JP2634110B2 - Coin discriminator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coin discriminating apparatus, and more particularly to a coin discriminating apparatus suitable for improving the reliability of coin denomination discriminating accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-1099691, a coin discriminating apparatus which reads a diameter of a coin conveyed in a coin passage by a CCD line sensor and discriminates a denomination of the coin. Has been proposed. In the coin discriminating apparatus described in the above publication, the portion excluding the perforated hole of a coin (for example, a perforated hole such as a 5 yen coin or a 50 yen coin) is used.
The CD line sensor reads the light-shielded area, and detects the maximum diameter of the coin based on the light-shielded area data to determine the denomination of the coin.

[0003]

However, the prior art as described above has the following problems. If a foreign object such as a stapler enters the inside of a coin processing machine equipped with the coin discriminating device, the coin discriminating device performs the coin discriminating process when the foreign material passes over the CCD line sensor together with the coin. In this case, there is a problem that a portion shaded by a foreign substance is read as the diameter of a coin, which leads to erroneous determination of a coin denomination.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem and to accurately detect the diameter of a coin by ignoring a light-shielding pulse when a CCD line sensor is shielded from light by a foreign object entering the coin processing machine. It is an object of the present invention to provide a coin discriminating apparatus that achieves the above and improves the reliability of coin denomination discriminating accuracy.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a coin discriminating apparatus for optically detecting the diameter of a coin being conveyed and discriminating the denomination of the coin based on the detection result, conveys the coin in a plane direction. Coin passage and transmission of light rays in a direction intersecting the plane at a number of points arranged along a plane parallel to the coins in the coin passage and along a direction orthogonal to the coin transport direction. And a photoelectric conversion element group that outputs a light-receiving pulse when light transmission is detected and outputs a light-shielding pulse when no light is detected, and one of the coins in a light-shielded state along the array direction of the photoelectric conversion element group. A line sensor having a first detection region for detecting the peripheral portion of the coin, a second detection region for detecting the other peripheral portion of the light-shielded coin, and at least one of the first detection region and the second detection region of the line sensor Output Detecting means for detecting the diameter of the coin based on light-shielding range data corresponding to the light-shielding pulse, and determining the denomination of the coin based on the detection result; A control means for ignoring a light-shielding pulse when a light-shielding pulse is output when a light-receiving pulse is output in accordance with the detection of light transmission in the first detection area or the second detection area. It is characterized by.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a light receiving pulse is output from the first detection area or the second detection area of the line sensor at the time of coin denomination discrimination by the coin discriminating device disposed inside the coin processing machine. Sometimes, when an instantaneous light-shielding pulse is output due to the influence of foreign matter or the like that has entered the coin processing machine, the light-shielding pulse is ignored, and the light-shielding pulse when light is shielded only by coins is used to detect the coin diameter. As the reference, the diameter of the coin can be accurately detected. Thereby, the reliability of the coin denomination discrimination accuracy in the coin discriminating apparatus can be improved. Therefore, when foreign matter enters the inside of the coin processing machine as in the past, the CCD
Since the light-shielded portion due to the foreign matter is also read as the diameter of the coin along with the passage of the foreign matter on the line sensor, the problem of erroneously discriminating the coin denomination can be solved.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are configuration diagrams of a coin feeding section of a coin discriminating apparatus according to the present embodiment, which is disposed inside a coin processing machine. The rotating disc 1 rotates by placing a coin thereon. A coin is sent out in the tangential direction of the plate, and a feed-out regulating plate 2 is arranged at a position slightly above the rotating disk 1 (in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1). I have. Between the sending-out regulating plate 2 and the rotating disk 1,
Slightly larger than the maximum thickness of coins (thickness of 500 yen coin in Japan) and the minimum thickness of coins (thickness of 1 yen coin in Japan) determined by the coin discriminator.
The gap is set to be slightly smaller than twice the number of coins to prevent two or more coins from being sent out in an overlapping state. Further, a guide plate 3 is provided at a position above the rotary disk 1 at a small distance (to the extent that they do not touch each other, at most, the minimum thickness of a coin). The coins around the outer peripheral portion 1 are guided outward.

