JP2994137B2 - Paper inspection system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for inspecting paper sheets such as banknotes and securities, and more particularly to an apparatus for inspecting the thickness of paper sheets.

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic machine used for transferring bills and securities, it is inspected whether or not the inserted bills and securities have a high possibility of being falsified or forged using a tape or the like.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Rollers are provided on a transport path of paper sheets in a posture crossing the paper sheets and are vertically displaced in accordance with the thickness of the paper sheet being transported. Is detected using

Further, the outputs of both sensors are sampled in synchronism with the rotation speed of the rollers when the sheet is conveyed, and the sampling data converted into digital data is compared with a reference thickness prepared in advance for a thickness inspection. You.

FIG. 11 shows the output of a sensor used for detecting the thickness of a paper sheet. In FIG. 11, the portion at the rear end on the right side in the transport direction is the thickness of the paper sheet repaired with tape. Is detected, and the output of the right sensor increases at the tape repair portion in accordance with the thickness of the repair tape.

If the thickness of the repaired portion of the tape or the area of the repaired portion exceeds the inspection standard, the inserted paper sheet is recognized as being falsified or forged (counterfeit note), and the reception of the paper sheet is recognized. Rejected.

[0007]

The paper sheets to which foreign matter such as tape adheres are highly likely to have been falsified or forged, so that the inspection standards for adherence of foreign matter are set to strict standards. ing.

Therefore, in the case of paper sheets whose corner portions are folded back as shown in FIG. 12 (in FIG. 12, the rear end portion on the right side in the transport direction is folded upward), the folded portion is slightly folded. However, since the thickness of the part exceeds the inspection standard, acceptance is rejected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13, minute tears have occurred, and folded paper sheets with the tongue pieces remaining as they are are rejected (in many cases, the torn pieces are not torn). It will be folded back.)

[0010] During actual operation, such slightly folded paper sheets are often inserted without malicious intent, and it has been desired to recognize and accept those paper sheets as legitimate ones. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has as its object to provide a sheet which is suspected to be a falsified ticket or a counterfeit ticket, and a sheet which should be accepted only by a slight turn-back. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device capable of reliably distinguishing the above.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an apparatus according to the present invention is configured as shown in FIG. 1, and the apparatus shown in FIG. Thickness detecting means 12 for detecting the entire surface, and thickness determining means 14 for determining a thickness abnormality when the difference between the detected thickness and a predetermined inspection reference thickness does not fall within an allowable range.
A plurality of light emitting elements and light receiving elements are read across the paper path by the detecting means 16 arranged across the paper path, and the light transmission image of the paper is binarized. A missing portion detecting means 18 for detecting a missing portion of the paper sheet 10 over the entire surface of the paper sheet 10; and a thickness abnormal portion determined when the thickness determining means 14 determines the thickness abnormality. For the corresponding portion, the missing portion detecting means 18
When the part is determined to be a missing part within the allowable range, the normality of the sheet is determined by replacing the result of detection by the thickness determining means 14 of the part determined to be abnormal with a normal value to determine the normality of the sheet over the entire surface of the sheet 10. Gender judging means 20.

[0013]

When the tape is repaired, the thickness of the portion becomes abnormal, but no partial loss of the paper sheet 10 is observed.

On the other hand, if the regular paper sheet 10 is partially folded, the thickness of the part becomes abnormal,
In addition, a missing part is recognized in the same part. Therefore, in the present invention, even if the thickness of the portion is abnormal, if a defect is detected in the portion, the determination of the abnormal thickness for the portion is invalidated. In addition, since the thickness abnormality and the missing portion are detected over the entire surface of the inserted banknotes 10, the corner fold generated at the corner portion of the paper sheet 10 (the corner portion of the paper sheet 10 is slightly folded back). Not only), but also torn folds that occur on the entire surface of the paper sheet (the paper sheet 10 has a minute tear and is folded back with the tongue piece remaining) it can.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a paper sheet inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the embodiment. A sheet 10 (a bill or a bill) inserted into the apparatus is conveyed to a sheet detecting section 22. When the paper sheet detection unit 22 detects the paper sheet 10, the input of the paper sheet 10 is notified from the paper sheet detection unit 22 to the central processing unit 24, and the central processing unit 24.
The sensor unit 26 is activated by the command.

FIG. 3 illustrates the structure of the sensor unit 26. The roller is supported on the conveyance path of the paper sheet 10 in a posture of crossing the paper sheet and is displaced vertically according to the thickness of the paper sheet being transported. 260 are provided.

The amount of displacement at both ends of the roller 260 is detected by a pair of thickness sensors 262, and the outputs of the thickness sensors 262 output a transport synchronization signal of the paper sheet 10 (supplied from the central processing unit 24). And is sampled by the sampling circuit 264.

Further, the paper sheet 10 is read by a transmissive optical sensor 266 (a light emitting section in which a large number of light emitting elements are aligned across the transport path of the paper sheet 10, and the output light of the corresponding light emitting element is a paper light). A light-receiving unit that enters each light-receiving element via the leaves 10 and each light-receiving signal is read and output).
The read output is also sampled by the sampling circuit 264 using the transport synchronization signal of the sheet 10.

Further, the sampling data obtained by the sampling circuit 264 is output to the amplifying unit 30 in FIG. 2 and is converted into digital data by the A / D converter 32 before being provided to the image processing unit 34.

