JPH03138792A - Charge adjusting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the detection precision and to increase the processing speed by selectively distributing an object inserted from a reception slit to a first passage at the time of discriminating it as a paper money and selectively distributing it to a second passage at the time of discriminating it as a prepaid card. CONSTITUTION:A classification discriminating means 5 which discriminates paper moneys and prepaid cards inserted from a reception slit 2, a first passage 45 which is connected to the reception slit 2 and a paper money storage box 8 having a banknote discriminating device 7, and a second passage 47 which is connected to the reception slit 2 and a card processing device 6 are provided. When the classification discriminating means 5 discriminates the object inserted from the reception slit 3 as a paper money, it is selectively distributed to the first passage 45 by a distributor 52; and when the means 5 discriminates it as a prepaid card, it is selectively distributed to the second passage 47 by the distributor 52. Thus, the detection precision of discrimination processing of paper moneys/prepaid cards is improved and the processing speed is increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a fare adjustment device that identifies the authenticity, denomination, and prepaid card of banknotes and settles the fare for a ride.

[Prior Art] Recently, various service plans have been proposed for public transportation such as buses and trains. One of these is the hassle of purchasing tickets when transferring between buses and other means of transportation, or when transferring between buses, and the problem of higher fares when purchasing tickets for each. In order to solve these problems, the introduction of a prepaid card-type ticket system is being considered. With this prepaid card, you can purchase a high-value ticket for a predetermined amount and then use it as many times as you like up to the purchase price.

For this reason, bus exits are equipped with fare settlement devices that allow bills or prepaid cards to be inserted into the insertion slots. In the case of banknotes, this fee settlement device determines the amount of the inserted banknote, deducts the fare from that amount, and then refunds the amount, and in the case of a prepaid card, deducts the fare from the remaining number of cards or the remaining amount, and deducts the remaining number of cards or the remaining amount or The remaining amount is written and sent out again to the outlet.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, this type of fee settlement device has problems in determining whether the inserted item is a banknote or a prepaid card, determining the authenticity of the banknote, determining the amount of the banknote, and determining whether the inserted item is a banknote or a prepaid card. A common detection device performs all of the reading and writing of the remaining power or remaining amount, and the inspection after writing the remaining power or remaining amount. Therefore, in order to prevent malfunctions or failures of the fee settlement device due to differences in the size and thickness of banknotes and prepaid cards, and the materials of banknotes and prepaid cards, highly accurate detection devices have traditionally been required. First, it is necessary to make these distinctions and perform appropriate processing. Additionally, it is possible to slow down the processing speed to ensure accurate processing, but if there is a delay in returning prepaid cards or refunding change, it will cause trouble to the bus's elevator window. Therefore, the detection device must be installed and adjusted accurately so as not to reduce the processing speed, and the installation and adjustment work is very troublesome.

The purpose of the present invention is to distinguish between banknotes and prepaid cards,
An object of the present invention is to provide a fee settlement device that can improve processing detection accuracy and processing speed, and can be further downsized.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the first invention of the present application provides a fee settlement device that has an acceptance port for accepting both banknotes and prepaid cards, and is capable of accepting both banknotes and prepaid cards. A first passage communicating with the banknote storage, including a type discrimination means for identifying banknotes and prepaid cards inserted from the entrance, communicating with the receiving port, and a banknote identification device, and communicating with the receiving port; , a second one communicating with the card processing device.
and a sorting device that selectively sorts the card inserted from the receiving slot into a first channel when the type discrimination means identifies it as a banknote, and to a second channel when it identifies it as a prepaid card. This is the gist of it.

In the second invention, the banknote identification device is disposed below the type discrimination device, a banknote storage is provided below the banknote discrimination device, and the card processing device is arranged substantially horizontally with the type discrimination device. The gist is that a prepaid card is disposed at the end of the card and has an ejection port at its end from which the prepaid card is sent out.

