JP2587126B2 - Paper sheet recognition device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a paper sheet recognition device incorporated in an automatic teller machine, an automatic teller machine, a money changer, and the like.

(Prior Art) Automatic teller machines, automatic teller machines, currency exchange machines, and the like used in financial institutions and the like are provided with paper sheets, that is, paper sheet recognition devices for recognizing bills. . With such a paper sheet recognition device, the type, authenticity, dirt, damage, and the like of the banknote are detected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional paper sheet recognition device.

The illustrated device includes a transport unit 1 and a sheet discrimination sensor group 2
, A right end position detection sensor group 3, a skew sensor group 5, a determination means 90, and the like.

The transport unit 1 includes a transport path 11 and a plurality of drive rollers 12a, 1
2b etc.

The transport path 11 has a width slightly larger than the width of the bill M in the longitudinal direction. The banknotes M are transported to the transport path 11 one by one in the lateral direction.

The drive rollers 12a and 12b are provided on the left and right sides of the transport path 11, respectively. A plurality of these drive rollers 12a and 12b are provided in the middle of the transport path 11.

The paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 includes a plurality of light sources disposed below the banknote M and irradiating the banknote M with a light source that irradiates the banknote M in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the banknote conveyance direction. (For example, six). The light receiving element of the paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 receives the transmitted light of the bill M by the light source. The paper sheet discrimination sensor group detects a print pattern of the banknote M and outputs the detected signal as the strength of an electric signal.

The print pattern reading unit 21 receives the output of the sheet discrimination sensor group 2. The print pattern reading unit 21 is configured by a storage device such as a random access memory,
It has a capacity to store all print patterns on the banknote M. The print pattern reading unit 21 converts an analog signal of each sensor S1 to S6 of the paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 at the time of passing a bill into a digital data string using an A / D converter, and temporarily converts the digital data string. Store it.

The right end position detection sensor group 3 is for detecting the amount of displacement of the right end of the bill M in the longitudinal direction. The right end position detection sensor group 3 is composed of sensors R1 to R10 composed of a plurality (for example, ten) of photointerrupters arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M. That is, the right end position detection sensor group 3 is composed of a pair of a light emitting element group and a light receiving element group provided on the front side and the back side of the bill M, respectively. The output from the right end position detection sensor group 3 is
Is input to

The lateral displacement detecting unit 32 determines whether any of the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 is larger or smaller than a reference output value. When the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 are larger than the reference output value, it is determined that the bill M does not exist in a certain portion of the sensor. If the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 are smaller than the reference output value, it is determined that the banknote M exists in a certain portion of the sensor (a banknote intervening state). Then, when the bill M reaches the right end position detection sensor group 3, that is, one of the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 becomes smaller than the reference value, the lateral displacement detecting unit 32 is considered to have reached the bill M. At the time when the bill M further travels a fixed distance D [mm] from the time point as a reference point, the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 are checked, and at that time, there is a rightmost sensor that has determined that the bill M is present. The position is determined as the right end position of the banknote M, and this right end position is output as lateral shift data.

Here, the reason for waiting for traveling a certain distance D [mm] is as follows.
This is to prevent the detection accuracy of the right end position from being impaired due to the corner bending of the bill.

The skew sensor group 5 includes two photo-interrupters arranged at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the bill transport direction in order to detect the skew amount of the bill M. The output of the skew sensor group 5 is input to the skew detector 7.

The skew detecting unit 7 determines whether or not the banknote M is present by using two sensors constituting the skew sensor group 5. When the banknote M is conveyed by the conveying means 1 and the tip of the banknote M approaches the skew sensor group 5, the skew detecting unit 7 determines that the banknote is present by one of the left and right sensors. After that, the time difference until the other sensor determines that the banknote M is present is measured as skew data and output.

The determination means 90 includes a feature extraction unit 22, a comparison unit 23, a standard pattern selection unit 91, and a standard pattern storage unit 92.

