JP2011113305A - Banknote processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a banknote processing apparatus capable of acquiring information necessary for maintenance management during normal work without requiring an operator's special operation, and capable of performing appropriate maintenance management by the acquired information necessary for the maintenance management. <P>SOLUTION: The banknote processing apparatus that discriminate a target banknote and includes a storage unit for storing the discriminated banknote includes: a communication means for wirelessly communicating with a portable information device carried by the operator; an acquisition means for acquiring maintenance management information necessary for the maintenance management among the operation history information of the banknote processing apparatus; a detection means for detecting the start state and the end state of work for the banknote processing apparatus by detecting the attachment/detachment or an opening of the storage unit; and a control unit for transmitting the maintenance management information from the communication means to the portable information device during a work time from the start state to the end state of the work for the banknote processing apparatus based on the detection result of the detection means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a banknote handling apparatus mounted on a vending machine.

  Conventionally, operation history information of a money processing device such as a coin processing device or a bill processing device is stored in a nonvolatile memory element or the like on a substrate inside the device, and an operator connects a dedicated tool to the money processing device. Or the main control unit that controls the entire vending machine receives and accumulates operation history information from the money handling apparatus, and the operator connects a dedicated tool to the main control unit. It has been acquired.

  In Patent Document 1, each time a failure occurs in a coin processing device, the number of failures, environmental conditions and operating hours are acquired as history information, and the inspection time is reached when the acquired result value exceeds the failure judgment value. What is displayed is disclosed.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 discloses a device that detects opening / closing of a vending machine door and stores opening / closing history information as operation history information based on the detected information. In this prior art, an IC chip built-in holder part storing individual ID information is mounted on a lock / unlock key for opening and closing the door of the vending machine, and an ID acquisition part is disposed near the handle lock part. By performing wireless communication between the ID acquisition unit and the ID acquisition unit, the vending machine side uses the opening / closing information to obtain the locking / unlocking history information based on the individual ID information acquired by the ID acquisition unit 10 when the handle lock unit is locked / unlocked. The operation history information is sequentially stored in the storage unit together with the opening / closing history information.

JP 2001-175936 A JP 2009-37524 A

  However, in the first conventional technique for obtaining operation history information using a dedicated tool, it is necessary for the operator to execute it with will, and this places a burden on the operator. Also, in the second conventional technique for displaying that the inspection time has been reached, it is necessary for the vending machine operator to take a memo after viewing the display and contact a specialist who maintains the money handling apparatus. In addition, it is difficult to maintain and inspect the money handling apparatus at an appropriate timing while maintaining the vending machine in a state where it can be sold without burdening the operator. In the third conventional technique for storing individual ID information for each locking / unlocking key, it is necessary to provide an IC chip or the like for each key, and the key bundle becomes heavy or bulky, which is not realistic. Further, it is necessary to separately collect the operation history information from the storage unit by the information terminal device, which increases the burden on the operator and makes it difficult to maintain and inspect the money handling apparatus at an appropriate timing.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible for an operator to acquire operation history information without extra work for acquisition, and more appropriate to the acquired operation history information. An object of the present invention is to provide a banknote handling apparatus that can perform maintenance and management.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is a banknote processing apparatus that includes a storage unit that selects a target banknote and stores the selected coin, and communicates wirelessly with a portable information device carried by an operator. And acquisition means for acquiring maintenance management information necessary for maintenance management among the operation history information of the banknote processing device, and a start state and end of work on the banknote processing device by detecting attachment / detachment or opening of the storage unit Based on the detection means for detecting the state and the detection result of the detection means, the maintenance management information is transferred from the communication means to the portable information during the work time from the start state to the end state of the work for the banknote processing device. Control means for transmitting to the apparatus.

  According to the present invention, the operation history information of the banknote processing device is sent to the portable information device by a normal operation without the worker of the vending machine doing special work for obtaining the operation history information. Maintenance and management of the banknote handling apparatus can be performed at an appropriate timing.

It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the maintenance management system of the money handling apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of a banknote processing apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the principal part of the mechanistic structure of a banknote processing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the transmission process of the operation history information in a communication part. It is a sequence chart which shows the sequence of the process between each apparatus in the maintenance management system of a banknote processing apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same number is assigned to the same element throughout the description of the embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a maintenance management system for a banknote handling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a maintenance management system 100 includes a vending machine 1, a portable information terminal device (portable information device) 2 carried by an operator, and a management device 3 provided in a management center (sales office).