[Function] The effect of the first invention is that when a banknote or prepaid card is inserted into the receiving slot, the type discriminating means determines that the banknote or prepaid card is a banknote or a prepaid card. If the type discrimination means determines that the banknote is a banknote, the device sends the banknote to the first passage, and if it is determined that it is a prepaid card, the device sends the prepaid card to the second path. It will be done. The bill is then stored in a bill storage after the authenticity and denomination of the bill are read by the bill recognition device, and payment processing is performed based on this. On the other hand, the remaining card number or remaining amount of a prepaid card is read by a card processing device, and payment processing is performed based on this.

The operation of the second invention is that the banknotes are sorted by the device and sent to the first path, and then the banknotes are sent to the banknote path of the banknote identification device provided below the type discrimination means to determine the authenticity of the banknotes.
The amount is read. Based on this, payment processing is performed, and then the banknotes are stored in the banknote storage. Further, the prepaid cards are sorted by the device and sent to a card processing device arranged substantially horizontally in parallel with the type identification device. and,
The remaining number or amount of the prepaid card is read,
Settlement processing is performed based on this remaining number of points or remaining amount. Thereafter, the prepaid card is sent to a prepaid card outlet provided at the end of the card processing device.

[Embodiment 1] An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a bus fare settlement device will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1.2, the main body 1 of the fare settlement device is formed in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, and is arranged at the exit of a bus (not shown) so as to extend in the longitudinal direction.

In FIG. 2, an insertion port 2 as a receiving port for inserting banknotes S or a prepaid card P is provided on the upper right side surface, and an ejection port 3 for returning the prepaid card P is provided on the left side of the top surface of the main body 1. ing. Furthermore, a return opening 4 is provided in the center side of the main body 1 to return change when paying with banknotes S.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the upper right side of the main body 1, a type discriminating device 5, which is provided with the insertion opening 2 and serves as a type discriminating means, is disposed. On the left side of the type discriminating device 5, a card processing device 6 provided with the ejection port 3 is arranged horizontally, and the prepaid card P sent from the type discriminating device 5 is disposed horizontally.
It is designed to process. Further, a banknote identification device 7 is provided below the type discrimination device 5, and a banknote storage 8 is provided further below.

The banknote identification device 7 is configured to determine the authenticity and denomination of the banknote S sent from the type determination device 5. Further, the banknote storage 8 is configured to store banknotes S sent from the banknote identification device 7.

Next, the card processing device 6 will be explained.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an opening 9 is provided on the right side of the card processing device 6 into which the prepaid card P sent from the type discriminating device 5 is inserted. The outlet 3 for returning the prepaid card P is provided at the upper end of the terminal. Further, the upper right side of the card processing device 6 is opened, and the opening portion is covered by the lid 10. This lid 10 is rotatably supported by a shaft 11 provided at one end of the lid 10.

In the upper part of the card processing device 6, a guide groove 13 is formed on both sides in the width direction by a plurality of opposing support plates 12, and the prepaid card P is guided from the opening 9 to the outlet 3 along the guide groove 13. It is meant to be guided. A pair of magnetic heads 14 are provided in parallel approximately in the center of the card processing device 6 . Note that 15 is a control circuit connected to the magnetic head 14, and is configured to perform payment processing based on the signal read by the magnetic head 14.

Conveying rollers 16a to 16 are provided on the lower side of the guide groove 13.
e are arranged at approximately equal intervals. This conveyance roller 16a
-16e is rotatably supported by support shafts 17a to 17e installed in the width direction of the card processing device 6.

Conveyance rollers 18a to 1 that contact the conveyance rollers 16a to 16e correspond to the conveyance rollers 16a to 16e.
8e is provided. The conveyance rollers 18a to 18e
Among them, the conveyance rollers 18a to 18c are rotatably supported via support members 19a to 19c provided on the back surface of the lid 10. Further, the conveyance rollers 18d and 18e are connected to support shafts 20a and 20 installed in the width direction of the card processing device 6.
It is rotatably supported by 0b.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, a conveyance roller 21a.

Pins 22a 21b are provided on both sides of the card processing device 6 in the width direction at positions that do not interfere with the magnetic card 14.

It is rotatably provided by 22b. Although not shown, the card processing device 6 is provided with a conveyance roller that comes into contact with the conveyance rollers 21a and 21b above the conveyance rollers 21a and 21b. Note that a pressure roller 23 is provided on the back surface of the lid 1o by a support member 24, and is configured to evenly press the prepaid card P against the magnetic head 14.

Further, an optical sensor 26 is provided near the outlet 3 with the guide groove 13 in between. The optical sensor 26 is configured of, for example, a photocoupler, and includes a light emitting section 26a and a light receiving section 26b. The sensor 26 then detects that the prepaid card P has been sent to the outlet 3.

Note that the conveyance rollers 16a to 16e, 21a.

21b is driven by a motor 25 provided at the lower left side of the card processing device 6 to rotate in forward and reverse directions via a drive belt (not shown).

Further, 27a and 27b are card punches provided on both sides of the upper part of the card processing device 6, and the card punches 27a and 27b are used to punch the prepaid card P, which is conveyed along the guide groove 13, on the side of the prepaid card P with an approximate remaining number of points. Alternatively, the remaining amount can be displayed by punching.

Further, 28 is an optical sensor provided near the opening 9, which is composed of a light emitting part 28a and a light receiving part 28b, and detects that the prepaid card P is sent from the type discrimination device 5, It is adapted to drive the card processing device 6.

Next, the banknote identification device 7 will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 5, the banknote identification device 7 includes a main body 29 and a lid 30 that covers the side of the main body 29.
The lid body 30 is rotatably supported by the body 29 by the body 29, and the body 29 and the lid body 30 form an insertion portion 31 into which banknotes S are inserted. As shown in FIG. 6, a pair of pulleys 32a to 32c, each consisting of three pulleys, are provided in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the main body 29.

A belt 33 is hung around the pair of pulleys 32a to 32c. A transmission shaft 34 is inserted through a pair of pulleys 32c among the pulleys 32a to 32c, and this transmission shaft 34 is connected to a drive motor 35 controlled by a control circuit 36.
is connected to.

A pair of reflective optical sensors 36a are provided on both sides of the insertion portion 31 in the width direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 6) to detect insertion of the banknote S.

Additionally, there are three pulleys between the pulleys 32a and 32b in the width direction.
magnetic heads 37 are provided in parallel.

Further, the central magnetic head 37 on the insertion portion 31 side
A reflective optical sensor 38 is provided adjacent to the banknotes S to detect the length of the banknotes S. That is, the length of the banknote S is detected by measuring the time during which the light from the optical sensor 38 is blocked and calculating the preset feeding speed of the banknote S and the time.

Further, driven pulleys 39a to 39c are arranged so as to be in contact with the pulleys 32a to 32b, and these driven pulleys 3
9a to 39c are provided on the back surface of the lid 30.

Note that a pressure roller 40 is provided on the back surface of the lid 30 in correspondence with the magnetic head 37, and is adapted to uniformly press the banknote S against the magnetic head 37.

The control circuit 36 includes a magnetic head 37 and an optical sensor 38.
The genuineness and denomination of the banknote S are determined by this, and if the banknote S is read incorrectly or is a counterfeit banknote, the drive motor 35 can send the banknote back to the type discriminating device 5.

Next, the configuration of the type discrimination device 5 will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 7, the insertion opening 2, which opens diagonally upward to the right, is formed at the upper right side. In this insertion slot 2,
A guide plate 41 is installed between support members 43a and 43b provided on both sides in the width direction, and a lower portion of the guide plate 41 is curved downward in an arc shape. Moreover, the support member 43a.

A guide plate 4 disposed above the guide plate 41 between the guide plates 43b and 43b.
2 has been constructed. Further, at the lower left side of the type discrimination device 5, a partition plate 44 is provided as a support member 43a.

43b, and a side portion of the partition plate 44 on the insertion port 2 side is recessed in an arc shape so as to be parallel to the lower part of the guide plate 41.