A coin passage 4 is provided near the guide plate 3.
The coin passage 4 is set between a pair of side guides 5 and 6 disposed substantially in a tangential direction of the rotating disk 1 so that the coin feeding direction is changed. , In the tangential direction of the rotating disk 1. The side guide plates 5 and 6 guide the coin in a predetermined direction while contacting the outer periphery of the fed coin, and the interval between the side guide plates 5 and 6 is a coin having the largest diameter to be determined. The interval is set so as to allow the passage of (500 yen coin). In addition, above the coin passage 4 between the side guide plates 5 and 6, the conveying belt 7 is spaced apart from the upper surface of the coin passage 4 by a minute distance (slightly smaller than the minimum thickness of the conveying coin). Are driven to travel, and the coins on the rotating disk 1 are sent out in a state of being aligned in a line by the transport belt 7. As shown in FIG. 2, the transport belt 7 runs while being stretched between a pair of pulleys 8 and 9, and the traveling direction of the transport belt 7 is determined by one of the side guide plates 5 (hereinafter, referred to as a “side”). (Referred to as a reference side guide) so as to be gradually inclined with respect to the coin passage 4 so that coins can be transported while constantly contacting the reference side guide 5. It has become. A rotatable roller 10 is provided at the base end of the reference side guide 5, and the roller 10 is brought into contact with a coin moving along the rotation direction of the rotating disk 1 by rotating the roller 10. The coin is guided into the coin passage 4 along the reference side guide 5.

A plurality of light sources 11 for irradiating light rays in a direction intersecting a plane including the coin passage 4 are disposed above the coin passage 4. At a position facing the light sources 11, a CCD line sensor 12 as a light receiving element for detecting the presence or absence of transmission of light from each light source 11 is provided. The CCD line sensor 12 is formed by arranging a large number of photoelectric conversion elements in a one-dimensional manner at minute intervals, and sequentially scans the coin path 4 in the width direction to generate a light beam for each photoelectric conversion element. It has a function to detect the presence of Note that the scanning cycle of the CCD line sensor 12 is set to a cycle sufficiently shorter than the time required for coins to pass over the CCD line sensor 12, and between the start and end of one scan. The error caused by the time lag is prevented from occurring.

The relative dimensions of the coin path 4, the CCD line sensor 12 and the coins of each denomination are configured as shown in FIG. 3, and the detection area of the CCD line sensor 12 is one side and the other side of the coin. First detection region R for detecting an edge
The detection area is divided into three detection areas (the boundaries of the detection areas are indicated by alternate long and short dash lines X and Y) each including the first and second detection areas R2, and the width of each of the first detection area R1 and the second detection area R2. The dimensions a1 and a2 are set to predetermined dimensions, respectively.
The first detection region R1 and the second detection region R2 are both regions that are not affected by the hole of the perforated coin.
C1 to C4 are various coins to be discriminated, and among these coins, C3 and C4 are perforated coins.

Here, the configuration of the control system of the coin discriminating apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
During scanning in the first detection region R1, the control signal A output from the CPU 29 is supplied to the first input terminal of the AND gate 21 and the first input terminal of the AND gate 22, respectively. The control signal B output from the CPU 29 during scanning in the second detection region R2 is A
The signals are supplied to a second input terminal of the ND gate 23 and a third input terminal of the AND gate 24, respectively. Also,
As the coin or foreign matter entering the coin processing machine shields the CCD line sensor 12 from light, the light-shielding pulse output from the CCD line sensor 12 receives the second input terminal of the AND gate 21 and the second input terminal of the AND gate 24. It is supplied to the input terminal. Further, as the light from the light source 11 passes through the CCD line sensor 12,
A light receiving pulse output from the CCD line sensor 12 is supplied to a second input terminal of an AND gate 22 and a first input terminal of an AND gate 23. Also, C
A CCD that starts up when the CD line sensor 12 starts scanning.
The transfer gate pulse is supplied to a CLR input terminal of an FF (flip-flop) 27 and a second input terminal of an OR gate 26.

The output of the AND gate 23 is FF
27, the power supply VCC is supplied to the D input terminal of the FF 27, and the Q negative output of the FF 27 is supplied to the first input terminal of the AND gate 24.
The output of the AND gate 21 is the first output of the OR gate 25.
The output of the AND gate 24 is supplied to a second input terminal of an OR gate 25, and the output of the AND gate 22 is supplied to a first input terminal of an OR gate 26. The output of the OR gate 25 is a counter 28
, And the output of the OR gate 26 is supplied to the CLR input terminal of the counter 28. Further, the output of the counter 28 is supplied to a CPU (central processing unit) 29. FIG. 5 shows a timing chart of the above-described light receiving pulse, light blocking pulse, control signal A, control signal B, and CCD transfer gate pulse.

In the coin discriminating apparatus of this embodiment, the control of FIG. 4 is performed so that the coin processing device receives the light receiving pulses from the first detection region R1 and the second detection region R2 of the CCD line sensor 12. When the CCD line sensor 12 is shielded from light by foreign matter such as dust that has entered the interior, even when an instantaneous light-shielded pulse is input, the light-shielded pulse due to light shielding of the foreign matter is ignored.

Next, the operation of the coin discriminating apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. In the denomination determination processing of the transported coin in the coin passage 4, first, when the detection area of the CCD line sensor 12 is the first detection area R1,
When the control signal A is output and the light-receiving pulse rises (time t1 in FIG. 5), the control signal A and the light-receiving pulse are input to the AND gate 22, so that a match is obtained in the AND gate 22. As a result, the AND gate 22 outputs the coincidence signal to the CL of the counter 28 through the OR gate 26.
In order to supply the signal to the R input terminal, the counter 28 is cleared and counting up by the counter 28 is prevented.

Thereafter, the output of the light receiving pulse from the CCD line sensor 12 stops, and the light shielding pulse rises with the light shielding of the CCD line sensor 12 (at time t in FIG. 5).
2) Since the control signal A and the light-shielded pulse are input to the AND gate 21, the AND gate 21 matches. As a result, the AND gate 21 supplies the coincidence signal to the CK input terminal of the counter 28 via the OR gate 25, so that the counter CK counts up the clock CK by one.

In this case, if the light-shielding pulse is generated when the coin to be denominated in the CCD line sensor 12 is light-shielded, the light-shielding pulse is counted by the counter 28 as it is. On the other hand, when the light shielding pulse is CC
When a foreign substance such as dust entering the coin processor of the D-line sensor 12 is generated by shading, the light-shielding pulse is counted once by the counter 28. Since the light receiving pulse is generated again (assuming that the gap between the foreign matter and the coin is open), the AND gate 22 supplies a signal to the CLR input terminal of the counter 28 via the OR gate 26. Thereby, the count value corresponding to the foreign matter is cleared.

Next, after the control signal A rises,
The section until the control signal B rises (the section from the time t3 to the time t4 in FIG. 5) is a section affected by the hole of the perforated coin, and this section is ignored as not to be detected. .

Thereafter, when the detection area of the CCD line sensor 12 becomes the second detection area R2, the control signal B rises. On the other hand, since the light-shielding pulse has already risen (time t4 in FIG. 5), the AND gate 24 Control signal B,
Light-shielded pulse, set signal from FF 27 (in this case, F
F27 is a CCD at the start of scanning of the CCD line sensor 12.
(Set in the transfer gate pulse), and a match is obtained in the AND gate 24. This causes the AND gate 24 to OR the signal.
The clock CK of the counter 28 is counted up to supply the signal to the CK input terminal of the counter 28 via the gate 25.

Coin path 4 by CCD line sensor 12
When the scanning of the edge of the upper coin is completed, the CCD line sensor 12 outputs a light receiving pulse again (at time t in FIG. 5).
5) Since the control signal B and the light receiving pulse are input to the AND gate 23, the AND gate 23 can match. As a result, the AND gate 23 supplies the signal to the CK input terminal of the FF 27, so that the FF 27 is reset, and the output signal of the FF 27 becomes the “L” level.
The gate 24 cannot be matched. This allows AND
Since the output signal of the gate 24 is at the “L” level, the clock CK of the counter 28 is prevented from counting up.

After the scanning of the edge of the coin on the coin passage 4 is completed, the CCD line sensor 12
Is light-shielded and the light-shielding pulse rises, the FF 27 is in the reset state.
As a result, the output signal of the counter 7 becomes the "L" level, the match of the AND gate 24 cannot be obtained, and therefore, the count-up of the clock CK of the counter 28 is prevented.