In the image processing section 34, the light transmission image of the paper sheet 10 converted into digital data by the A / D conversion section 32 is binarized, and the existing portion of the paper sheet 10 is set to the value "1".
The non-existing background portions are each represented by the value '0' (step 400 in FIG. 4).

At this time, a process of correcting the skew of the paper sheet 10 and moving the light transmission image to a predetermined position is also performed. In the case of the paper sheet 10 whose corner is folded, The binary image of FIG. 5 is obtained, and in the case of a sheet having a tear, the binary image of FIG. 6 is obtained.

Next, each output value (converted to digital data) of the thickness sensor 262 is compared with the corresponding dictionary data (thickness inspection reference value) of the dictionary data unit 36 and the dictionary comparison unit 3.
Then, the presence or absence of a sensor output value causing a thickness abnormality is checked (step 402 in FIG. 4).

At this time, if it is not confirmed that there is a sensor output value causing an abnormal thickness (N in step 402 in FIG. 4).
In O), it is determined that the paper sheet 10 is genuine in thickness (genuine note) (step 40 in FIG. 4).
4), the data of the inspection result containing the contents is written from the dictionary comparison unit 38 to the storage unit 40 (FIG. 4, step 4).
06).

If it is confirmed that there is a sensor output value that is abnormal in thickness (YES in step 402 in FIG. 4), the binarized light transmission image is referred to and the corresponding portion for confirming the abnormal thickness is checked. It is determined whether or not the paper sheet 10 is partially missing at the determined position (step 408 in FIG. 4).

At this time, if a partial loss of the paper sheet 10 is not recognized or if the missing part exceeds a specified area (NO in step 408 in FIG. 4), the inserted paper sheet is It is determined that the class 10 is not valid (counterfeit ticket) (step 410 in FIG. 4), and the data of the inspection result as the determination content is written out from the dictionary comparison unit 38 to the storage unit 40 (step in FIG. 4). 412).

When the sheet 10 is partially missing at a position corresponding to the portion where the thickness abnormality is confirmed, and the area of the missing portion is small enough to be tolerable (FIG. 4 step). In the case of YES at 408), the process of masking the thickness abnormality confirmation portion with a normal value (step 4 in FIG. 4)
14) is performed (see FIG. 7).

As a result, in the portion where the thickness abnormality was confirmed, the corner of the inserted paper sheet 10 was slightly folded back (FIG. 5).
Alternatively, it is recognized that a minute tear is present and the tongue portion of the tear is folded back (see FIG. 6) (step 416 in FIG. 4), and the paper sheet 10 is The data of the inspection result indicating that the inspection result is true (genuine bill) is written from the dictionary comparison unit 38 to the storage unit 40 (step 406 in FIG. 4).

In the dictionary comparing section 38, the light transmission image of the paper sheet 10 is matched with the dictionary data of the dictionary data section 36, and the result confirms that the paper sheet 10 is legitimate. In such a case, when it is confirmed that the thickness is also normal, a final determination is made that the input paper sheet 10 should be accepted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a thickness abnormality is confirmed, if no loss is recognized in the thickness abnormality confirmation portion from the binarized light transmission image, the sheet Class 10 is determined to be a tape repair ticket (see FIG. 8), and when a loss is recognized in a portion where a thickness abnormality is confirmed from the binarized light transmission image, the paper sheet 10 is folded at the corner (see FIG. 9). Alternatively, it is determined that the ticket is a torn-back ticket (see FIG. 10), and these are clearly identified.

Therefore, the paper sheet 10 which should be handled as a legitimate paper even when a slight fold occurs.
Can be surely accepted.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, paper sheets suspected to be falsified or counterfeit tickets are clearly discriminated from legitimate paper sheets that should be accepted only by a slight turn. Therefore, it is possible to reliably avoid an operation in which the acceptance of the legitimate paper sheets is unduly rejected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a sensor unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a binary image of a paper sheet with a corner turned back.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a binary image of a sheet having tears.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of mask processing of a missing portion.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a recognition operation of a foreign matter-attached ticket.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a recognition operation of a corner-turned ticket.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a recognition operation of a torn-back ticket.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a sensor output when a tape is attached.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a sensor output when a corner is broken.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a function of recognizing a thickness abnormality of a broken folded ticket.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Paper sheet 22 Paper sheet detection part 24 Central processing part 26 Sensor part 30 Amplification part 32 A / D conversion part 34 Image processing part 36 Dictionary data part 38 Dictionary comparison part 40 Storage part 260 Roller 262 Thickness sensor 264 Sampling circuit 266 Light sensor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65H 7/06 G01B 5/06 101 G06T 7/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of a sheet over the entire surface of the sheet, and a thickness error when a difference between the detected thickness and a predetermined inspection reference thickness does not fall within an allowable range. Thickness determination means for determining the number of light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements which read a paper sheet moving on a paper path by detecting means arranged across the paper path. A missing portion detecting means for binarizing the transmission image to detect a missing portion of the sheet over the entire surface of the sheet, and a thickness abnormality determined when the thickness determining section determines the thickness abnormality. When the portion corresponding to the portion is determined to be a missing portion within the allowable range by the missing portion detecting means, the detection result of the thickness determining means of the portion having an abnormal thickness is replaced with a normal value to correct the normality of the sheet. Normality judgment means for judging over the entire surface of paper sheets A paper sheet inspection apparatus, comprising: