the distance between the last sensor 205 of the part 201 and the first carrying direction switching means 401 can be made short by the maximum distance that corresponds to '(discrimination processing time + the operating time of paper sheet carrying direction switching means) × the carrying speed of the paper sheet' when carrying is stopped in comparison with the conventional paper sheet handing device. Thus, the small and inexpensive paper sheet handing device can be provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper sheet handling apparatus which separates paper sheets and conveys them along a route suitable for the purpose of processing. Sensors detect and discriminate based on the outputs of these various sensors to determine the authenticity, type, tear, dirt, etc. of the paper sheet. Based on the determination result, perform predetermined business processing and transport the paper sheet. The present invention relates to a paper sheet handling apparatus that switches the tip.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional paper handling apparatus includes a paper receiving / discharging port, a discriminating section for inspecting the paper, a paper transporting means for transporting the paper, and a transport of the paper. A sheet transport direction switching means for switching the destination, a control unit for controlling each of the above-mentioned elements, and the like. The source and the destination of the delivery of the paper are selected according to each processing purpose, and the delivery source of the paper is selected. , And transports the sheets to the discriminating unit by the sheet transporting unit.The discriminating unit inspects and determines the sheets, and determines the stacking destination and the number of sheets to be conveyed according to the inspection determination result. The sheet is conveyed by a class conveyance unit, and the conveyance direction is switched by a sheet conveyance direction switching unit to accumulate and process at a target accumulation destination.

Further, in the conventional sheet processing apparatus, in each processing, the sheet conveying means continuously includes the discriminating section from the sheet feeding source to the stacking destination and outputs the sheet at substantially constant speed. Had to be transported.

[0004] In such a configuration, since a predetermined processing time is required for the inspection and determination of the paper sheet in the discriminating section, the processing is performed between the first transport direction switching means as viewed from the discriminating section. A transport path having a length corresponding to the time must be provided so that the inspection determination processing of the paper sheet is completed before the paper sheet reaches the first transport direction switching unit.

[0005] For this purpose, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
As shown in FIG. 3595 as an overall configuration diagram of a sheet processing apparatus, after the discriminating section, a sheet conveying means of an appropriate length required for the inspection determination process in the discriminating section is provided,
After that, a configuration in which a first transport direction switching unit is provided is usually employed.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional sheet processing apparatus, the sheet conveying means (conveying path) continuously includes the discriminating section from the sheet feeding source to the sheet stacking destination. Papers are transported at almost constant speed, and various sensors (magnetic, visible, infrared, fluorescent, etc.)
Data processing (discrimination processing) using a predetermined algorithm using the output data of various sensors representing the characteristics of paper sheets detected in step (1)
Is performed, and the authenticity, type, tear, dirt, etc. of the paper sheet are inspected and determined. In a discriminating section for bills, securities, and the like, data processing is performed using several types of algorithms in order to detect fake paper sheets, and this data processing takes a considerable time.

At this time, in order to start data processing,
Since it is necessary to capture the characteristics of the entire surface of the paper sheet, the above data processing is performed after the entire length of the paper sheet in the transport direction has passed through the final sensor of the discrimination unit and all the characteristics of the paper sheet have been captured. Need to get started.

Therefore, by the time the data processing (discrimination processing) by the above-mentioned predetermined algorithm is completed and the inspection judgment result necessary for processing the paper sheet is obtained, the leading end of the paper sheet is discriminated by the discrimination unit. Are transported from the last sensor to a position at a distance corresponding to “length of transport direction of paper sheet + (discrimination processing time × transport speed of paper sheet)”. For this reason, the first transport direction switching means required to perform processing of paper sheets is:
It is necessary to further provide a position downstream of the above position by a distance corresponding to “(operation time of sheet conveyance direction switching means × conveyance speed of sheet)”.

As described above, in the conventional paper sheet handling apparatus, the paper sheet conveying means (conveyance path) of a proper distance is provided between the final sensor of the discriminating section and the first conveying direction switching means. However, it hinders downsizing of the apparatus and hinders cost reduction. The purpose of the present invention is
An object of the present invention is to provide a small and inexpensive paper sheet handling apparatus in which the distance from the last sensor of the discriminating section to the first transport direction switching means is reduced as much as possible.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the paper sheet handling apparatus of the present invention reduces the transport speed of the paper sheet when the paper sheet passes the final sensor of the discriminating section. Or stop the conveyance and wait for the data processing (discrimination processing) by a predetermined algorithm to end, and the data processing ends and an inspection determination result is output, and a second determination is performed based on the inspection determination result. The transport speed of the paper sheet is increased or transport is restarted in accordance with the switching operation of one transport direction switching unit.

Thus, the distance between the last sensor of the discriminating section and the first conveyance direction switching means, as described above, is larger than that of the conventional paper handling apparatus when the conveyance is stopped. The maximum can be shortened by a distance corresponding to “(discrimination processing time + operation time of sheet conveyance direction switching means) × conveyance speed of sheet”. Thus, a small and inexpensive paper sheet handling apparatus can be provided.

[0012] Further, the sheet conveying means is divided upstream and downstream of the discriminating section so that they can be driven at independent speeds, and discriminating while the preceding sheet is decelerated or temporarily stopped. The transport of the next paper sheet to the paper sheet unit is started, the data acquisition by various sensors is started, and the paper sheet transport means at least downstream of the discrimination unit holding the preceding paper sheet is accelerated or restarted. After the start, the deceleration / acceleration or the start / stop timing of each sheet transport unit is set so that the leading end of the next sheet reaches the sheet transport unit after the discrimination unit. As a result, it is possible to reduce the processing time when a plurality of sheets are continuously processed.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a bill receiving apparatus which is one embodiment of a paper sheet handling apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a deposit port for depositing banknotes, and 101-1 denotes a banknote deposited in the deposit port 101 as one.
A sheet separating unit 201 that separates and feeds out sheets one by one is a discriminating unit that discriminates bills. The discrimination unit 201 is driven by the discrimination unit control unit 206, a plurality of sensors 1 to N for detecting the characteristic data of the bill (the sensor N provided at the final position is indicated by 205), and a first driving unit. Transport roller pair 20
2 (202-1 to 202-3) (first transport means).

Reference numeral 501 denotes a second transport unit driven by the second drive unit, 401 denotes a transport direction switching unit that switches a transport direction provided at the beginning of a downstream transport path of the discrimination unit 201, and 502 denotes a second transport unit. A third transport means driven by the third drive means, 601 is a temporary stacker, 601-3 is a separating means (separator) in the temporary stacker 601, 801 is a bill return port, and 701 is provided in a return port 801. A return stacker for stacking return bills, 301 is a control unit for controlling the above components, and 20 is a higher-level control unit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a paper money receiving apparatus which is an embodiment of the paper sheet handling apparatus of the present invention, and is a specific example of the block diagram of FIG. The same reference numerals are given. FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the present embodiment. Less than,
The operation of the paper sheet handling apparatus (banknote depositing apparatus) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

The user operates the deposit port 1 of the paper sheet handling apparatus 10.
01 is inserted in a bundle state. The deposit port 101 is provided with a sheet separating means 101-1. When it is detected that the bill 1 is inserted (step S1:
Y), the push plate 102 of the deposit opening 101 presses the bill 1 against the pickup roller 103 (step S2). Next, when the pickup roller 103 is rotated in the direction of arrow B,
The bill 1 is conveyed in the direction of arrow E by receiving a frictional conveying force from a high friction coefficient member 103-1 provided on a part of the outer periphery of the pickup roller 103.

The conveyed bills are fed to a feed roller 10.
4. The roller is sent to the opposing portion of the gate roller 105, and receives the frictional conveying force of the high friction coefficient members 103-1 and 104-1 provided on a part of the outer periphery of the pickup roller 103 and the feed roller 104, and further receives the arrow E direction. Transported to At this time, the pickup roller 103, the feed roller 104
The second and lower bills conveyed while being dragged by the top bill conveyed in contact with the
The stop is caused by the frictional force of No. 5, and only the topmost banknote is separated and fed (step S4).

The bills 1 fed and separated are conveyed to the auxiliary conveying means 106 and conveyed to the discriminating section 201 provided immediately after the deposit port 101.

The discriminating unit 201 includes a pair of paper sheet conveying rollers (first conveying means) 202-1, 202-
2, 202-3, and a guide provided with various sensors (sensor 1 to sensor N in FIG. 1) for detecting characteristics such as magnetism, visible light, infrared light, and fluorescence for detecting characteristics of bills. The bill is transported between the plates 203-1 and 203-2. During this time, the various sensors capture the characteristics of the bill being conveyed. The discriminating unit 201 is provided with a two-sheet detecting means 204 for inspecting the thickness of the conveyed bills and detecting that the two bills are not conveyed while being overlapped.