  The vending machine 1 is connected to a main control unit 4 that controls the entire apparatus and a money processing device 5. As the money processing device 5, a coin processing device (common name, coin changer) 6 and a banknote processing device 7 (common name, bill validator). At least one of them is provided.

  The banknote processing device 7 includes a communication unit 71 that performs wireless communication with the portable information terminal device 2 in a communicable region, an acquisition unit 72 that acquires operation history information of the banknote processing device 7, and an identification unit that performs banknote identification and selection. For the identification control unit 73 that drives and controls the elements (described later), the storage control unit 74 that drives and manages the elements in the storage unit (described later) that stores the identified banknote, and the banknote processing device 7 A detection unit 75 that detects a start state and an end state of work performed by an operator, and a control unit 76 that controls the entire apparatus including these components are configured.

  The portable information terminal device 2 performs wireless communication of information with the communication unit 71 in the banknote processing device 7 and the communication unit (post-operation) of the management device 3 via a communication unit (not shown) including an antenna and the like. The control part 21 which performs and controls the whole apparatus and the memory | storage part 22 which memorize | stores the operation history information containing the maintenance management information required for the maintenance management of the banknote processing apparatus 7 are comprised. The portable information terminal device 2 is realized, for example, as a key boulder type RF tag attached to a key bundle for opening and closing the door of the vending machine 1.

  The management device 3 includes a communication unit 31 that communicates information with the portable information terminal device 2, a storage unit 32 that stores maintenance management information of the banknote processing device 7, and a control unit 33 that controls the entire device. .

  Next, details of the bill processing device (bill validator) 7 will be described with reference to a block diagram showing the detailed configuration of FIG. 2 and an external view of FIG.

  The banknote handling apparatus 7 includes an identification unit 731 disposed on the upper side with respect to the main body 70 and a banknote storage unit (commonly referred to as a stacker) 732 disposed on the lower side. In the present embodiment, the bill storage unit 7 does not have a payout function, unlike the coin processing device 6.

  Of the sorting unit 731 and the banknote storage unit 732, the banknote storage unit (stacker) 732 is detachably provided with respect to the main body 70, or at least a part of the banknote storage unit 732 is provided to be openable. It makes it easy to perform operations such as collection. As shown in FIG. 4B, the banknote storage part 732 is detachable on the side of the sorting part 732 that is the upper side of the main body 70. That is, the lower side of the bill housing part 632 is pivotally supported with respect to the main body 70, and the upper side is moved away from the main body 70 from the operating position in which the main body 70 receives the bill housing part 732 and performs normal operation. is there. The position of the communication unit 71 is disposed on the side surface of the main body 70.

  In addition to the configuration of FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 3, the identification control unit 73 determines the authenticity of the banknote received from the banknote insertion slot (not shown) of the vending machine 1 (genuine coin / false coin), It is configured to include components such as an identification sensor 73a for identifying, a banknote transporting means for transporting banknotes after authenticity determination, and a passage sensor 73d for detecting the presence or absence of banknotes in a path as a transport path. The In the process in which the banknote received from the banknote insertion slot of the vending machine 1 travels on the conveyance path, the identification control unit 73 uses these components to control the banknote according to the control instruction of the control unit 76. The denomination including the authenticity determination is sorted, the sorted banknotes are sorted into denominations, and passed to the banknote storage unit 732 at the operating position. In the banknote storage unit 732, the banknotes sorted by the selection unit 731 are received by the control of the selection control unit 73 and stored in the banknote storage unit 732.

  In addition to the configuration of FIG. 1, the storage control unit 74 includes, as shown in FIG. 2, a storage unit detachment detection switch (SW) 74 a for detecting states such as attachment / detachment and return of the banknote storage unit 732 with respect to the main body 70. It is comprised including components, such as the banknote full sensor 74b which detects the full state of a banknote, and the banknote accommodating means 74c for accommodating the banknote from the selection part 731. The accommodation control unit 74 drives and controls the above components according to a control instruction from the control unit 76 to store bills.

  In the example of FIG. 2, the detection unit 75 that detects the start state and the end state of the work performed by the operator on the banknote handling apparatus 7 described in FIG. 1 is realized by a storage control unit 74 and a storage unit detachment detection switch 74a. Yes.

  Next, the operation history information acquired by the acquisition unit 72 in the banknote processing device 7 will be described. The purpose of obtaining the operation history information of the banknote processing device 7 is to prevent the operating time of the vending machine 1 from being shortened due to a failure of the banknote processing device 7. Information for failure prevention is acquired as operation history information. First, the operation history information of the coin processing device will be described.