The print pattern reading unit 21 reads the electric signal output of the paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 by an A / D converter or the like at regular intervals, and creates and stores a print pattern data string.

The feature extraction unit 22 extracts necessary parts according to the skew data and the skew data output from the skew detection unit 7 and the skew detection unit 32 from the print pattern data, and then performs various operations on the extracted data. Line to obtain print pattern feature data.

The standard pattern storage unit 92 is configured by a ROM that stores a standard pattern of feature data prepared for each lateral displacement position data and skew data prepared in advance. Note that the standard pattern is required for each lateral shift position data and for each skew data. When directly stored in the ROM, a huge memory capacity is required. Therefore, the data is compressed and stored in the ROM. It is.

The standard pattern selection unit 91 reads from the standard pattern storage unit 92 a standard pattern of the feature data prepared in advance for each of the lateral shift data and the skew data. At the time of this reading, the data corresponding to the lateral displacement data output from the lateral displacement detection unit 32 and the skew data output from the skew detection unit 7 are selected, and the data is expanded based on the compressed standard pattern. I do.

The comparison unit 23 compares and determines the standard pattern output from the standard pattern selection unit 91 with the feature data output from the feature extraction unit 22, and outputs the denomination, authenticity, and stain result.

Next, the processing of the lateral displacement detecting unit 32 and the standard pattern selecting unit 91
Will be described with reference to FIG.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are explanatory diagrams of a conventional sheet recognition operation.

FIG. 3A shows an example in which the bill is conveyed ahead of the right side. At this time, the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 constituting the right end position detection sensor group 3 are input to the lateral displacement detection unit 32. First, in the lateral displacement detecting unit 32, when the bill M travels a fixed distance D [mm] after reaching the right end position detection sensor group 3, the output of the right end position detection sensor group 3 is checked, and the rightmost end in the bill intervening state is checked. And outputs lateral displacement data indicating the position of the sensor.

Next, the standard pattern selection unit 91
The skew detector 7 and the lateral displacement detector 32 are selected from standard patterns prepared in advance for each skew data and lateral displacement data in 92.
The standard pattern corresponding to the skewed data and the lateral shift data output from is selected and output to the comparing unit 23. By the processing of the standard pattern selecting section 91, the correction of the running state of the bill M by the discriminating means 90 is realized.

In the banknote recognition device configured as described above and used by being incorporated in an automatic teller machine / payment machine, the banknotes are conveyed at a high speed, and a plurality of banknotes are recognized one by one at predetermined intervals. Pass through the device.

Recently, the processing speed of the automatic teller machine / payment machine has been increasingly required to be improved, and the bill transport speed has been increased and the interval between the bill and the next bill during the transport tends to be narrower. . Therefore, the bill recognition device is required to output the bill discrimination result as quickly as possible, that is, to improve the recognition processing speed.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional paper sheet recognition device,
As shown in FIG. 3 (b), when the banknote M is skewed and the left side precedes, the print pattern of the left side portion of the banknote M is transferred from the paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 into the print pattern reading unit 21. In spite of the fact that the paper money M has already been read halfway, the arrival of the banknote M to the right end position detection sensor group 3 is delayed, and the detection of the lateral displacement occurs. As a result, the feature extracting unit 22 has a process of extracting feature data from the already read print pattern data until lateral displacement data is obtained. The standard pattern selecting unit 91 also includes a standard pattern storing unit.
The reading process from 92 is awaited.

