JP3192785B2 - Coin identification device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to coins (for example, coins).
The present invention relates to a coin identification device that detects irregularities formed on a coin and determines the type of coin.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a coin processing apparatus has been provided with a coin identification apparatus for identifying a denomination, authenticity or the like of a coin. This coin identification device generally uses a method of detecting the outer shape and the amount of magnetism of a passing coin using an optical sensor, a magnetic sensor, or the like.

However, in recent years, with the increasing use of coin processing devices, foreign currencies have been waiting for much. In the case of coins having the same outer shape and the same material as domestic coins, optical sensors and In the identification by the magnetic sensor, there has been a problem that the coin is determined to be the same coin because the outer shape and the material are the same. For this reason, it has been desired to provide a coin identification device that accurately determines the authenticity of a coin.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention
An object of the present invention is to provide a coin discriminating apparatus that can discriminate coins of the same external shape and the same material as different types of coins.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is provided on a side surface of a coin conveyance path, and
A magnetic sensor for detecting the uneven shape of the surface and this magnetic sensor
The diameter of the coin, the width of the outer protrusion,
Means for determining the width of the peripheral protrusion and the size of the hole, and this means
Diameter of coin, width of outer protrusion, inner circumference
From the width of the projection and the dimensions of the hole, the width of the outer projection and the inner circumference
Calculation method for calculating the width of the projection and the ratio of the dimension and diameter of the hole
And comparing the calculation result of the calculation means with a reference value.
First discriminating means for discriminating the type of coin by
Based on the output of the magnetic sensor, the maximum
Determine the force value and compare this maximum output value with the reference value.
Second determining means for determining the type of coin,
The final judgment is made based on the judgment results of the first judgment means and the second judgment means.
And means for performing another .

[0006]

[0007]

According to the present invention, the magnetic sensor detects irregularities on the coin surface.
Is detected, and the diameter of the coin and the protrusion of the outer
Find the width of the protrusion, the width of the protrusion on the inner circumference, and the dimensions of the hole.
The width of the projection, the width of the projection on the inner circumference, and the ratio of the size and diameter of the hole
Calculate each and calculate the calculation result of this calculation means with the reference value.
The type of the coin is determined by the comparison. Also,
The outermost portion of the coin is determined based on the output of the magnetic sensor.
Determine the large output value and compare this maximum output value with the reference value.
Thus, the type of the coin is determined. Therefore, small
Forgery coins whose outer diameter has been increased to diameter coins, foreign coins, etc.,
Easily distinguish between coins of the same material and real coins
be able to. Moreover, both are based on the output of the magnetic sensor.
, The number of sensors can be reduced and the size can be reduced.
It can be.

[0008]

[0009]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a coin processing machine for carrying out the present invention.

The coins put into the tray 1 drop the coins onto the payout unit 2 as the tray 1 rotates. The dropped coins are fed out one by one from the payout unit 2 and carried to the checkout unit 3.

The checked coins are conveyed to the transport path 4 and sorted based on the check result at the check unit 3. The sorting unit 5 is configured by a shutter 6. The coins selected by the shutter 6 are held in a primary holding unit 7 below the coin, and when a transaction is established, the coin is inserted into a denomination safe 8 below the coin. At the time of withdrawal, coins are paid out from the cash-type safe 8 and paid out. The coins paid out from the denomination safe 8 are transported to the left in FIG. 1 by the horizontal transport path 10 and further transported to the payout unit 2 by the vertical transport 12. Feeding part 2
Are transported from the feeding section 2 through the check section 3 to the vertical transport path 11 via the horizontal transport path 9 from the reject gate 15 at the rear end of the transport path 4, and are deposited on the tray 1. You. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the relationship between the detection coil 23 of the check section 3 and coins. The transport belt 21 and the transport path plate 22 of the transport path 1
, A coin is conveyed, and a magnetic detection coil 23 is disposed below the conveyance path plate 22.

