JPH01120694A - Coin identifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To surely prevent the coin of a different denomination from being erroneously used by detecting the difference of ruggedness on the side faces of coins. CONSTITUTION: Light from a light source 5 is reflected after the side face of a coin 2 is irradiated with it by an optical fiber 3 for light transmission. This reflected light is received by an optical fiber 4 for light reception and transduced to an electric signal by a photoelectric transducer circuit 6. This electric signal is inputted through an amplifier 7 to a low-pass filter 8 and a band pass filter 10. The outputs of these filters 8 and 10 are respectively compared with a prescribed value by comparators 9 and 11 and applied to a counter 12 later. The count value of the counter 12 is discriminated by a count value discriminating circuit 13, and the denomination of the coin 2 is identified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a coin side surface unevenness type detection device that can effectively determine the type of coins used in vending machines, currency exchange machines, etc.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the coins used in vending machines, etc. are 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, 50 yen, 100 yen, and 500 yen coins issued in Japan.These can be distinguished by the difference in weight and size of the coins. This is done due to the difference in

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, coins are widely used not only in Japan but also in various countries such as the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia, and with the progress of Japan's internationalization, large numbers of coins issued in other countries have entered Japan. It's here. Some of these coins are the same size and weight as coins issued in Japan, so if they are accidentally or intentionally used in a vending machine or exchange machine, it is difficult to tell. Although there is a desire to develop a device that can effectively make this determination, there is currently no effective means for determining whether these coins have been misused.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention are considering solving the above-mentioned problem and found that even among these coins, there is a large difference in the shape of the unevenness on the side surface, and this difference in the unevenness of the side surface is detected. They discovered that it might be possible to distinguish the type of coin by doing this, studied a method for that purpose, and completed the present invention. The gist of the present invention is to install an optical fiber sensor that combines at least one optical fiber for light transmission and at least one optical fiber for light reception on the side of the coin transfer path, and to A means for receiving the reflected light from the side of the coin, a means for converting the amount of light from the light receiving light 7 eyeper into an electrical signal, a means for separating the low frequency components of the signal, and a means for separating only signals in a predetermined band. means for binarizing the low frequency signal component at a certain level; and means for binarizing the signal component in a predetermined band;
A signal obtained by binarizing a low frequency signal component as a gate signal, and a means for counting the signal obtained by binarizing a signal component in a predetermined band for the gate time, or a signal in a predetermined band The pulse width of the signal obtained by binarizing the component is measured during the gate time, and the number of pulses in a certain pulse width is counted only during the gate time, and the coin transfer path is inserted into the coin transport path according to the count value. A coin identification device characterized by comprising: means for determining the type of coin that has been detected.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a rounder implementing one embodiment of the invention. In the same figure, the coin (2) that entered the coin transfer path (1)
is transported in the direction of (^) on the same diagram. An optical sensor consisting of a source fiber for transmitting light (3) and an optical fiber for receiving light (4) is attached to the side of the coin transfer path (1), and the light from the light source (5) is transmitted through the optical fiber for transmitting light. Therefore, the light is emitted from the side of the coin (2) being transferred and is then reflected. This reflected light yf is received by a light-receiving optical fiber (4), guided to a photoelectric conversion circuit (6), and converted into an electrical signal a. This electric signal a is amplified to a predetermined level by an amplifier (7) to obtain a signal bt- indicating the amount of light reflected from the coin.

By the way, the sides of the coins (2) to be judged here are similar in size and weight, such as the Japanese 500 yen and the Korean 500 won, but the uneven shapes on the sides are different. be. Figure 2 shows an outline of the differences. Figure 2 (a) is a part of the side of a 500 yen coin, and (b) is a 500 yen coin.
It is a figure showing the side of won. There are such differences in the unevenness formed on the side of the coin, and when a different type of coin is put into the transfer path, the signal bti in Figure 1 will be affected as shown in Figures 3 (a) and (b) The signal waveform is as follows. By passing this through a low-pass filter (8)', a signal C such as P→, 2) is obtained. Signal C is comparator (9)
The signal d is binarized (e) and the signal d shown in (e) is obtained.

Further, a signal θ such as ()l,v-1 is obtained by cutting off the DC component at a frequency that allows detection of irregularities on the side surface of the coin (2) using a bandpass filter (10). This signal is binarized (N) by a comparator (II) K and becomes a signal t shown in 4. Using signal d as a gate signal, signal f
A counter (12) counts the number of pulses depending on the unevenness, and the resulting signal gf is determined by a count value determination circuit (13). In the case of 500 yen and 500 won, the number of pulses detected from the unevenness on the nine sides of the coin is 50.
500 won is more than 0 yen. At this time, by using a certain appropriate number of pulses as the criterion, 9500 yen and 5
00 won can be identified.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the comparator (11
) and the counter (12), a 1-pulse comparator (+
If 4) is done, the pulse comparator (+4) will not detect anything over a certain pulse width, and the signal f obtained from the comparator (11) will be as shown in Figure 3 when it passes through this comparator. ), you can get an audible signal. The signals obtained from 500 yen often have large pulse widths, so by passing this comparator (+4), the number of pulses can be further reduced compared to signal f, allowing more accurate discrimination between 500 yen and 500 won. It can be carried out.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As mentioned above, the 1iAK of this invention can detect differences in the unevenness of the sides of coins even if they have the same weight and size, which was previously impossible to distinguish.

It is possible to prevent the misuse of different types of coins, which has been a problem in vending machines, currency exchange machines, etc., since they can be more easily identified.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram based on an embodiment for explaining the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram 5o. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the respective signal waveforms of the reflected light from the sides of these coins, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. Load: Coin transfer path 2: Coin 3: Overfilling optical fiber 4: Light-receiving optical fiber 7: Amplifier Patent applicant Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber sensor, which is a combination of at least one optical fiber for transmitting light and at least one optical fiber for receiving light, is disposed on the side of the coin transfer path, and the light from the optical fiber for transmitting light is disposed on the side of the coin transfer path. A means for converting the amount of light from a receiving optical fiber that receives reflected light from the side of the coin into an electrical signal, a means for separating lower frequency components from the signal and binarizing it at a certain level, and a means for converting the amount of light reflected from the side of the coin into an electrical signal, means for separating and binarizing only the signal in the band, the signal obtained by binarizing the low frequency component is used as a gate signal, and the signal obtained by binarizing the signal component in a predetermined band is used as the gate signal. 1. A coin type identification device comprising: means for counting gate time; and means for determining the type of coin inserted into a transfer route based on the count value. 2. As means for counting signals obtained by binarizing signal components in a predetermined band only during the gate time,
The coin according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for measuring the pulse width of the signal obtained by converting it into a value during a gate time, and means for counting the number of pulses in a certain pulse width. Identification device.