As described above, in the conventional paper sheet recognition device, when the banknote is skewed in a certain direction, the detection of the lateral displacement is delayed, and as a result,
There is a problem in that a limit is imposed on the improvement of the recognition processing speed of paper sheets.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a paper sheet recognition apparatus that reduces a delay in detecting a lateral displacement of a paper sheet recognition apparatus and improves a recognition processing speed. Things.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A sheet recognition apparatus according to the present invention includes a conveyance unit that conveys a sheet, and a skew amount of the sheet that indicates a degree of skew of the sheet with respect to the conveyance direction. Skew sensor group, which detects a print pattern on a sheet and is arranged downstream of the skew sensor group in the conveying direction in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, and a skew sensor. A right end position detection sensor group that is located downstream of the group in the transport direction and detects a front right corner of the sheet, and is located downstream of the skew sensor group in the transport direction;
A left end position detection sensor group for detecting a front left corner of the paper sheet, and a skew direction detected by the skew sensor group,
One of the right end position detection sensor group and the left end position detection sensor group is selected, and the lateral displacement detection side switching means for detecting the lateral displacement amount of the paper sheet from the output of the selected sensor group, and the skew amount and the lateral displacement amount Using a standard pattern prepared in advance,
And a discriminating means for comparing the print pattern read from the paper sheet discrimination sensor group and discriminating the paper sheet.

(Operation) The operation according to the first invention is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), when the sheet is conveyed ahead of its right end, the sheet is sent to the right end position detection sensor group before the left end position detection sensor group. To reach.
In the above-described apparatus, the right end of the sheet is immediately detected by the right end position detection sensor group 3 when the skew sensor group detects that the right front end portion is being transported in advance.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), when the paper sheet is conveyed ahead of its left front end, the paper sheet is placed on the left end position detection sensor before the right end position detection sensor group. Reach the group. In the above-described apparatus, when the skew sensor group detects that the left leading end is being transported in advance, the left end position detecting sensor group 4 immediately detects the left end of the sheet.

As a result, while only the front part of the sheet is conveyed, it is possible to detect the position of the lateral shift that is the reference for reading the print pattern of the sheet. Therefore, it is possible to improve the speed of the paper sheet recognition processing.

 The operation according to the second invention is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the paper sheet is conveyed ahead of the left front end, the corner of the right front end of the paper sheet is the rightmost end. In the above-described apparatus, when the skew sensor group detects that the left leading end is being transported in advance, the right end position, which is the corner of the right leading end of the sheet, is detected by the right end position detecting sensor group 3. Detected immediately.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), when the paper sheet is conveyed ahead of the right front end, the corner of the left front end of the paper sheet is the leftmost end. In the above-described apparatus, when it is detected by the skew sensor group that the right front end is being transported in advance, the left end position, which is the corner of the left front end of the paper sheet, is detected by the left end position detection sensor group 4. Detected immediately.

As a result, while only the front portion of the sheet is conveyed, it is possible to detect the position of the end, which is the reference for reading the print pattern of the sheet, that is, the position of the lateral shift. Therefore, it is possible to improve the speed of the paper sheet recognition processing.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

The illustrated device includes a transport unit 1 and a sheet discrimination sensor group 2
A right end position detection sensor group 3, a left end position detection sensor group 4, a skew sensor group 5, a lateral displacement detection side switching means 34,
It comprises a standard pattern selection section 91, a feature extraction section 22, a comparison section 23 and the like.

The transport unit 1 includes a transport path 11 and a plurality of drive rollers 12a, 1
2b etc. The details of each part are the same as those of the conventional one shown in FIG.

The paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 is disposed under the banknote M and illuminates the banknote M, and the banknote M is linearly arranged in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M, that is, in the direction orthogonal to the banknote transport direction, as in the related art. And a plurality (for example, six) of light receiving elements arranged on the upper side. The light receiving element of the paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 receives the transmitted light of the bill M by the light source. The paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 detects a print pattern of the banknote M and outputs it as the strength of an electric signal.

The right end position detection sensor group 3 is for detecting the amount of displacement of the right end of the bill M in the longitudinal direction. The right end position detection sensor group 3 is composed of sensors R1 to R10 composed of a plurality (for example, ten) of photointerrupters arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M. That is, the right end position detection sensor group 3 is composed of a pair of a light emitting element group and a light receiving element group provided on the front side and the back side of the bill M, respectively. The output of the right end position detection sensor group 3 is a right end position detection unit.
Entered in 31.