  The operation history information of the banknote processing device 7 digitizes the event that occurred in the banknote processing device 7 at a predetermined time, and the acquisition unit 72 acquires the information and records it in a storage unit (not shown) of a nonvolatile storage element. Information and will be updated at the next time.

  Operation history information related to the identification unit 731 and the bill storage unit 732 of the bill processing apparatus 7 will be described. The operation history information related to the identification unit 731 includes the number of identification start sheets, the number of received sheets, the number of rejected sheets, the number of checks for acceptance rate reduction, the number of contamination detections, the sensor abnormality during standby, and the number of card jams during refund. The identification start number is the number of all banknotes inserted into the banknote processing apparatus, and is one piece of information that prompts maintenance and inspection of the banknote processing apparatus. The number of accepted sheets is the number judged to be a genuine note, the number of rejected sheets is judged not to be a genuine note, the number of acceptance rate reduction checks is the number of times less than the predetermined acceptance rate, and especially when the number of acceptance rate decline checks is large, Sensor failure and passage dirt can be expected. The number of times the dirt is detected is the number of times the amount of light received by the optical sensor falls below a predetermined amount. If this number is large, it can be predicted that dirt is attached to the sensor. The sensor abnormality at the time of standby indicates an abnormality of each sensor state before the bill insertion, and it can be determined that immediate maintenance inspection is necessary. The number of times of jamming at the time of refund indicates the number of times of jamming when returning the inserted bill, and if this number is large, it is possible to predict a failure of the conveying means or an obstacle on the passage.

  The operation history information related to the bill storage unit 732 includes a stacker abnormality, the number of bills jammed at the time of collecting money, and the like. The stacker abnormality indicates an abnormality in the mechanism for pushing the banknote into the banknote storage (stacker) 732, and it can be determined that immediate maintenance inspection is necessary. The number of times of clogging at the time of collection indicates the number of times clogging has occurred in the middle of transporting a banknote identified as a genuine note to the bill storage part 732. I can expect.

  Among the operation history information described above, the maintenance management information having a high priority for failure prevention includes the identification start number related to the identification unit 731, the number of acceptance rate reduction checks, and the number of contamination detections, and the storage related to the banknote storage unit 732. It is the number of times that the bill is jammed at the time of money. These maintenance management information is necessary information for failure prevention. It is not information that shows abnormal phenomena that cover the details of the equipment, but information that shows phenomena that can roughly grasp the maintenance and inspection points. There is not much information. Therefore, the control unit 76 of the coin processing device 6 and the banknote processing device 7 as the money processing device 5 has an operation history within a normal work time such as money collection from the detection of the start state to the detection of the end state. Among the information, each component, for example, the communication unit 71 and the acquisition unit 72 is controlled so that at least maintenance management information can be reliably transmitted. For example, the operation history information is divided into information necessary for maintenance management and information not necessary in advance, and only information necessary for maintenance management is transmitted when the start state is detected by the storage unit removal detection switch 74a. Or according to the purpose of maintenance management, such as the vending machine 1 including the banknote processing device 7, each information of the operation history information may be given priority, and may be sent in order of priority. Accordingly, the transmission of the operation history information may be set to be limited to a high priority in advance.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 and the sequence chart of FIG. 5, the processing operation of the maintenance management system of the money handling apparatus will be described in accordance with the actual product replenishment check including money collection work. Here, when the worker works, a sales office such as a management center uses a key holder type portable information terminal device 2 to which a bundle of keys for opening and closing a plurality of vending machines 1 in the assigned area is attached. Receive and carry. Moreover, the banknote processing apparatus shall memorize | store a serial number.

  The worker goes to the installation location of the vending machine 1 (the vending machine A in FIG. 5) to be worked on, opens the door of the vending machine 1 with the corresponding key of the key holder type portable information terminal device 2, and enters the bill. Processing unit 7 collects money (money collection operation in FIG. 5). At this time, the money is collected by removing or opening the storage portion (732) for storing money of the banknote processing device 7 from the main body (70). For example, the bill storage unit (stacker) 732 is detached from the main body 70 and the bill is collected. At this time, the banknote storage unit (stacker) 732 may be rotated to extract and collect banknotes from the opening.

