JPH0512527A - Paper money identifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately identify a paper money deformed by environmental changes. CONSTITUTION:The size of a paper money 1 to be identified in the direction othogonal to a carrying direction 5 is optically measured similarly to a conventional device. On the other hand, the dimension in the direction parallel with the carrying direction 5 is measured based upon the carrying distance of the paper money 1. Then the ratio of the dimension in the rectangular direction to the carrying direction of the paper money 1 to the parallel direction is found out. The paper money 1 is identified based upon the found ratio. The paper money 1 is normally contracted in the vertical and horizontal directions almost at the same ratio. Thereby a paper money dipped into water can be also accurately identified.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper defect identifying apparatus for measuring a characteristic amount of a paper defect and determining to which denomination the paper defect belongs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic vending machine, an automatic transaction device provided in a financial institution, and the like are each equipped with a device for discriminating a paper defect introduced by a customer. In this paper defect discriminating apparatus, processing is performed to identify in which direction the paper defect has been inserted, and which denomination the paper defect belongs to. In this case, the size of the identified paper in the longitudinal direction is measured, or the identified bill is irradiated with a light source to detect the reflected light or transmitted light and detect the optical pattern. Further, the magnetic pattern is detected using a magnetic sensor. Using these characteristic amounts as a clue, the characteristic amounts that have been obtained in advance as the reference characteristic amounts of various paper defects are compared, and the paper defects are identified and the authenticity is verified. In such authenticity determination, the above-mentioned various characteristic amounts are used alone or in combination.

The size of a paper defect generally differs for each denomination. In the paper used today, the dimension in the width direction is the same regardless of the denomination. On the other hand, the longitudinal dimension increases in the order of 1000 yen paper defects, 5000 yen paper defects, and 10000 yen paper defects. Therefore, in some cases, the longitudinal dimension of the paper to be identified is measured and used as a feature amount for identifying the denomination.

[0004]

By the way, in general, paper defects are damaged during the distribution process, and their characteristic amounts fluctuate. For example, the frequency distribution of the amount of transmitted light or the amount of reflected light of each part changes intricately and subtly due to stains on paper. In particular, since paper is made of paper, its outer dimensions change due to expansion and contraction depending on environmental temperature and humidity. In addition, when it is directly immersed in water such as when it is washed by mistake, it may shrink greatly after drying and may fall outside the range of the standard defined as the feature amount for bill recognition.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a conventional paper defect identifying device. When the paper 1 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow 5, the apparatus shown in the figure reads the optical pattern using the image sensor 2 and identifies it by the signal processor 3 and the identifier 4. The signal processing unit 3 is a circuit that receives a signal read by the image sensor 2 and converts the signal into a digital signal. Further, the identification unit 4 is based on the output of the signal processing unit 3,
This is a circuit that measures the width of paper 1 and identifies the denomination.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the identifying section 4.
A signal as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 is input from the signal processing unit 3 to the identification unit 4 in FIG. This signal is obtained by detecting the amount of reflected light from the paper defect 1 shown in FIG. 2 along the longitudinal direction of the paper defect 1 (direction orthogonal to the arrow 5). in this case,
The signal is compared with a threshold level TH for distinguishing between the reflected light of the bad paper and the reflected light of the conveyance path in the background of the bad paper. As a result, the width Lx of the paper defect in the longitudinal direction can be accurately obtained.

The dimension in the longitudinal direction of the paper defect measured as described above is not used as the main judgment material for the paper defect identification, but is used as the secondary judgment material. That is, as a main judgment material, a characteristic amount such as an optical pattern depending on the amount of transmitted light or reflected light of paper is used. However, when processing such a feature amount, it is necessary to consider the front and back of the paper defect, the insertion direction, and the like, which causes a problem that the signal processing and the algorithm become complicated. Further, in that case, there is a problem that the arithmetic processing is complicated and the processing time becomes long. The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above points, and it is a paper that can identify which denomination belongs to the identified paper with a relatively simple method and a highly reliable method. The object is to provide a bad identification device.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A paper defect identifying apparatus of the present invention comprises a conveying means for conveying a banknote to be identified on a conveying path, and a conveying means arranged on the conveying path and perpendicular to a conveying direction of the identified banknote. A first size detecting unit that optically measures the size, a carry amount of the identified banknote by the carrying unit, and an output signal of the first size detecting unit are set in parallel with the carrying direction of the identified banknote. The second dimension detecting unit for measuring the dimension in the direction, and the outputs in the first dimension detecting unit and the second dimension detecting unit determine the dimension and the conveying direction in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the bill to be identified. Calculate the ratio of dimensions in the parallel direction,
It is characterized by comprising an identifying means for identifying the bill.

[0009]

This device optically measures the dimension of the paper to be identified in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, like the conventional device. On the other hand, the dimension in the direction parallel to the carrying direction is measured from the carry amount of the paper defect. In this case, the ratio of the dimension in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper defect and the dimension in the direction parallel to the conveyance direction is obtained. The bill is identified using this result. Paper is usually
Shrinks vertically and horizontally at almost the same rate. Therefore, it is possible to accurately identify a paper defect that has been soaked in water.

[0010]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a paper defect identifying apparatus of the present invention. Paper defect 1 in the figure is conveyed in the direction of arrow 5,
It is configured to pass under the optical sensor unit 7. The paper sheet 1 is conveyed on the conveyance path 6, and several sets of rollers 8 are provided for this conveyance. The roller 8 is driven by a conveyance means 13 including a pulse motor and a control circuit for driving the pulse motor. The output of the optical sensor unit 7 is input to the first dimension detecting unit 11. Further, the output of the first dimension detecting section 11 and the output of the conveying means 13 are connected to the second dimension detecting section 12. First
The outputs of the size detecting unit 11 and the second size detecting unit 12 are both output to the identifying means 14.
The identifying means 14 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer, and outputs the dimension of the paper to be identified 1 output from the first dimension detecting section 11 in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction 5 and the second dimension detecting section 12. It is composed of a circuit for calculating the dimensional ratio in the direction parallel to the carrying direction 5 and comparing it with a reference value prepared in advance to identify the denomination of paper failure. The identification result 1
5 is used for the final authenticity verification of paper failure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the optical sensor section 7 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the optical sensor unit 7 is composed of a light emitting diode array 7-1, a CCD sensor array 7-2, and a shift register 7-3.
The light emitting diode array 7-1 is formed by arranging a large number of light emitting elements and serves as a light source for irradiating the paper defect 1. CC
The D sensor array 7-2 is composed of a photodetector element group for detecting the reflected light and the transmitted light of the paper defect 1. CCD sensor array 7-
The output of each element of No. 2 is input to the shift register 7-3. The shift register 7-3 is a circuit that serially outputs the signal read by the CCD sensor array 7-2 to the first dimension detection unit 11 shown in FIG. The signal obtained by reading the reflected light or the transmitted light of the paper defect 1 by such an optical sensor unit 7 has the content as shown by a signal 7-4 in FIG. Specifically, as described in FIG. 3, the distance between the output change points of this signal is exactly 1
The dimension is in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the arrow 5 in the conveyance direction.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another example of the above optical sensor. When measuring the dimension of the above paper defect, as shown in FIG.
Dn may be arranged so as to face the same number of light emitting diodes P1 to Pn. C shown in FIG.
According to the output signal of the CD sensor array 7-2, the dimension of the paper defect can be measured extremely accurately. However, since the types of paper defects to be identified are relatively limited, a configuration in which a large number of optical sensors are arranged at a pitch equal to or less than an allowable error dimension may be used.