Then, the side part of the partition plate 44 on the insertion port 2 side and the guide plate 41
A bill passage 45 as a second passage is formed between the lower part and the lower part. A guide member 46 is installed between the support members 43a and 43b above the partition plate 44, and a card passage 47 as a first passage is formed between the upper surface of the partition plate 44 and the guide member 46. has been done.

Further, a pair of upper and lower feed rollers 48, 49 is provided approximately at the center of the type discriminating device 5, and is rotatable by a support shaft 50, 51 installed between the support members 43a, 43b. are supported so that they are in contact with each other. Furthermore, a solenoid 54 is fixed to the support member 43b side at the center of the upper part of the type discriminating device 5.

A sorting member 52 serving as a sorting device is swingably fixed to the support shaft 50. For this distribution, a support pin 53 is installed at the upper end of the member 52, and a support member 43a is installed at the lower end.
, 43b, a guide piece 58 is provided that extends substantially over the entire length in the width direction between 43b and 43b.

The guide piece 58 has a guide part 59 that is curved in a slightly concave shape to guide the banknote S, and is bent upward from the tip of the guide part 59 to abut the corner part 44a of the partition plate 44 and guide the card passage 47. It is composed of a closeable contact piece 60.

A connecting member 55 is inserted through and supported by the support pin 53 . This connecting member 55 is connected to the plunger 56 of the solenoid 54. Further, a spring 57 is disposed between the connecting member 55 and the solenoid 54,
The plunger 56 is always urged in the direction of protruding from the solenoid 54.

Therefore, when the solenoid 54 is energized, the plunger 56 is pulled in the direction of the arrow, the distribution member 52 is swung counterclockwise around the support shaft 50, and the abutment piece 60 of the guide piece 58 is pressed against the partition plate 44. The card passage 47 is closed by contacting the corner 44a of the card.

The width direction of the card passage 47 is narrowed down by a pair of regulating plates 70a and 70b toward the exit side, so that the prepaid card P is fed in the vertical direction of the prepaid card P.

Furthermore, between the insertion opening 2 and the pair of feed rollers 48 and 49, on the guide plate 42 side, as shown in FIG. ~61c are arranged at equal intervals, and each light emitting part 61a~
61c, there are light receiving sections 62a to 62 on the guide plate 41 side.
c is provided. The light emitting sensors 5a to 8c detect the width of the object inserted into the insertion slot 2 to determine whether it is a banknote S or a prepaid card P.

Note that 63 is a transmission type optical sensor provided at the center in the width direction with the banknote passage 45 in between. This optical sensor 63 is composed of a light emitting part 63a and a light receiving part 63b, and detects that the banknote S has passed through the banknote passage 45, and drives the banknote identification device 7. Furthermore, reference numerals 64 and 65 indicate transmission type optical sensors provided on both sides of the type discrimination device 5 in the width direction, and each of the optical sensors 64 and 65 is composed of light emitting sections 64a and 65a and light receiving sections 64b and 65b. There is.

When the width of the banknote S is detected by the sensors 64 and 65, the banknote S is prevented from being erroneously sent to the card processing device 6.

Further, a control motor 66 connected to a control circuit 67 is arranged and fixed at the lower right side of the type discrimination device 5, and rotates the feed roller 49 by means of a gear or the like (not shown). 49 is driven to rotate.

In addition, when the banknote S is erroneously conveyed toward the card processing device 6, the control circuit 67 causes the control motor 66 to rotate in the reverse direction to return the banknote S to the insertion slot 2.

The operation of the fee settlement device configured as described above will be explained.

First, a case in which banknotes S are inserted into the insertion slot 2 of the fee settlement device will be described. When a bill S is inserted into the insertion slot 2, it passes through the optical sensors 5a-3c. Then, the banknote S makes 3
Since it passes through all of the optical sensors 5a-8c, the control circuit 6
7 determines that the bill S has been inserted and drives the drive motor 66 to rotate the feed rollers 48 and 49.