  The banknote handling device 7 has a storage section detachment detection switch (SW) 74a as a switch for detecting the detachment or opening of the banknote storage section (stacker) 732 from the main body 70. When the control unit 76 detects separation or opening (work start state) via the storage control unit 74 by the switch 74a, the maintenance management information transmission condition is satisfied, and the control unit 76 connects the communication unit 71 to the outside. Are ready for communication (step S1, synchronization processing in FIG. 5). Therefore, the control unit 76 transfers maintenance management information among the operation history information acquired by the acquisition unit 72 to the communication unit 71. At this time, as described above, the control unit 76 controls the acquisition unit 72 and the communication unit 71 so that the maintenance management information is given priority in the operation history information. The communication unit 71 transmits the transferred maintenance management information to the portable information terminal device 2 (step S2). The control unit 21 of the portable information terminal device 2 stores the received maintenance management information in the storage unit 22.

  Among the operation history information transmitted from the communication unit 71 to the portable information terminal device 2, the maintenance management information is transmitted by classifying the operation history information or assigning a priority order as described above, so that the worker can store the bill storage unit. (Stacker) 732 is completed within a short time until the 732 is mounted on the main body again (return to the operation position).

  When the banknote storage unit (stacker) 732 is mounted on the main body again and is detected to be in the operating position by the storage unit separation detection switch (SW) 74a (detection of the end of work), the control unit 76 includes the operation history information. Maintenance transmission information transmission end conditions are satisfied (step S3). Therefore, the control unit 76 causes the communication unit 71 to end transmission of maintenance management information (disconnection processing in FIG. 5). At the time of this transmission, a serial number which is individual data for identifying the banknote processing device 7 is also transmitted. The control unit 21 of the portable information terminal device 2 stores the serial number of the coin processing device 6 in the storage unit 22 in addition to the received maintenance management information.

  Up to this point, the worker only performs the money collection operation and finishes it. The worker performs the same with another vending machine 1 (the vending machine B in FIG. 5). After the money collection operation, the collected money and the key holder type portable information terminal device 2 are brought back to the management center.

  In the management center, the management device 3 is always capable of receiving the radio transmitted by the portable information terminal 2, and the key holder type portable information terminal device 2 brought back into the communication area of the management device 3 is in this communication area. It becomes possible to communicate with the management apparatus 3 (synchronization process in FIG. 5). Therefore, the control unit 21 of the portable information terminal device 2 automatically transmits the stored maintenance management information to the management device 3. The management device 3 that has received the maintenance management information from the portable information terminal device 2 performs the following processing.

  The control unit 33 of the management device 3 analyzes the maintenance management information received by the communication unit 31, determines the state of the money handling device 5 that has transmitted the maintenance management information, and determines the time when maintenance inspection is necessary. The operator is not involved at all in the series of operations in the management center.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the operator can grasp the time for maintenance and inspection in the banknote processing device 7 installed in the vending machine 1 and obtain and count maintenance management information useful for the execution. It can be done automatically without being conscious of it, and can be executed in combination with other normal work, reducing work time and increasing efficiency.

  In the embodiment described above, the detection unit 75 that detects the start state of the work by the worker with respect to the banknote processing device 7 is realized as the storage management information transmission start condition. If it detects the start state of the operation | work by the operator with respect to the banknote processing apparatus 7, you may detect anywhere. For example, you may make it detect operation performed with respect to the banknote processing apparatus 7 at the start time of an operation | work. For example, it may be detected by a switch that is switched from the normal operation mode to the work mode as a switch that is operated prior to attachment or detachment. Further, the maintenance management information transmission end condition is determined based on the return of the storage unit to the operating position. For example, when the maintenance management information can be transmitted within a certain time, the storage unit returns to the operating position. The transmission may be terminated when a certain time has elapsed without waiting.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. Further, it is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vending machine 2 ... Portable information terminal device 3 ... Management apparatus 4 ... Main control part 5 ... Money processing apparatus 6 ... Coin processing apparatus 7 ... Banknote processing apparatus 70 ... Main body
71 ... Communication unit 72 ... Acquisition unit 73 ... Selection control unit 74a ... Storage unit detachment detection SW
75... Detection unit 76... Control unit 731 ... Sorting unit 732 ... Banknote storage unit (stacker)

Claims (1)

A banknote handling apparatus that includes a storage unit that identifies a target banknote and stores the identified banknote,
A communication means for wirelessly communicating with a portable information device carried by an operator;
Obtaining means for obtaining maintenance management information necessary for maintenance management out of operation history information of the banknote handling apparatus;
Detecting means for detecting a start state and an end state of work on the banknote handling apparatus by detecting attachment / detachment or opening of the storage unit;
Control means for transmitting the maintenance management information from the communication means to the portable information device during the work time from the start state to the end state of the work on the banknote processing device based on the detection result of the detection means; A bill processing apparatus comprising:

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