JP2511488B2 - Paper discriminating device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a paper sheet discriminating apparatus for discriminating the presence / absence of abnormality of a paper sheet itself and the type of foreign matter overlapping on the paper sheet.

(Prior Art) For example, in a banknote automatic depositing / dispensing device, an optical character reading device, etc., on a conveying path for conveying paper sheets, for example, discrimination of the denomination of paper money and discrimination of the type of stamp paper. And so on. Also, in the optical character reader,
The color and thickness of the paper are determined.

In a banknote automatic depositing / dispensing device, when a plurality of banknotes are stacked and taken into a transaction port, the banknotes are separated one by one and sent to a conveyance path to determine the denomination, and the authenticity of the banknotes. Appraise and perform various processing such as deposit processing. Then, for example, for two or more banknotes conveyed while being overlapped, this is detected and returned to the customer. Even if the bill itself is damaged or significantly soiled, it will be returned to the customer as well.

On the other hand, in the withdrawal process, a bill having two or more banknotes taken out from the safe in the apparatus is returned to the safe again to prevent payment to the customer. The same procedure is performed when a damaged bill is taken out of the safe.

Conventionally, the following apparatus has been used to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the paper sheets themselves and the overlap of the paper sheets.

FIG. 2 shows an operation explanatory view of the bill discriminating apparatus using the optical detector.

In the figure, a light emitting element 2 and a light receiving element 3 are arranged above and below the banknote 1. When light is incident on the light receiving element 3 from the light emitting element 2 through the bill 1, the light receiving element 3 photoelectrically converts the light to obtain a predetermined output signal. This output signal is proportional to the amount of transmitted light, is brightest and shows level A when there are no banknotes, shows level B of the one-dot chain line when there is one normal banknote, and shows level B when there are two banknotes. A level C indicated by a solid line is shown. On the other hand, the threshold level D is set in advance by the discriminating device, and when the amount of transmitted light is less than or equal to the level D, it is determined that two or more banknotes are overlapped.
Further, the same judgment is made also for a bill that is significantly soiled.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of a thickness detector that physically detects the thickness of a bill.

In this case, the bill 1 is conveyed by being sandwiched between the pair of rollers 4 and 5. At this time, a voltage corresponding to the gap between the rollers 4 and 5 is obtained as a thickness detection output signal. The output signal when there is no banknote shows the lowest level A, the level B of the one-dot chain line when the number of normal banknotes is one, and the level C of the solid line when there are two banknotes. On the other hand, by setting the threshold value D, the pair of rollers 4,
It is possible to determine whether one banknote is transported between 5 or two banknotes are overlapped and transported. As such a thickness detector for physically detecting the thickness, a voltage type, a capacitance type, etc. are known in addition to the roller type.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in general, when a bill is damaged, it is often repaired and used with an adhesive tape or the like. In the automatic bill depositing / dispensing apparatus, normally, with respect to such repair bill, the deposit is rejected or the dispensing is blocked. This is also a measure to prevent unauthorized use.

However, when attempting to discriminate such repair banknotes, conventionally, the following problems have occurred.

First, when the optical detector as shown in FIG. 2 is used, the amount of transmitted light of the banknote repaired using the transparent adhesive tape is almost the same as that of the case where one banknote passes. Does not occur. Therefore, the optical detector cannot clearly distinguish between the two, and there is a possibility that the repaired banknotes will be counted or withdrawn in the banknote handling device as they are.

On the other hand, when the thickness detector for detecting the physical thickness shown in FIG. 3 is used, a problem may occur depending on how the adhesive tape is attached to the bill.

FIG. 4 shows a case where the bill 1 is repaired by the adhesive tape 6 and is conveyed in the direction of the arrow 7 to detect the thickness.

FIG. 4 (a) is a perspective view of the bill, and the cross section of the plane including the arrow 7 is shown in FIG. 4 (b). A banknote having such a cross-sectional structure can be used as a pair of rollers as shown in FIG.
When 4,5 are sandwiched and the thickness is detected, an output signal as shown in FIG. This corresponds well to the cross-sectional shape shown in FIG. 2B, and if this waveform is analyzed, it is recognized that foreign matters such as adhesive tape having a shape different from the bill overlap on the bill. can do.