Further, the control circuit 67 excites the solenoid 54 to pull the plunger 56 in the direction of the arrow against the urging force of the spring 57. Then, the distribution member 52 swings counterclockwise around the support shaft 50 via the connecting member 55 and the pin 53. Then, the distribution is performed by a guide piece 58 provided on the member 52.
The contact piece 60 contacts the corner 44a of the partition plate 44, and the card passage 47 is closed by the distribution member 52.

Therefore, the banknote S inserted from the insertion slot 2 is transferred to the feed roller 4.
The banknotes S are drawn into the inside by the banknotes B and 49, and the banknotes S are guided to the banknote path 45 by the guide portion 59. The banknote S is sent to the banknote identification device 7 via the banknote path 45, and
The optical sensor 63 detects the banknote S passing through the banknote path 45.

Based on the detection by the optical sensor 63, the control circuit 36 of the banknote identification device 7 drives the drive motor 35. Then, the pulley 32c of the transmission shaft 34 rotates and the belt 3
3 through each pulley 32a.

32b rotates in the direction of the arrow.

The banknote S is drawn into the banknote identification device 7, but the insertion part 3
It is identified that the banknote S has been sent by two optical sensors 36a in the vicinity of one. That is, if the prepaid card P is inserted by mistake from the type discriminating device 5, the prepaid card P does not have enough width to pass through the two optical sensors 36, so it will not pass through the two optical sensors 36a. The banknote S is identified only when this happens. Here, if the control circuit 36 determines that the banknote is not S, the drive motor 35
The pulleys 32a to 32c are rotated in the reverse direction and sent back to the type discriminating device 5, and the type discriminating device 5 sends the prepaid card P back to the insertion slot 2.

Next, the length of the banknote S is detected by the optical sensor 38, and this length is used as one of the criteria for determining the amount.
The authenticity of the banknote S is determined by detecting the magnetic component contained in the printing ink of the banknote S using the magnetic heads 37.

As a result of these determinations, when the authenticity and amount of the banknote S are determined, the control circuit 36 subtracts the bus fare fee from the amount of the banknote S, and returns the change to the return slot 4 by a change return device (not shown). Refund.

On the other hand, the banknotes S are sent from the banknote recognition device 7 to the banknote storage 8, and when a sensor (not shown) provided in the banknote storage 8 detects that the banknotes S have been sent, a control circuit based on this sensor detects that the banknotes S have been sent. 36 stops driving the drive motor 35.

Next, a case will be described in which the prepaid card P is inserted into the insertion slot 2 of the fee settlement device.

When the prepaid card P is inserted into the insertion slot 2, since the prepaid card P is shorter than the width of the banknote S, the optical sensor 5a-
It passes through one or two optical sensors of 8c. Based on the detection by this optical sensor, the control circuit 67 drives the drive motor 66 to rotate the feed rollers 48 and 49 and draw the prepaid card P into the interior. At this time, the solenoid 54 is not energized, so the prepaid card P is inserted into the card passage 4.
You will be guided to 7.

Then, the prepaid card P passing through the card passage 47
The optical sensors 64 and 65 determine whether the banknote is a bill S or not. That is, if a banknote S were to be sent, it would pass through both of the optical sensors 64 and 65, so the control circuit 67 would detect an abnormality based on this detection signal, and the drive motor 66 would
The feed rollers 48 and 49 are rotated in the opposite direction to send the bill S back to the insertion slot 2.

The prepaid card P that has passed through the card passage 47 is inserted into the opening 9 of the card processing device, and upon detection by the optical sensor 28, the control circuit 15 drives the motor 25 to
6a to 16e, 18a to 18e, 21a, and 21b are rotated.

Then, the prepaid card P is transferred to the transport roller 16a,
16b, 18a, and 18b to the upper surface of the magnetic head 14 to determine whether the prepaid card P is appropriate. When the control circuit 15 determines that the prepaid card P is inappropriate, the motor 25 is driven to transport the transport rollers 16a to 16e.
, 18a-18e, 21a.