Next, the output signal processing of the photosensor will be described using the model shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is an output signal waveform diagram of each optical sensor. (A) to (f) of the figure show photosensors D1, D2, D3, D4, Dn-1 and D, respectively.
The output signal of n is shown. For example, as shown in FIG.
The optical sensor D1 is arranged slightly outside the end of the conveyance path of the paper defect 1 shown in FIG. For this reason, the input signal has a high level obtained by reading the reflected light from the paper conveyance path. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6B, at the portion of the optical sensor D2 on the conveyance path of the paper defect 1, a signal that changes depending on the state of the pattern printed on the surface of the paper defect 1 is detected as a solid line. .. Thereafter, signal outputs corresponding to the image on the paper defect 1 are obtained up to the optical sensor Dn-1. The output of the optical sensor Dn shown in FIG. 6F at the end does not detect the paper defect 1 and is always kept at a high level, like the output of the optical sensor D1 shown in FIG. 6A. .. When such a signal is input to the first dimension detection unit 11 shown in FIG. 1, the following processing is performed.

FIG. 7 shows a waveform diagram after binarization of the signal of FIG. 7A to 7F are output signals of the optical sensors D1 to Dn corresponding to FIG. As shown in FIG.
The outputs of the optical sensors D1 and Dn shown in (a) and FIG. 7 (f) are always higher than the threshold level TH shown in FIG. 6, so that the high level is maintained after binarization. on the other hand,
Regarding the signals in FIGS. 7B to 7E, FIGS.
As shown in (e), as a result of sequentially reading the optical pattern of paper failure in the direction of arrow 5 shown in FIG. 1, time t1 shown in FIG.
The leading edge of the paper defect is detected at, and the trailing edge of the paper defect is detected at time t2.

That is, in FIG. 7, from time t1 to time t2.
The number of optical sensors that detect the presence of the paper defect between them corresponds to the dimension in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper to be identified. Further, the time T until the output of the optical sensor switches from the high level to the low level and then to the high level again, that is, the time T from time t1 to time t2,
It corresponds to the dimension in the direction parallel to the paper conveyance direction. The size of the banknote in the direction parallel to the carrying direction can be obtained from the carrying time T, but in the case where a pulse motor is used for carrying, it is obtained as follows.

FIG. 8 shows an operation time chart of the second dimension detecting section. FIG. 8A shows the output of the first detection unit.
For this output, the output of any optical sensor that detects a paper defect as shown in FIG. 7 is used. In this case, the high level is switched to the low level from the time t1 to the time t2. FIG. 8B shows a transport control pulse. This transport control pulse is generated by the transport means 13 shown in FIG.
3 shows pulses supplied to a pulse motor for driving the. This number is just proportional to the carry amount, and is also proportional to the carry time when the paper defect 1 is carried at a constant speed.

As shown in FIG. 8C, the second dimension detecting section 12 counts the carrier pulse from time t1 to time t2 and outputs the count value. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the second dimension detection unit 12 measures the dimension of the paper to be examined 1 in the direction parallel to the conveyance direction as K. On the other hand, in the example of FIG. 7, the first dimension detecting unit 11 measures the dimension in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper to be identified as n−2. It should be noted that the above K is multiplied by the length of the paper defect to be conveyed by one conveyance pulse to calculate the accurate size of the paper defect. Further, if the product of the number of the optical sensors and the arrangement pitch of the optical sensors is obtained, the dimension of the paper to be identified in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction can be accurately obtained. After that, the identification unit 14 shown in FIG. 1 calculates the ratio of the dimension of the paper to be identified in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction and the dimension in the direction parallel to the transport direction.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram for explaining the effect of the device of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the apparatus of the present invention determines the dimension Lx of the paper defect 1 in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction and the dimension Ly in the direction parallel to the transport direction. The ratio of Lx and Ly is constant depending on the denomination. Moreover, for example, when the paper is wet and contracts due to water, both the dimension Lx and the dimension Ly contract at substantially the same ratio as shown by the broken line in FIG. Therefore, if the ratio of the dimensions Lx1 and Ly1 after contraction is obtained, the value is almost the same as the ratio of Lx and Ly, and the contracted and deformed banknotes can be identified accurately. Generally, when paper or cloth is soaked in water and shrunk, the shrinking method differs depending on the direction. However, a special paper such as paper has a property that when it is soaked in water and shrunk, it shrinks at the same ratio in length and width.
The apparatus of the present invention utilizes such a property to accurately identify paper defects.