The left end position detection sensor group 4 is for detecting the amount of displacement of the left end of the bill M in the longitudinal direction. Similarly to the right end position detection sensor group 3, the left end position detection sensor group 4 includes a plurality (for example, 10) arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M.
) Of sensors L1 to L10. The output of the left end position detection sensor group 4 is
It is input to the left end position detection unit 41.

The right end position detection unit 31 and the left end position detection unit 41
It is determined whether any of the outputs R1 to R10 or L1 to L10 is larger or smaller than a reference output value. Sensor R1 to R10
Or, if the output of L1 ~ L10 is larger than the reference output value,
It is determined that the bill M does not exist in a certain portion of the sensor. If the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 or L1 to L10 are smaller than the reference output value, it is determined that the banknote M exists in a certain portion of the sensor (a banknote intervening state). Then, the determination results of each sensor by the right end position detection unit 31 and the left end position detection unit 41 are both input to the lateral displacement detection side switching unit 34.

The skew sensor group 5 includes two photo-interrupters arranged at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the bill transport direction in order to detect the skew amount of the bill M. The output of the skew sensor group 5 is input to the skew detector 7.

The skew detecting unit 7 determines whether or not the banknote M is present by using two sensors constituting the skew sensor group 5. When the banknote M is conveyed by the conveying means 1 and the tip of the banknote M approaches the skew sensor group 5, the skew detecting unit 7 determines that the banknote is present by one of the left and right sensors. After that, the time difference until the other sensor determines that the banknote M is present is measured as skew data and output. The skew data is supplied to the lateral displacement detection side switching means 34, the feature extraction unit 22, and the standard pattern selection unit 91.
Is input to

In accordance with the skew data output by the skew detecting section 7, the side-shift detecting side switching means 34 calculates the side-shift data based on the output of the right end position detecting section 31 or determines the side shift data based on the output of the left end position detecting section 41. A switch is performed to determine whether lateral displacement data is to be obtained. That is, the fourth
As shown in FIG. 7A, when the right side of the sheet is conveyed in advance, the output of the right end position detection unit 31 is monitored, and the banknote M reaches the position of the right end position detection sensor group 3. , Sensor
A point at which any of the outputs of R1 to R10 enters the bill intervening state is used as a reference point, from which the bill M is further moved by a fixed distance D [mm].
At the time of traveling, the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 are checked, and at that time, the position of the rightmost sensor in the bill intervening state is determined as the rightmost position of the bill M, and this rightmost position is output as lateral displacement data. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), when the left side of the paper sheet is conveyed in advance, the output of the left end position detection unit 41 is monitored, and the banknote M is moved to the left end position detection sensor group 4.
, And when any of the outputs of the sensors L1 to L10 becomes a bill intervening state, and the bill M further travels a fixed distance D [mm] from the reference point, the sensors L1 to L10
The output of L10 is checked, and the position of the leftmost sensor in the bill intervening state at that time is determined as the leftmost position of the bill M, and this leftmost position is output as lateral displacement data.

In the feature extracting unit 22, the skew feed data output from the skew feed detection unit 7 and the lateral shift detection side switching unit 34 is output from the print pattern data.
After extracting a necessary portion according to the lateral displacement data, various operations are performed on the extracted data to obtain print pattern feature data.

The standard pattern selection unit 91 reads from the standard pattern storage unit 92 a standard pattern of the feature data prepared in advance for each of the lateral shift data and the skew data. At the time of this reading, the data corresponding to the skew data output from the skew detector 7 and the skew data output from the skew detector 7 are selected, and the compressed standard pattern is restored. Expand data.

 Next, the operation of the above-described device will be described.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), when the result of detection by the skew detection unit 5 is no skew or skew ahead on the right side, the lateral displacement detection side switching means 34, as shown in FIG. The lateral shift data is obtained based on the output state of. In the case where the right side of the paper sheet is the preceding skew, the paper money intervening state at the rightmost end when the leading end of the paper sheet travels at most D = 10 [mm] after reaching the right end position detection sensor group 3. The lateral displacement detection side switching means 34 outputs position data corresponding to this sensor as lateral displacement data.