On the other hand, FIG. 5 shows an example of the case where the adhesive tape 6 is attached and repaired in parallel with the conveyance direction of the banknote 1, that is, the direction of the arrow 7.

FIG. 5 (a) is a perspective view of the bill, and FIG. 5 (b) is a cross-sectional view as seen from the plane including the arrow 7. When the thickness of the bill 1 having such a cross-sectional shape is detected by the pair of rollers 4 and 5 shown in FIG. 3, an output signal as shown in FIG. 5 (c) is obtained. Since this output signal has a level different from that of the output signal when at least one normal banknote has passed, it is possible to discriminate that some kind of foreign matter is overlapped.

However, as shown in FIG. 6, when two banknotes 1 and 1'are overlapped and conveyed in the direction of arrow 7, the cross section viewed from the plane including the arrow 7 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5 (b), the shape is almost the same as that shown in FIG. 5 (b), and the output signal of the thickness detector is as shown in FIG. 6 (c).
It has almost the same waveform as the output signal of FIG.

Therefore, the thickness of the adhesive tape 6 shown in FIG.
When the thickness is almost the same, it is not possible to distinguish between the two, as is apparent by comparing the state of FIG. 5 and the state of FIG. Therefore, this discriminating apparatus treats the banknote repaired with the adhesive tape and the banknote conveyed in the two overlapping manners equally.

Although not shown, the thickness detector for detecting the physical thickness has no difference between the output signals of a significantly soiled bill and a normal bill, and cannot distinguish them from each other.

However, in the bill handling apparatus, it is often necessary to distinguish between these various cases. The same problem occurs not only in the bill handling device but also in a device such as an optical character reading device that recognizes, discriminates and processes general paper sheets.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to distinguish a paper sheet repaired by a transparent adhesive tape from an overlapping paper sheet, and to distinguish a significantly soiled paper sheet. An object is to provide a paper sheet discriminating apparatus.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is a paper sheet discriminating apparatus for inspecting received paper sheets and discriminating between overlapping paper sheets and paper sheets repaired by a transparent repair member. In, the optical detector for detecting the amount of transmitted light of the paper sheet, the thickness detector for detecting the amount of thickness of the paper sheet, the amount of transmitted light of the paper sheet detected by the optical detector is less than a predetermined amount. If the thickness detected by the thickness detector is equal to or more than a predetermined amount, it is determined that the sheets are overlapping sheets, and the amount of transmitted light of the sheets detected by the optical detector is the predetermined amount. If the thickness amount detected by the thickness detector is equal to or more than a predetermined amount, the determination device determines that the paper sheet is repaired by the transparent repair member. It is what

(Operation) The above-described device includes both an optical detector that detects the amount of transmitted light of the paper sheet and a thickness detector that detects the physical thickness.

The thickness detector similarly captures the change in thickness when the paper sheets overlap and when foreign matter such as an adhesive tape overlaps the paper sheets. Here, the output signal of the optical detector is used.

That is, as for the output signal of the optical detector, for the paper sheet repaired by the transparent mounting tape, an output signal corresponding to the same amount of transmitted light as that of one paper sheet is obtained. On the other hand, the overlapped paper sheets can be distinguished from each other because the amount of transmitted light becomes low.

Further, for stain paper sheets which cannot be distinguished by the thickness detector, the output signal of the optical detector is used. Therefore, if the output signals of the optical detector and the thickness detector are combined by paying attention to the correspondence relationship of the signal levels, one normal paper sheet and a paper sheet repaired by a transparent adhesive tape can be obtained. It is possible to discriminate between soiled paper sheets and overlapping paper sheets.

(Examples) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail using examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the paper sheet discriminating apparatus of the present invention.

This device includes the optical detector 11 described with reference to FIG.
And the thickness detector 12 and the discrimination means described with reference to FIG.
20 and are provided. These detectors are arranged at appropriate places on the conveyance path of the paper sheet to be discriminated.

