JPH03268093A - Detector for absence of coin for coin discriminating/ counting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discriminate and count coins in a short time by deciding a fact that no coin remains in a coin hopper part if no coin passing through a prescribed area in the hopper part is detected for a fixed period. CONSTITUTION:A control unit 11 contains a 16-bit shift register 12 which stores successively the output 5S of a coin sensor 5 in the fixed timing. A deciding part 13 monitors the contents of each bit of the register 12 and decides a fact that no coin remains in a coin hopper 2 if the bit train showing the absence of coins is equal to the length set previously. Thus the part 13 outputs the decision output 13S to a control part 14. The part 14 starts a coin discriminating/counting device to discriminate and count the coins. Thus the coins can be discriminated and counted in a short time.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a coin discrimination method in which the inserted coins are sequentially fed out by a hopper section, and the authenticity, denomination, etc. of the coins are distinguished, and the amount of the inserted coins is counted. The present invention relates to a counting device, and more particularly, to a coin-free detection device for detecting a coin-free state in a hopper portion of such a device.

[Prior Art] In financial institutions and the like, various coin discrimination and counting devices are used to discriminate and count mixed coins. Such a device includes: a coin hopper section into which mixed coins are thrown; a coin conveyance path consisting of a conveyor belt that conveys the coins fed out one by one from the coin hopper; and this coin conveyance path. Authenticity of coins placed on the way to
It consists of a coin identification and counting section that performs discrimination and counting of denominations, etc. The coin hopper section uses a rotating disk to apply centrifugal force to the coins and eject them in the tangential direction of the rotating disk, and the ejected coins are fed out one by one into the coin conveyance path through the coin ejection port. It looks like this.

In such a device, the fact that there are no coins in the coin hopper is detected in the following manner. That is, the control section of the device receives a coin signal generated from the coin discrimination and counting section every time a coin passes through the coin discrimination and counting section. In the control section, if the inflow of this coin signal is interrupted for a certain period of time or more, the control section monitors the presence or absence of coins in the coin hopper section for a certain period of time, and if no coins are detected, It is determined that there is no coin.

After making such a determination, the coin discrimination and counting operations in the coin discrimination and counting section are stopped, and the driving of the conveyor belt and the hopper section is also stopped. Then, post-processing is performed, such as displaying the total results of identification and counting up to that point.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In this way, in the conventional device, first, it is detected that there are no more coins passing through the coin discrimination and counting section, and then,
After confirming that there are no coins in the coin hopper section, the drive of each section is stopped. Therefore, such a method for detecting the absence of coins has the disadvantage that it takes time to detect the absence of coins, and the end of the coin discrimination and counting process is delayed accordingly.

In view of this point, an object of the present invention is to realize a coin-free detection device that can reliably perform such a coin-free detection method in a short time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, in the coin-free detection device of the present invention, a coin detection means for detecting coins passing through a predetermined area in the coin hopper section is disposed. The coin detection means monitors the presence or absence of coins in the coin hopper section in parallel with the operation of the coin discrimination and counting section, and if no coins are detected for a certain period of time, the coin hopper section is in a state where there is no coin. I am trying to determine that Q has been completed.

That is, the coin absence detection device of the coin discrimination and counting device according to the present invention detects coins in parallel with driving the coin discrimination and counting section.
Coin detection means detects a coin passing through a predetermined area within the 7 bars, and if no coin is detected by this coin detection means B for a preset period, the coin hopper section is in a state where there is no coin. It is characterized by having a coin-free determination means for determining that the coin is absent.

Here, such a coin-free determination means includes a shift register that constantly reads the detection results of the coin detection means at regular intervals, and a continuous bit string in the shift register representing coin-free information that is set in advance. When the coin hopper reaches the length, the determination unit determines that there is no coin in the coin hopper unit.

[Operation] In the device of the present invention, when the coin discrimination and counting device is started by a coin discrimination and counting command etc., in parallel with this, the coin detection means detects the presence or absence of coins in a part of the coin collar. will be started. When the coin detection means does not detect a coin for a certain period of time, the coin-free determination means detects the coin.

It is determined that there is no coin in the coin hopper section.

Therefore, as a result of this determination, the driving of a part of the coin holder is immediately stopped, and then the driving of the coin discrimination and counting section is stopped.