Conversely, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), when the detection result of the skew detection unit 5 is the preceding skew on the left side, the lateral displacement data is obtained based on the output state of the left end position detection sensor group 4. Ask for. When the left side of the paper sheet is the preceding skew, at most D = after the front end of the paper sheet reaches the front end position detection sensor group.
The leftmost sensor in the intervening state of the bill at the time when it is advanced by about 10 [mm] is checked, and the lateral displacement detection side switching means 34 outputs position data corresponding to this sensor as lateral displacement data.

As described above, it is possible to detect only the position of the leading end portion of the bill M to check the laterally displaced position of the bill, and to quickly obtain the laterally displaced data.

Further, the detection of the lateral displacement data is not limited to the above-described case.
The left and right positions can be reversed. An embodiment in this case will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

The illustrated device includes a transport unit 1 and a sheet discrimination sensor group 2
A right end position detection sensor group 3, a left end position detection sensor group 4, a skew sensor group 5, a lateral displacement detection side switching means 33,
Standard pattern selection unit 91, feature extraction unit 22, and discrimination means 9
Etc.

The transport unit 1 includes a transport path 11 and a plurality of drive rollers 12a, 1
2b etc. The details of each part are the same as those of the conventional one shown in FIG.

A plurality of (for example, six) paper sheet discrimination sensor groups 2 are linearly arranged in the longitudinal direction of the paper money M, that is, in a direction orthogonal to the paper conveyance direction, as in the related art. The paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 is provided on the front side and the back side (not shown) of the banknote M. Paper sheet discrimination sensor group 2 on the front side of banknote M
Receives the reflected light on the bill M by the light source 13. Also,
The paper sheet discrimination sensor group on the back side of the bill M receives the transmitted light of the bill M by the light source 13. These paper sheet discrimination sensor groups detect the printing pattern of the banknote M and output it as the strength of an electric signal.

The right end position detection sensor group 3 is for detecting the amount of displacement of the right end of the bill M in the longitudinal direction. The right end position detection sensor group 3 is composed of sensors R1 to R10 composed of a plurality (for example, ten) of photointerrupters arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M. That is, the right end position detection sensor group 3 is composed of a pair of a light emitting element group and a light receiving element group provided on the front side and the back side of the bill M, respectively. The output of the right end position detection sensor group 3 is a right end position detection unit.
Entered in 31.

The left end position detection sensor group 4 is for detecting the amount of displacement of the left end of the bill M in the longitudinal direction. Similarly to the right end position detection sensor group 3, the left end position detection sensor group 4 includes a plurality (for example, 10) arranged linearly in the longitudinal direction of the banknote M.
) Of sensors L1 to L10. The output of the left end position detection sensor group 4 is
It is input to the left end position detection unit 41.

The right end position detection unit 31 and the left end position detection unit 41
It is determined whether any of the outputs R1 to R10 or L1 to L10 is larger or smaller than a reference output value. Sensor R1 to R10
Or, if the output of L1 ~ L10 is larger than the reference output value,
It is determined that the bill M does not exist in a certain portion of the sensor. If the outputs of the sensors R1 to R10 or L1 to L10 are smaller than the reference output value, it is determined that the banknote M exists in a certain portion of the sensor. Then, the right end position detection unit 31 determines the position of the rightmost sensor, which is determined to be in the state where the bill M is present, as the right end position of the bill M, and outputs this right end position data. On the other hand, the left end position detection unit 41
The position of the leftmost sensor determined to be in the state where the bill M is present is determined as the leftmost position of the bill M, and the leftmost position data is output. Right end position detector 31 and left end position detector 41
Are both input to the lateral displacement detection side switching means 33.

The skew sensor group 5 includes two photo-interrupters arranged at predetermined intervals in a direction orthogonal to the bill transport direction in order to detect the skew amount of the bill M. The output of the skew sensor group 5 is input to the skew detector 7.

The skew detecting unit 7 determines whether or not the banknote M is present by using two sensors constituting the skew sensor group 5. When the banknote M is conveyed by the conveying means 1 and the tip of the banknote M approaches the skew sensor group 5, the skew detecting unit 7 determines that the banknote is present by one of the left and right sensors. After that, the time difference until the other sensor determines that the banknote M is present is measured as skew data and output. The skew data is input to the lateral shift detection side switching means 33 and the standard pattern selection section 91.

The lateral displacement detection side switching unit 33 switches between inputting lateral displacement data from the right end position detecting unit 31 and inputting lateral displacement data from the left end position detecting unit 41 in accordance with the skew data output by the skew detecting unit 7. Do. That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the left side of the sheet is conveyed in advance, the lateral displacement data obtained by the right end position detecting unit 31 using the right end position detecting sensor group 3 is the lateral displacement data. The signal is sent to the standard pattern selection unit 91 via the detection-side switching means 33. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the right side of the sheet is conveyed in advance, the lateral deviation data obtained by the left end position detecting unit 41 using the left end position The signal is sent to the standard pattern selection unit 91 via the detection-side switching means 33.

The standard pattern selection unit 91 reads and outputs a standard pattern for printing on paper sheets from the standard pattern storage unit 91 based on the lateral deviation data output from the lateral deviation detection side switching unit 33.

The standard pattern storage unit 92 stores a standard pattern of characteristic data of paper sheets prepared for each of the lateral shift data and a standard pattern of characteristic data of paper sheets prepared for each of the skew data.

The feature extracting unit 22 cuts out a necessary portion from the print pattern data read by the print pattern reading unit 21, performs various operations on the cut out data, and creates and stores print pattern feature data.

The determination unit 9 compares the feature data sent from the feature extraction unit 22 with the standard pattern output from the standard pattern selection unit 91, and determines whether or not these are the same.

 Next, the operation of the above-described device will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the result of detection by the skew detecting unit 5 is no skew or the skew is ahead on the left side, the lateral shift detection side switching means 33 is a right end position detection sensor group 3. To obtain lateral shift data. If the left side of the paper sheet is the preceding skew, the upper right corner is the rightmost end, so the paper money is in the rightmost end state until the paper sheet travels about 10 to 20 mm. The sensor is checked. The lateral displacement detection side switching means 33 outputs position data corresponding to this sensor as lateral displacement data.

Conversely, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), when the result of detection by the skew detector 5 is the preceding skew, the lateral displacement data is obtained by the left end position detection sensor group 4. When the right side of the paper sheet is the preceding skew, the upper left corner is the leftmost end, so the leftmost end of the paper money is interposed until the paper sheet travels about 10 to 20 mm. The sensor is checked. The lateral displacement detection side switching means 33 outputs position data corresponding to this sensor as lateral displacement data.

As described above, only the position of the leading end of the bill M can be detected to check the rightmost end or the leftmost end of the bill M, and the lateral displacement data can be quickly obtained.

 The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above.

That is, in the above-described embodiment, the recognition of the bill is described. However, it is a matter of course that the recognition of other papers such as securities, bonds or similar securities may be performed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, for convenience, the first
As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 5, the right end position detection sensor group,
The left end position detection sensor group, the sheet discrimination sensor group, and the skew sensor group have been described as sensor groups separately prepared and arranged. However, the division of these sensor groups is a functional classification, and does not mean that each sensor group must be separately prepared and arranged. For example, in FIG. 1 or FIG. 5, as the skew sensor, R10 of the right end position detection sensor group and L10 of the left end position detection sensor group are used.
May be substituted, or a group of right end position detection sensors and a group of left end position detection sensors may be used as the sheet identification sensors.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, the paper sheet recognition device of the present invention includes a conveyance unit that conveys the paper sheet, and a skew of the paper sheet that indicates a degree of skew of the paper sheet in the conveyance direction. A skew sensor group for detecting a line amount, a paper sheet discrimination sensor group arranged downstream of the skew sensor group in the conveyance direction in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, and reading a print pattern on the paper sheet; A right end position detection sensor group that is located downstream of the row sensor group in the transport direction and detects a front right corner of the paper sheet, and is located downstream of the skew sensor group in the transport direction and is located in front of the paper sheet. One of the right end position detection sensor group and the left end position detection sensor group is selected according to the left end position detection sensor group that detects the left corner and the skew direction detected by the skew sensor group, and the selected sensor is selected. A side-shift detection side switch that detects the amount of side-shift of a sheet from the output of the group And a discriminating means for discriminating a sheet by comparing a standard pattern prepared in advance with a print pattern read from a sheet discrimination sensor group using the skew amount and the skew amount and the lateral deviation amount. Therefore, the following effects are obtained.

That is, in both the case where the left side is ahead and the case where the right side is ahead, the lateral shift amount can be detected only by the leading end portion of the bill. Therefore, the amount of lateral displacement can be detected quickly, and a sufficient time can be allocated for the sheet discrimination processing. As a result, sufficient discrimination processing can be performed, and the recognition processing speed can be improved without reliably increasing the risk of misrecognition of a denomination or the like while reliably recognizing a forged ticket or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a paper sheet recognition apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional paper sheet recognition apparatus, and FIGS. 3 (a) and (b) are conventional paper sheets. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are illustrations of a sheet recognition operation according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of a sheet recognition apparatus according to the present invention. FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) are block diagrams illustrating the sheet recognition operation of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Conveying means, 2 ... Paper sheet discrimination sensor group, 3 ... Right end position detection sensor group, 4 ... Left end position detection sensor group, 5 ... Skew sensor group, 9 ... Discrimination means, 21 ... ... Print pattern reading unit, 22 ... Feature extraction unit, 31 ... Right end position detection unit, 33, 34 ... Side shift detection side switching means, 41 ... Left end position detection unit, 91 ... Standard pattern selection unit, 92 ... ... Standard pattern storage unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-60-215294 (JP, A) JP-A-59-167788 (JP, A) JP-A-61-156390 (JP, A) JP-A-61-156 122510 (JP, A) JP-A-62-9257 (JP, A) JP-A-62-54392 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A skew sensor group for detecting a skew amount of a sheet indicating a degree of skew of the sheet with respect to a conveying direction, and a skew sensor group. A paper sheet discrimination sensor group arranged downstream of the conveyance direction in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction and reading a print pattern on the paper sheet, and a paper sheet is located downstream of the skew sensor group in the conveyance direction and conveyed. A right end position detection sensor group for detecting the front right corner of the paper sheet, and a left end position detection sensor for detecting the front left corner of the paper sheet being conveyed downstream of the skew sensor group in the conveyance direction. Group, and either the right end position detection sensor group or the left end position detection sensor group is selected according to the skew direction detected by the skew sensor group, and the lateral displacement amount of the sheet is determined from the output of the selected sensor group. Means for detecting the lateral displacement, detecting the skew amount and the lateral displacement amount. Used, and the standard pattern prepared in advance, compared with the printing pattern read from the paper sheet determination sensors, the paper sheet recognition apparatus characterized by comprising a discriminating means for discriminating the paper sheets. 2. The detection-side switching means selects a right end position detection sensor when the right side of a sheet is conveyed in advance.
2. The paper sheet recognition device according to claim 1, wherein the left end position detection sensor is selected when the left side of the paper sheet is conveyed first. 3. The detection-side switching means selects a left end position detection sensor when the right side of a sheet is conveyed first.
2. The paper sheet recognition device according to claim 1, wherein the right end position detection sensor is selected when the left side of the paper sheet is conveyed first.