When the bill 1 is conveyed through the discriminating section 201 and the trailing end of the bill passes the final sensor 205 (sensor N in FIG. 1) (step S7: Y), the paper downstream of the discriminating section 201 is Stop the leaf transport means 501 (step S
8).

If the deposited bill still remains in the deposit port 101 (step 9: Y), the discriminator control unit 206 takes in the outputs of various sensors and stores them in a memory (not shown), and the trailing end of the bill is After passing through the final sensor 205 (sensor N in FIG. 1) and capturing the characteristic data of the entire bill, the discrimination process is started. When the discrimination unit control unit 206 obtains an inspection determination result in the discrimination process (step S10: Y), the control unit 30
1 is transmitted to the inspection determination result.

When the control unit 301 receives the inspection determination result from the discrimination unit control unit 206, the first transport direction switching unit 4 causes the banknote to be transported in the target direction according to the determination result.
01 (step S11), and restarts the sheet transporting means 501 that has been stopped until then (step S1).
2). Thereby, the bill is transported in the target direction.

For example, when it is determined that the bill is permitted to be taken in, the control unit 301 switches the first transport direction switching unit 401 to the direction A. In this case, when the sheet transport unit (second transport unit) 501 is restarted, the bills are transported toward the temporary stacker 601 and the sheet stacking unit 6 provided in the temporary stacker 601 is used.
01-1 is temporarily accumulated in the stacker 601.

If it is determined that the bill is not allowed to be taken in, the control unit 301 switches the first transport direction switching means 401 to the B direction. In this case, when the sheet conveying means 501 is restarted, the bills are conveyed toward the return stacker 701 and are stacked by the sheet stacking means 701-1 provided on the return stacker 701.

If the deposited bill still remains in the deposit port 101 (Step 9: Y), the above-mentioned Steps S10 to S
12 and after waiting for a predetermined time (step S1).
3), the top banknote among the deposited banknotes in the deposit port 101 is separated and fed out by the paper sheet separating means, and the process returns to step 7 (step S14), and the same processing is performed until there are no more banknotes in the deposit port 101. repeat.

When there are no more bills in the deposit port 101 (step S9: N), as in step S10, the trailing end of the last bill passes through the last sensor 205 (sensor N in FIG. 1), and After the characteristic data has been captured, the discrimination processing is started. When an inspection determination result is obtained in the identification processing (step S15: Y), the identification unit control unit 206
1 is transmitted to the inspection determination result.

When the control unit 301 receives the inspection determination result from the discrimination unit control unit 206, the first transport direction switching unit 4 causes the bill to be transported in the target direction according to the determination result.
01 (step S16), and restarts the sheet conveying means 501 that has been stopped until then (step S1).
7). Thereby, the bill is transported in the target direction.

For example, when it is determined that the bill is allowed to be taken in, the control unit 301 switches the first transport direction switching unit 401 to the A direction. In this case, when the sheet transport means 501 is restarted, the bill is transported toward the temporary stacker 601 and the temporary stacker 60
1 is temporarily accumulated in the stacker 601 by the paper sheet accumulating unit 601-1.

If it is determined that the bill is not allowed to be taken in, the control unit 301 switches the first transport direction switching means 401 to the B direction. In this case, when the sheet conveying means 501 is restarted, the bills are conveyed toward the return stacker 701 and are stacked by the sheet stacking means 701-1 provided on the return stacker 701.

After all the bills inserted into the deposit opening 101 are taken in, the return bills 1-7 are nipped by the return roller pair 701-2 provided in the return stacker 701, and the return opening 8 is held.
Send out from 01. After receiving and checking the returned bill 1-7, the user inserts it again into the deposit port 101 if necessary. The sheet handling apparatus 10 performs the same operation as described above.

The control unit 301 tallies up the denominations and the number of deposited banknotes 601-2 accumulated in the temporary stacker 601 based on the report from the discrimination unit control unit 206, and reports the total to the upper control unit 20.

The upper-level control unit 20 performs a predetermined business process, and sends a request to the sheet handling apparatus 10 as necessary.
The storage of the temporary stack bill 601-2 is instructed.

The sheet handling apparatus 10 includes a higher-level control unit 20.
Is received by the control unit 301 and the temporarily stacked banknote 601 is received.
-2 is stored. That is, the temporary stacker 6
The separator (separating means) 601-3 provided in 01 moves in the direction of arrow D, and drops the temporarily stacked bills 601-2 into the bill cassette 901.

After all the deposited bills have been transported to the destination (step S18: Y), the transport of the first transport means, the second transport means 501, and the third transport means 502 of the discrimination section 201 is stopped. (Steps S19 to S21), the process ends.

In this manner, during the data processing (discrimination processing) by the discrimination unit control unit 206 according to the predetermined algorithm and the switching operation of the first transport direction switching unit 401, the bill is stored in the paper immediately after the discrimination unit 201. Since it is stopped on the leaf transport unit 501, the distance L between the transport direction switching unit 401 and the final sensor 205 of the discrimination unit 201 can be reduced to the length in the transport direction of the bill.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a paper sheet handling apparatus having functions equivalent to those of the embodiment constructed based on the conventional concept. Downstream of the discrimination unit 201, a first conveyance direction switching unit 401 is included in the middle, and is driven by one driving source (not shown).
A sheet transport means 503 is provided which is driven at a series of the same transport speed to reach each stacking unit.

In this case (conventional case), the distance L 'between the transport direction switching means 401 and the final sensor 205 of the discriminating unit 201 is calculated as "the length of the paper sheet in the transport direction + (data processing by a predetermined algorithm). Time + operating time of first transport direction switching means) × transport speed of paper sheet. That is, in the conventional paper sheet handling apparatus of FIG. 5, the rear end of the bill is connected to the final sensor 205 of the discrimination unit 201 so that the switching of the first transport direction switching unit is performed at an appropriate timing. After passing through, during the period of (data processing time by a predetermined algorithm + operating time of the first transport direction switching unit), it is necessary to transport the paper sheets by bypassing for the purpose of waiting for time (timing adjustment). .

As is clear from the comparison between FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, the sheet handling apparatus according to the present invention has a shorter sheet transport means from L 'to L than the conventional sheet handling apparatus. The size of the apparatus is reduced and the cost is reduced.

Returning to FIG. 2, the paper sheet transport means 501 has a transport length substantially equal to the length of the banknote in the transport direction.
The sheet transport roller pair 202-1 and 202 of the discrimination unit 201
-2 and 202-3 are driven by a first driving unit (not shown), and the sheet conveying unit 501 is driven by a second driving unit (not shown), and the sheet conveying unit 5 downstream therefrom.
02 is driven by third driving means (not shown) (see also FIG. 1).

When the banknotes 1 are separated one by one at the depositing port 101 and are conveyed from the discriminating unit 201 to the sheet conveying means 501, the sheet conveying roller pair 202-1, 202-2,
202-3 and the sheet conveying means 501 are driven at substantially constant speed, and the bill 1-1 is discriminated from the discriminating unit 201 by the sheet conveying means 50.
Convey smoothly to 1.

However, the trailing end of the bill 1-1 is the discriminating unit 201.
(Step S7:
Y), the sheet transporting means 501 is immediately stopped (step S8). At this time, the paper sheet transporting means 501
It stops with -1 held in it.

Banknote 1 held by sheet transport means 501
The bills 1-2 conveyed before -1 are sent to the sheet transport means 5
01 is being driven, the sheet is moved from the sheet conveying means 501 to the sheet conveying means 502, and the sheet conveying means 501 is moved.
Is stopped by the sheet conveying means 502 even after stopping.
Stacked on the target stacker.

The discriminating section control section 206 of the discriminating section 201 performs data processing on the data taken in by the various sensors by a predetermined algorithm, performs switching control of the transport direction switching means 401 according to the processing result, and matches the switching operation. The control unit 301 activates the sheet conveying means 501 and accelerates the sheet to a predetermined conveying speed.

The control unit 301 controls the sheet separating means 101-1 of the deposit port 101 to execute the separation of the next banknote 1 while the sheet conveying means 501 is stopped.
Control is performed to start driving of the transport roller pair 202 of the discrimination unit 201. These controls are performed by the above-described paper sheet conveying means 501 being activated and at the determined conveying speed until the bill 1 is conveyed through the discrimination section 201 and the leading end 1 of the bill reaches the bill conveying means 501. It is performed at such a timing that it is accelerated until it reaches.