- On the other hand, when the coin-absence determining means is constituted by a shift register, the output of the coin detecting means is read into the shift register at a fixed timing. If the situation without coins continues, the soft register will contain
A focus row representing the absence of coins is formed. The length of this bit string (Pi1-san) is proportional to the duration of the coinless state, and when the length of this bit string reaches a preset length, the coinless state will continue for a certain period of time. It means that it is continuing. Therefore, at this time, the determining section determines that there is no coin in the coin hopper section. As a result of this determination, the drive of the coin hopper section is immediately stopped, and subsequently the drive of the coin discrimination and counting section is stopped.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the coin discrimination and counting device of this example. As shown in the figure, the device 1 of this example includes a coin hopper section 2 having a cylindrical shape with an open upper end, and a coin conveying path 3 that is continuous with a coin discharge port 2a formed on the outer peripheral wall of the coin hopper section 2. The basic component is a coin discrimination and counting section 4 disposed in the middle of the coin conveyance path 3. The bottom surface of the coin chamber part 2 is defined by a rotating disk 2b, and this rotating disk 2b is connected to a motor 2 disposed below the rotating disk 2b.
Rotated by C. The coin conveyance path 3 has a coin discharge port 2
From position a, a coin passage 3a arranged in the tangential direction of this rotary disk 2b, and a transport heel (3d) stretched between drive boos IJ 3b, 30 in the same direction as this coin passage 3a. The coin CN is conveyed by the conveyor belt 3d toward the downstream side of the coin passage 3a.

The coin identification and counting section 4 determines the authenticity and denomination of passing coins, and outputs the results to a control unit, which will be described later. Here, in the above-mentioned coin hopper part 2, this rotating disk 2b is placed at a position away from the center of the rotating disk 2b.
A light emitting element 5a and a light receiving element 5b constituting the optical coin sensor 5 are arranged opposite to each other on a straight line that crosses the surface of the optical coin sensor 5.

Next, FIG. 2 shows an outline of the control system of the apparatus 10 of this example. In the figure, the control unit hll has a 16-bit shift register 12, and this shift register 1
2, the output 5S of the coin sensor 5 is sequentially stored at a fixed timing. The determination unit 13 monitors the contents of each focus of the shift register 12, and when the length of the bit string representing no coin reaches a preset length as described later, it is determined that there is no coin in the coin hopper unit 2. It is determined that the state has been reached, and a determination output 13S is output to the control unit 14. The control unit 14 controls each part of the device, and receives a coin discrimination and counting start command signal 15S from the operation switch 15 or an external II.
Upon receiving the coin discrimination and counting start command signal S from the J'4B device (not shown), the device 1 is activated to start the coin discrimination and counting operation.

Further, if the above-mentioned output 133 is received during the coin discrimination and counting operation, the driving of each part is stopped.

Here, with reference to the third episode, changes in the storage state of the 16-bit shift register 12 will be explained. In the initial state B (time TO) of this shift register 12, as shown in FIG. 3(A), information indicating that there is a U coin is stored in each bit 12(O) to 12(15). ing. In the figure, this "coin present" information is indicated by "・".
``Information about J without coins is indicated by ``○''. Figure 3 (B
) to (P) sequentially show changes in the contents of the shift register 12 each time the coin sensor output 6S is read. The contents of the shift register are sequentially shifted from the least significant bit 12(0) to the most significant pinot l-12(15). In the example shown in FIG. 3, the "no coin" information is read continuously from time T6 shown in FIG. 3(G), and at time T15 shown in FIG. 3(P), the noft register 12 All of the bit strings from bits 12(0) to 12(9) are "O" indicating "no coin". In this example, when all 10 focus rows are "no coin", it is determined that there is no coin in the coin hopper section 2, and the drive of each section is stopped. ing. In other words, if the reading interval of the shift register 12 is t, when no coin is detected by the coin sensor 5 for a time interval of 101), it is determined that there is no coin in the coin hopper section 2.

Next, the coin discrimination and counting operation of the device 1 of this example will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 and the timing chart of FIG. 5. First, mixed coins CN are inserted into the coin holder 2, and a coin discrimination and counting start command signal 15S is sent from the operation switch 15, or a similar command signal S is sent from an external control device.
is supplied (step 5TI in FIG. 4), the coin identification process is permitted (step 5T2), and the shift register 12 is initialized and set to the state shown in FIG. 3(A) (step 5T3). . After this, transfer hell l-3cl
, the driving of the coin hopper section 2 is started, and the coin discrimination and counting operation is started (step ST4.5). That is, the coins CN thrown into the coin hopper section 2 are subjected to centrifugal force by the rotation of the rotating disk 2b, and are ejected one by one from the coin discharge port 2a to the side of the coin transport path 3, and are transferred to the transport heald. 3d toward the downstream side of the conveyance path.