The magnetic detecting coil 23 is of a size sufficiently small with respect to the size of the coin so that the irregularities on the surface of the coin can be detected. Conveyed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the magnetic detecting coil 23. The magnetic detecting coil 23 has a core 24 at the center, and the core 24 is provided with grooves so as to apply windings at three places. In this groove,
A primary coil 25 is provided at the center, a secondary coil 26 is provided above, and a secondary coil 27 is provided below. A cylindrical core 28 is attached to the outer periphery of the core 24 around which the winding is wound.

The core 24 has a diameter of 4 mm, and the core 28 has a diameter of 6 mm. This dimension should be close to the inner diameter of 50 yen and 5 yen coins, which are regular Japanese coins, so that when 50 yen and 5 yen are detected, the output signal can reliably identify the hole in the inner diameter part. Becomes possible. FIG.
Is an identification circuit 3 using the magnetic detection coil 23 shown in FIG.
0.

The primary coil 25 is connected to an oscillator 31 oscillating at 12 KHz. The oscillation frequency of the oscillator 31 is a frequency at which a current flows through the skin of the coin by the skin effect, and an output related to the material of the coin and the gap (interval) between the coin and the detection coil 23 can be obtained.

The secondary coil 26 and the secondary coil 27 are differentially connected, and are preferably connected so that the output becomes "0" when there is no load. However, the balance of the coil may slightly change due to manufacturing errors and variations. Therefore, after winding the secondary coil 27 slightly more than the secondary coil 26, the surface of the core is polished. It is configured so that a constant output is obtained even when there is no load.

This output is amplified by an amplifier 32,
Only necessary frequency components are extracted by the band-pass filter 33, rectified by the rectifier circuit 34, and then smoothed by the low-pass filter 35. The output converted to a DC voltage by the low-pass filter 35 is output to the A / D converter 3
The digital data is converted into digital data by the CPU 6 and is stored in the RAM 38 by the CPU 37. FIG operation of then aforementioned structure
This will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0018] coin is transported over the detection coil 25, it decreases the output voltage of the secondary coil 26, as a result, FIG.
5 signal waveform as shown in is obtained. This signal is supplied to the amplifier 32, band-pass filter 33, rectifier circuit 34, low-pass filter 35, A / D converter 36,
The data is taken into the RAM 38 via the CPU 37.

Based on the data stored in the RAM 38, the CPU 37 determines the width of the outer protrusion of the coin, the width of the inner protrusion,
The presence or absence and size of the hole, the width of the coin, and the like are calculated. That is,
Since the A / D converter 36 performs conversion at regular time intervals, the number of signals stored in the RAM 38 is a function such as the width of a coin.

First, it is determined whether or not the coin has a hole. This is performed by comparing with a threshold value V1 that is slightly higher than the output when there is no coin, since the output of the hole of the coin is almost the same as the output when there is no coin. If there is data having a value lower than the value V1, it is determined that a hole exists, the number of data having a value lower than the threshold value V1 is counted, and the value t3 is the size of the hole.

Next, when there is a hole, a protrusion on the inner periphery of the coin is obtained. That is, the maximum value V2 of the detection output before and after the hole is obtained, and at the time point 1/8 below the maximum value (V2), that is, V
A value V3 of 2 × 7/8 is obtained. By calculating the number of data having a value larger than V3, the width t2 of the protrusion on the inner periphery of the coin is obtained.

Next, the width of the protrusion on the outer periphery of the coin is determined. The maximum value V4 of the detection output before and after the outer circumference is obtained, and the value V of 1/4 below the maximum value (V4), that is, the value V4 × 7/8
Find 5 By obtaining the number of data having a value larger than V5, the width t1 of the protrusion on the outer periphery of the coin is obtained.

In the same manner as described above, the width (diameter) W of the coin is calculated by counting the number of data between the front end and the rear end of the protrusion on the outer periphery of the coin, and the difference between t1, t2, t3 and W is calculated. The ratio is calculated, and by comparing this with the reference value, the type H1 of the coin is determined. Therefore, this type H1 is a discrimination result in consideration of the size and surface shape of the coin.