The output of the optical detector 11 is input to the amplifier 13 of the discriminating means 20, and the output of the amplifier 13 and the output 14a of the determination level setting device 14 are connected to the comparator 15. Further, the output of the thickness detector 12 is connected so as to be inputted to the amplifier 16, and the output of the amplifier 16 and the output 17a of the judgment level setting device 17 are connected so as to be inputted to the comparator 18. And the amplifier
Output 13a of 13 and output 15a of comparator 15 and output of amplifier 16
16a and the output 18a of the comparator 18 are connected so as to be input to the control unit 19, respectively. Here, the amplifier 13 and the amplifier 16
Is the output of the optical detector 11 or the thickness detector, respectively.
It is a known amplifier for amplifying 12 outputs to a predetermined level.

In addition, the judgment level setting unit 14 sets the threshold value D described in FIG.
Is a circuit for outputting a determination signal corresponding to. This is a known circuit that is composed of a stabilized power supply and a resistor or the like that appropriately divides the voltage, and is not specifically shown. The determination level setting device 17 is also a circuit that outputs a signal corresponding to the threshold value D shown in FIG. The specific configuration is the same as that of the determination level setting device 14.

Each of the comparators 15 and 18 is a circuit that compares the signals input to its inverting input terminal and its non-inverting input terminal and amplifies and outputs the difference voltage. The control unit 19 is composed of a microprocessor and the like, samples the optical double signal 15a and the mechanical double signal 18a output from the comparators 15 and 18 at a predetermined timing, and determines the sheet type. It is a circuit to perform. When receiving the optical double signal 15a or the mechanical double signal 18a, this circuit receives the output signal 13a of the amplifier 13 or the output signal 16a of the amplifier 16 as a strobe and generates a sampling clock at the rising timing of the optical signal. The sampling of the double signal 15a and the mechanical double signal 18a is started. After that, the read signal is arithmetically processed to determine whether it is one normal sheet, two overlapping sheets, a sheet repaired with transparent tape, or a soiled sheet. Whether or not it is determined.

Here, both the optical double signal 15a and the mechanical double signal 18a indicate a low level (L) with respect to one normal sheet, and a high level (H) with two overlapping sheets. I shall. For example, according to the optical detector 11, for the paper sheet repaired by the transparent tape, the optical double signal 15a
Becomes low level, and according to the thickness detector 12, the mechanical double signal 18a becomes high level.

The control unit 19 makes the following determination from the level correspondence of the mechanical double signal 18a of the optical double signal 15a. Table 1 is a table showing the correspondence relationship and the determination content.

That is, as shown in Table 1, the apparatus of the present invention determines that a normal sheet is a sheet when both the optical double signal and the mechanical double signal are at a low level, and the optical double signal also indicates the mechanical double signal. When the double signal is also at high level, it is determined that two sheets are stacked.
If the optical double signal is at the low level and the mechanical double signal is at the high level, it is determined that the sheet is a transparent tape repaired paper sheet, and if the opposite is true, it is determined that the paper sheet is soiled.

Next, the specific operation of the device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9.

FIG. 7 to FIG. 9 are specific operational flowcharts of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the determination process of the optical double signal 15a.

First, it is determined whether or not the amount of transmitted light of the optical detector 11 changes (step S1). When the amount of transmitted light changes, the strobe 13a is input to the control unit 19 (step S
2). The control unit 19 captures the rising edge and generates a sampling clock (step S3). Then, the optical double signal 15a is sampled at the cycle of the sampling clock, and the light amount measurement work is performed (step S
Four). Sampling is performed several tens of times or more for one bill, and the average value thereof is determined as the amount of transmitted light.

Here, the transmitted light amount is compared with a preset constant X (step S5), and if the transmitted light amount constant X is larger, an optical double flag is set (step S6).
If the amount of transmitted light is small, the optical double flag is reset (step S7). In this way, the optical double flag is set to either the set state or the reset state, stored in the memory or the like, and the determination of the optical double signal is completed.

On the other hand, FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the determination process of the mechanical double signal 18a.