When the coin CN passes through the coin discrimination and counting section 4, the authenticity and denomination of the coin CN are discriminated here.

The coin discrimination and counting section 4 supplies a coin signal 4S to the control section 14 every time a passing coin is discriminated. The control unit 14 counts passing coins based on this coin signal. While such a discrimination counting operation is being performed, the output 5S of the coin sensor 5 is read at a fixed interval t and stored in the shift register 12 (step ST6.7).

The contents of the ten focus columns from the least significant bits 12(0) to 12(9) in the shift register 12 are determined for each shift operation (step 5T8). As long as the information "." indicating "coin present" exists in this bit string, the operation of the device continues.

However, when there is no information indicating "coin present" in this bit string and there is only information indicating "no coin" [○J], the drive of the coin hopper section 2 is stopped, and then the drive of the transport help l-3d is stopped. The drive is stopped and the coin discrimination and counting process is prohibited (steps ST9 to ST12)a.In other words, at time T15 when Lot time has elapsed from time T6 in FIG. It is determined that this has occurred, and the driving of each part is stopped.

In this example, after a state in which no coin is detected by the coin sensor 5 continues for a time interval (Lot) corresponding to 10 bits in the shift register 12, it is determined that there is no coin in the coin hopper section. However, this time interval must be set individually for each device. - For boat fishing, the value may be set to a value longer than the time required for the coins in the coin hopper to pass through the detection area of the coin sensor 5.

Next, in this example, one coin sensor is arranged to detect coins in the coin hopper section 2, but a plurality of sensors, for example, two sensors 51 (51a, 51 as shown in FIG. 6) are arranged.
b), 52 (52a, 52b) may be arranged. In this way, the coin detection area becomes wider as indicated by diagonal lines 61 and 62 in the figure, so it becomes possible to detect the presence or absence of a coin in a shorter time.
This is preferable because it becomes possible to further shorten the above-mentioned time interval (Lot) required for determining the coinless state.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in the apparatus of the present invention, a coin detection means for detecting coins passing through a predetermined area in the coin hopper section is arranged, and the coin discrimination and counting section is controlled by the coin detection means. In parallel with the driving of the coin hopper, the presence or absence of coins in the coin hopper is monitored, and if no coin is detected for a certain period of time, it is determined that there is no coin in the coin hopper. . Therefore, according to the present invention, unlike the conventional coin-free detection method described below,
The coin discrimination and counting processing time can be shortened compared to the case where the presence or absence of coins in the coin hopper section is detected after there are no more coins passing through the coin discrimination and counting section.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1(A) and 1(B) are a schematic plan view and a schematic vertical sectional view showing an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Schematic block diagram showing the control system of the device shown in Figure 3 (A)
~(P) are state transition diagrams showing the state transition of the shift register of the device in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the device in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 1 is a timing chart of each part of the apparatus, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the apparatus of FIG. 1. [Description of symbols] 1...Coin discrimination and counting device 2...Coin hopper section 3...Coin conveyance path 4...Coin discrimination and counting section 5.51.52...Coin sensor 11...Control Unit 12...Shift register 13...Discrimination section 14...Control section.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A hopper section that sequentially dispenses coins by centrifugal force from a rotating disk, a coin discrimination and counting section that discriminates and counts the coins dispensed from this hopper section, and in parallel with the driving of this coin discrimination and counting section, a coin detection means for detecting a coin passing through a predetermined area within the hopper; and if the coin detection means does not detect a coin for a preset period, the inside of the hopper section is in a coin-free state. A coin-absence detection device for a coin discrimination and counting device, characterized in that it has a coin-absence determining means for determining. (2) The no-coin determining means includes a shift register that constantly reads the detection results of the coin detecting means at regular intervals, and a length of a continuous bit string in the shift register indicating no coins that is set in advance. A coin-absence detection device for a coin discrimination and counting device, characterized in that the coin-absence detection device for a coin discrimination and counting device has a determination unit that determines that the inside of the hopper portion is in a coin-free state.