The speed at which coins are conveyed changes depending on the speed of the belt and the frictional state of the coins.
By comparing the ratio of the diameter of the coin to the width of the edge and the ratio of the diameter of the coin to the width of the hole with reference values, the shape of the coin can be accurately determined irrespective of the change in the transport speed. Further
Then, by comparing the detected output maximum value V4 before and after the outer circumference with the reference value, a determination based on the material of the coin is performed, and the type H2 of the coin is determined. Finally, the final discrimination of the coin is performed based on the two discrimination results H1 and H2.

In such a discrimination method, in order to detect the irregular shape of the coin surface and determine whether or not the irregularity matches a regular coin, a forged coin having an increased outer diameter to a small coin, Coins having the same outer shape and material as foreign coins can be easily distinguished from genuine coins. In the above embodiment, the reference values V1, t1 /
W, t2 / W, t3 / W, etc. are stored in the RAM 38 in advance.

In the above embodiment, the case where a magnetic detection coil is used as a method for detecting the shape of a coin has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is used for a read head used in a compact disk player or the like. By using a feedback signal or the like of the automatic focus adjustment mechanism as described above, it is possible to similarly detect irregularities on the coin surface. In addition, in addition to the above-described embodiment, it is a matter of course that a magnetic checker using the same material detection as in the related art may be added.

Further, in the above embodiment, in order to determine the unevenness of the coin, the reference voltage V1, V2, V3, V4, V5 is used, and this reference value is compared with the output voltage. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a method of detecting the edge of a coin by differentiating the voltage waveform may be used. Further, it is also possible to provide a means for keeping the transport speed constant and a means for detecting the transport speed, and make the determination based on the result of calculating the ratio to the transport speed.

As described above, according to the present invention, the magnetic
Sensors detect irregularities on the coin surface, and
The diameter of the coin, the width of the outer protrusion,
Find the width and hole dimensions, and find the width of the outer protrusion and the inner protrusion.
Calculate the width of the hole and the ratio of the hole size to the diameter.
By comparing the calculation result of the calculation means with the reference value,
The type of the application is determined. Also, the output of the magnetic sensor
The maximum output value of the outer periphery of the coin is calculated based on
By comparing the maximum output value with the reference value,
The type is determined. Therefore, increased the outer diameter of small coins
Coins with the same outer shape and material, such as counterfeit coins and foreign coins
And a real coin can be easily determined. Only
Are both based on the output of the magnetic sensor,
The number of sensors can be reduced and the size can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a circulation type coin processing machine.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a relationship between a detection coil 20 of the check section 3 and coins.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a magnetic sensor.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an identification circuit 30 using a magnetic sensor output.

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram showing an output of a magnetic sensor.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an identification operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Receiving tray 2 ... Feeding-out part 3 ... Checking part 4 ... Conveyance path 5 ... Sorting part 8 ... Deposit safe 13 ... Safe 14 ... Overflow safe 15 ... Vertical conveyance belt support 23 ... Detection coil 26 ... Secondary coil 32 ... Amplifier 33 Band-pass filter 34 Rectifier circuit 35 Low-pass filter 36 A / D converter 37 CPU 38 RAM

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07D 5/00-5/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A coin feeding device provided on a side surface of a coin conveyance path.
A magnetic sensor for detecting the uneven shape of the surface and this magnetic sensor
The diameter of the coin, the width of the outer protrusion,
Means for determining the width of the peripheral protrusion and the size of the hole, and this means
Diameter of coin, width of outer protrusion, inner circumference
From the width of the projection and the dimensions of the hole, the width of the outer projection and the inner circumference
Calculation method for calculating the width of the projection and the ratio of the dimension and diameter of the hole
And comparing the calculation result of the calculation means with a reference value.
First discriminating means for discriminating the type of coin by
Based on the output of the magnetic sensor, the maximum
Determine the force value and compare this maximum output value with the reference value.
Second determining means for determining the type of coin,
The final judgment is made based on the judgment results of the first judgment means and the second judgment means.
A coin discriminating device comprising: means for performing another .