FIG. 10 shows another effect explanatory view of the apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, the paper defect 1 may be conveyed while being conveyed with a slight inclination with respect to the conveying direction, that is, the direction of the arrow 5. In such a case, the optical sensor unit 7 causes the paper failure 1.
The dimension Lx2 in the direction orthogonal to the carrying direction and the dimension Ly2 in the direction parallel to the carrying direction are measured. These dimensions are slightly longer than Lx and Ly, which are the actual dimensions of paper defect 1. However, there is a relationship between these dimensions as shown in the following equation. Ly2 · Cosθ = Ly (1) Lx2 · Cosθ = Lx (2)

In the above equation, θ represents the inclination angle of paper defect 1 with respect to the arrow 5 direction. With the above relationship, the ratio of Ly2 and Lx2 is equal to the ratio of Ly and Lx. That is, according to the method of the present invention, even if the paper defect is conveyed with a slight inclination, it is possible to identify the denomination using the vertical and horizontal dimension ratio of the paper defect regardless of the inclination. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The optical sensor unit used to detect the size of the paper defect is a CCD
Although an example of using a sensor array or an array of a large number of optical sensors is illustrated, if only the dimension measurement of the paper defect is performed, an optical sensor of a length that covers only the portion where both ends of the paper defect pass. Should be provided. As a result, the number of light emitting elements can be reduced as a whole, and CC
The D sensor array also has a merit that the cost is low because it is short. The structure of such a sensor is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-295906.

The arrangement pitch of the optical sensors is, for example, 1
By setting the thickness to about 0 to 100 μm, extremely accurate and highly reliable identification is possible. In the case of this modification, another optical sensor may be provided in the central portion of the paper defect in order to read the optical pattern of the paper defect. Further, when measuring the dimension of the paper in the direction parallel to the conveyance direction, accuracy can be improved by averaging all the outputs of the optical sensors of (b) to (e) shown in FIG.

[0022]

The paper defect identifying apparatus of the present invention described above is
The size of the paper in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction and the size in the direction parallel to the transport direction are measured, and the denomination is identified by taking the ratio of the two. Due to the low cost, it is possible to accurately identify paper defects that are slightly deformed due to environmental changes. As a result, it becomes possible to practically use the feature amount based on the size of the paper defect as a main determination material for identifying the paper defect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a paper defect identifying apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional paper misidentification device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of an identification unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an optical sensor.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another example of the optical sensor.

FIG. 6 is an output signal waveform diagram of each optical sensor of the present invention.

7 is a waveform diagram after binarization of the signal of FIG. 6 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an operation time chart of a second dimension detection unit.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of effects of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining another effect of the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Paper to be identified 5 Conveyance direction 6 Conveyance path 7 Optical sensor section 8 Roller 11 First dimension detecting section 12 Second dimension detecting section 13 Conveying means 14 Identifying means 15 Identification result

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. Conveying means for conveying a banknote to be identified on a conveying path, and a dimension of the banknote arranged on the conveying path, the dimension being orthogonal to the conveying direction of the identified banknote. A first dimension detecting unit, a carrying amount of the identified bill by the carrying unit, and an output signal of the first dimension detecting unit to measure a dimension of the identified bill in a direction parallel to the carrying direction. The ratio of the dimension in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the bill to be identified and the dimension in the direction parallel to the conveying direction by the outputs of the second dimension detecting unit and the first dimension detecting unit and the second dimension detecting unit. And a discriminating means for discriminating the bill, the bill discriminating device.