By doing so, the fetching of the bill data by the various sensors of the discriminating section 201 and the data processing of the fetched bill data by a predetermined algorithm can be performed in parallel. Can be improved.

In the embodiment described above, an embodiment is shown in which the sheet transport means downstream of the discrimination section 201 is divided into two, a bill transport means 501 and a bill transport means 502, and these are driven by independent drive means. However, the paper sheet transporting means 501 and the bill transporting means 502 may be configured to be driven by one driving means without being divided. In this case, the sheet transport means 501
And the sheet transporting means 502 are simultaneously stopped / started, but the stop / starting control is controlled so that the bills sent from the discrimination unit 201 are the same as in the above-described embodiment. In this case, the banknote preceding the banknote repeatedly stops / starts until the banknote reaches the target stacking unit.

Further, in the above embodiment, the control example in which the trailing end of the bill 1 is stopped immediately after passing through the final sensor 205 of the discriminating unit 201, but the transport speed may be reduced without stopping. . In this case, the distance between the discrimination unit 201 and the first transport direction switching unit 401 can be reduced according to the difference between the transport speed before deceleration and the transport speed after deceleration.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The distance from the discriminating section to the first transport direction switching means downstream of the discriminating section can be reduced, so that the bill handling apparatus can be downsized and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a bill receiving device as one embodiment of a paper sheet handling device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a bill receiving device that is an embodiment of the paper sheet handling device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present embodiment (part 1).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present embodiment (part 2).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a sheet handling apparatus having functions equivalent to those of the embodiment configured based on the conventional concept.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Bill, 1-7: Returned bill, 10: Bill handling device, 2
0: upper control unit, 101: deposit port, 101-1: sheet separating means, 102: press plate, 103: pickup roller, 103-1: high friction coefficient member, 104: feed roller, 104-1: High friction coefficient member, 105: gate roller, 106: auxiliary conveying means, 201: discriminating section, 202
-1,201-2,202-3: paper sheet transport roller pair,
203-1, 203-2: guide plate, 204: two-sheet detecting means, 205: final sensor, 206: discriminator control section,
301: control unit, 401: first transport direction switching means, 501: paper transport means, 502: paper transport means, 503: paper transport means, 601: temporary stacker,
601-1: sheet stacking means, 601-2: temporary stack banknote, 601-3: separator, 701: return stacker, 701-1: sheet stacking means, 701-2: return roller pair, 801: return Mouth, 901: bill cassette

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Okuna 1st Ikegami, Haruoka-cho, Owariasahi-city, Aichi Prefecture Inside the Information Equipment Division of Hitachi, Ltd. F-term in the Information Technology Division of Hitachi, Ltd. (reference) 3E040 AA01 FG01 FG11 3F049 AA10 DA02 EA13 EA14 LA08 LB04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A first transport unit having one or more sensors for detecting characteristics of a sheet, a second transport unit provided downstream of the first transport unit, and the second transport unit A transport direction switching unit provided after the unit, and a plurality of third transport units provided after the transport direction switching unit, wherein the first transport unit transports the sheets by the first transport unit. The characteristics of the paper sheet are detected by the above sensors, discrimination processing is performed based on the output of the one or more sensors, and the conveyance direction switching means switches the conveyance direction of the paper sheet based on the discrimination result, and In the paper sheet handling device for changing the stacking destination, after passing the final sensor of the one or more sensors, the transport speed in the second transport unit is changed, and after the discrimination process is completed, the second Control means for returning the transfer speed of the transfer means to the original Paper sheet handling apparatus according to claim. 2. The paper sheet handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit temporarily stops conveyance in the second conveyance unit after passing through a final sensor of the one or more sensors, and performs the discrimination. A sheet handling apparatus, which performs control for restarting the conveyance of the second conveyance means after the processing is completed. 3. The sheet handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preceding sheet is conveyed to the first conveying means while the preceding sheet is present in the second conveying means. A paper sheet handling apparatus characterized in that: 4. The paper sheet handling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a transport length of the second transport means is substantially equal to a transport direction length of the paper sheet, and the second transport means and A sheet handling apparatus, wherein the first transport means can be independently controlled. 5. The paper sheet handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second transport means and said third drive means can be controlled independently. Paper handling equipment.