In this embodiment, when the denomination of coins on the coin passage 4 is determined, when foreign matter such as dust enters the coin processor, the above-described control is performed. The type determination is performed based on a result of comparing the total value of the number of light-shielded pulses counted by the counter 28 at the time of the rise of the control signal A and the control signal B with a preset reference pulse number. Will be.

That is, according to the above-described embodiment, while the light receiving pulses from the first detection region R1 and the second detection region R2 of the CCD line sensor 12 of the coin discriminating device are being inputted, the coin enters the coin processor. Foreign matter such as dust
When the CD line sensor 12 is shielded from light, an instantaneous light-shielding pulse is input when the light-shielding pulse is input, and the light-shielding pulse when the CCD line sensor 12 is shielded from light by a coin alone is detected. As the reference, the diameter of the coin can be accurately detected. As a result, the reliability of coin denomination discrimination accuracy can be improved.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a coin discriminating apparatus for optically detecting the diameter of a coin being conveyed and discriminating the denomination of the coin based on the detection result, the coin is positioned in a plane direction. Coin passage, and along a plane parallel to the coins in the coin passage, and in a direction intersecting the plane at a number of points arranged along a direction orthogonal to the coin conveyance direction. While detecting the presence or absence of light transmission,
A photoelectric conversion element group that outputs a light receiving pulse when light transmission is detected and outputs a light-shielding pulse when non-detection is performed, and detects one peripheral edge of a light-shielded coin along the array direction of the photoelectric conversion element group. A line sensor having a first detection region, a second detection region for detecting the other peripheral portion of the light-shielded coin, and a light-shielding pulse output from at least one of the first detection region and the second detection region of the line sensor Discriminating means for detecting the coin diameter based on the detected light-shielding range data and discriminating the denomination of the coin based on the detection result; A control means for ignoring the light-shielding pulse when an instantaneous light-shielding pulse is output while the light-receiving pulse is being output in accordance with the detection of light transmission in the detection area. Since the configuration and the that can achieve the effect of each term below. When a light receiving pulse is output in the first detection area and the second detection area of the CCD line sensor of the coin discriminating device, the CCD line sensor is shielded from light by a foreign object that has entered the coin processing machine provided with the coin discriminating device. As a result, when an instantaneous light-shielded pulse is output, the light-shielded pulse is ignored, so that the coin diameter can be accurately detected. Thereby, the reliability of the coin denomination discrimination accuracy in the coin discriminating apparatus can be improved. As described above, when a foreign object enters the inside of a coin processor as in the related art, the denomination of the coin is erroneously determined because the light-shielded portion due to the foreign object is also read as the diameter of the coin with the passage of the foreign object on the CCD line sensor. Problems can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a coin feeding section of a coin discriminating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a coin feeding unit of the coin discriminating apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a coin path, a transport belt, and a coin path according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a top view which shows the relative dimension of a CCD line sensor and the coin of each denomination.

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the coin discriminating apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of a light receiving pulse, a light shielding pulse, a control signal A, a control signal B, and a CCD transfer gate pulse according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rotating disk 4 Coin path 11 Light source 12 CCD line sensor (line sensor) 29 CPU (discrimination means, control means) A control signal B control signal R1 1st detection area R2 2nd detection area

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A coin discriminating device for optically detecting the diameter of a coin being conveyed and discriminating a denomination of the coin based on the detection result, comprising: a coin passage for conveying the coin in a surface direction; Along a plane parallel to the coins of
At each of a number of points arranged along the direction orthogonal to the coin transport direction, the presence or absence of light transmission in the direction intersecting the plane is detected, and a light receiving pulse is output when light transmission is detected and non-detection is performed. A first detection area for detecting one peripheral edge of a light-shielded coin along a direction in which the photoelectric conversion element group outputs a light-shielding pulse, and the other peripheral edge of the light-shielded coin; A line sensor having a second detection region to be detected, and detecting a diameter of a coin based on light-shielding range data corresponding to a light-shielding pulse output from at least one of the first detection region and the second detection region of the line sensor. Discriminating means for discriminating a coin denomination based on the detection result; and a light beam in the first detection area or the second detection area of the line sensor for coin denomination discrimination by the discrimination means. When receiving pulses with the transmission detection is output, if the instantaneous light blocking pulse is output, the coin discriminating apparatus characterized by comprising control means for ignoring shielding light pulse, the.