21b is reversely rotated, and the insertion port 2 is inserted through the type discrimination device 5.
send it back to

In addition, if the prepaid card P is appropriate, the magnetic head 14 detects the remaining number of credits or the remaining amount, and subtracts the number of credits equivalent to the bus fare from the remaining number of credits or the remaining amount. The remaining number of points or the remaining amount is written on the prepaid card P using the magnetic head 14. moreover,
It is confirmed by the magnetic head 14 whether the written remaining power or remaining amount is accurate, and if it is normal, it is sent to the takeout port 3 by the conveyance rollers 16cm16e, 18cm18e, 21a, 21b. At this time, when the optical sensor 26 detects that the prepaid card P has been sent, the control circuit 15 stops driving the motor 25.

Therefore, the type discrimination device 5 discriminates between banknotes S or prepaid cards P, the card processing device 6 processes the prepaid cards P, and the banknote identification device 7 processes the banknotes S. Therefore, the magnetic head 37 is dedicated to the banknotes S, and the magnetic head 14 may be adjusted exclusively for the prepaid card P. As a result, since complicated adjustment factors are not involved, adjustment becomes easy, detection accuracy can be improved, and processing speed can be increased.

Further, by configuring the card processing device 6 and the banknote identification device 7 as separate units, they can be arbitrarily stored and arranged based on the shape of the fee settlement device.

As a result, the main body of the fee settlement device can be made more compact.

Since there is a difference in the detection signals of the banknote S and the prepaid card P, it is difficult to perform processing such as determination and identification using the same magnetic head, but each magnetic head 14.3 has a dedicated magnetic head 14.3.
7, processing and detection can be performed quickly and accurately.

In addition, there is no need to match the information track of the prepaid card P with the information reading position of the banknote S, and the track to be used on the prepaid card P is not limited, so the information track can be set at any location on the prepaid card P. .

It should be noted that this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be arbitrarily modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, it is possible to replace the magnetic card with another medium such as an IC card, or to add a credit card to the prepaid card P.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, after the banknotes are sent to the first passage, the authenticity and amount are read by the banknote identification device and payment processing is performed, and the prepaid card is sent to the second passage. After the card is sent to the passageway, the card processing device reads the remaining card count or remaining amount and processes the payment. As a result, by providing devices that exclusively process banknotes and prepaid cards, it is possible to not only easily adjust each device, but also to improve detection accuracy and processing speed.

In addition, the bill recognition device and bill storage are arranged vertically, and the card processing device is arranged horizontally, making it possible to create an efficient assembly room and downsize the entire device. effective.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an overview of the charge settlement device, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the internal structure of the charge settlement device, Fig. 3 is a side view showing the structure of the card processing device, and Fig. 4 is the card processing device. FIG. 5 is a side view showing the structure of the banknote identification device, FIG. 6 is a front view showing the structure of the banknote identification device, and FIG. 7 is a side view showing the configuration of the type discrimination device. , FIG. 8 is a partial plan view showing the configuration of the type discrimination device. 2... Insertion port as receiving port, 3... Output port, 5.
... Type discrimination device as type discrimination means, 6... Card processing device, 7... Bill identification device, 8... Bill storage, 45... Bill passageway as first passage, 47.・
・Card passage as a second passage, 52... Sorting as a sorting device is a member, P... prepaid card, S...
··bill.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a fee settlement device which has a receiving port for accepting both banknotes and prepaid cards and can be used for both, type discrimination means for identifying the banknotes and prepaid card inserted from the receiving port; , communicates with the receiving port and includes a banknote identification device,
a first passageway communicating with the banknote storage; a second passageway communicating with the receiving port and communicating with the card processing device; A charge settlement device comprising: a sorting device that selectively sorts the card to a first aisle and, when it is identified as a prepaid card, to a second aisle. 2. The banknote recognition device is arranged below the type discrimination device, and a banknote storage is provided below the banknote recognition device, and the card processing device is arranged so as to be lined up approximately horizontally with the type discrimination device. 2. The fee settlement device according to claim 1, further comprising an ejection port at the end of the prepaid card from which the prepaid card is sent out.