In this figure, first, the change in the detection signal in the thickness detector 12 is monitored (step S8). Then, when the strobe 16a is input (step S9), the control unit 19 generates a sampling clock (step S10). Then, the mechanical double signal 18a is sampled to measure the thickness (step S11). The sampling procedure is the same as that for the optical dual signal. This thickness is compared with a preset constant Y (step S12), and if the thickness is thick, the mechanical double flag is set (step S1).
3). If the thickness is thin, the mechanical double flag is reset (step S14).

As described above, in the mechanical double determination as in the optical double determination, the mechanical double flag is set or reset to end the determination work.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for producing the final determination result shown in Table 1 above based on the determination processing result.

First, it is determined whether or not the optical double determination process shown in FIG. 7 is completed (step S15). Then, it is determined whether or not the mechanical double determination process shown in FIG. 8 is completed (step S16). If these judgments are completed,
It is determined whether or not the optical double flag is set (step S17). Then, after that, it is determined whether or not the mechanical double flag is set (step S18 or step S19). Of course, this order may be reversed.

As a result of the above processing, four kinds of discrimination results shown in and of the figure are obtained. Although this result is as shown in Table 1, when it is determined that the number of sheets is two or more by both the optical detector and the thickness detector, it is determined that two or more sheets are conveyed in an overlapping manner. In addition, when it is determined that the number of optical detectors is two or more, and the number of thickness detectors is one, it is 1
Even if it is a sheet, it is determined that it is a different type of paper sheet such as a fake note or an extremely soiled paper sheet. If the optical detector determines that the number of sheets is one and the thickness detector determines that the number of sheets is two or more, it is determined that the sheet has been repaired by the transparent adhesive tape. Finally, when it is determined that both the optical detector and the thickness detector have one sheet, it is determined that the sheet is one normal sheet.

 The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

The present invention can be similarly applied to an apparatus that handles various paper sheets such as a certificate, a sheet, or a card, and an apparatus that recognizes the type and structure of the paper sheet and performs various processes. Further, as the detector for detecting the physical thickness, in addition to the roller type, a capacitance type detector or the like may be used.

According to the first invention of the paper sheet discrimination apparatus described above,
Since it is possible to distinguish between the overlapped paper sheets and the paper sheets repaired by the transparent repair member, it is possible to perform advanced paper sheet processing according to various operations. For example, if the present invention is used in an automatic cash deposit / withdrawal device, a banknote repaired by a transparent repair member is suitable for operations such as permitting both deposit / withdrawal processing and permitting only deposit / withdrawal processing. It is also possible to perform processing.

According to the second aspect of the invention, even soiled paper sheets can be discriminated. Therefore, when the bill is discriminated as an abnormal bill, the cause thereof becomes clear. Therefore, appropriate subsequent processing is required. Is possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a paper sheet discriminating apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of a conventional general optical detector, and FIG. 3 is a roller type thickness. FIGS. 4 and 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the detector, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the thickness detector when sheets are conveyed in various modes. 3 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the device of the present invention. 11 ... Optical detector, 12 ... Thickness detector, 13,16 ... Amplifier, 14,17 ... Judgment level setting device, 15,18 ... Comparator, 19 ... Control unit, 20 ... Discrimination means .

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A paper sheet discriminating apparatus for inspecting received paper sheets to discriminate between overlapping paper sheets and paper sheets repaired by a transparent repair member. An optical detector that detects the amount of light, a thickness detector that detects the amount of thickness of the paper sheet, the amount of transmitted light of the paper sheet detected by the optical detector is a predetermined amount or less, and the thickness When the thickness detected by the detector is equal to or more than a predetermined amount, it is determined that the sheets are overlapping sheets, and the amount of transmitted light of the sheets detected by the optical detector is equal to or more than the predetermined amount. In addition, when the thickness amount detected by the thickness detector is equal to or more than a predetermined amount, it is determined that the sheet is a sheet repaired by a transparent repair member. Paper sheet discrimination device. 2. The paper sheet discriminating apparatus according to claim 1,
When the amount of transmitted light of the paper sheet detected by the optical detector is a predetermined amount or less, and the thickness amount detected by the thickness detector is a predetermined amount or less, A paper sheet discriminating apparatus, which discriminates that the paper sheet is soiled.