JPH05266313A - Paper money identifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a paper money identifier which can surely be restored from a power interruption state by detecting whether a paper money is in an identifier or not. CONSTITUTION:A held paper money detection sensor 19 issuing a signal showing that real money is held when the power of the paper money identifier 11 of a money exchanging machine 1 is restored is provided, and a control part 12 issues the return command of the paper money based on the signal. A temporary storage part 31 setting an exchange operation flag showing that exchange with the previously discharged real money is interrupted and a continuation command part 32 continuing the exchange operation of real money when the exchange operation flag is set even if an abnormal signal is issued are provided for the control part 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bill validator provided inside a money changer, a vending machine, or the like, and more particularly to a bill storage / return control mechanism when returning from a stopped state of a power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A bill validator for identifying the denomination and authenticity of inserted bills is provided inside a money changer or a vending machine. It is possible to determine whether or not a payout operation or an article sales operation can be performed.
For example, in the money changer 100 shown in FIG. 6, a bill that stores a bill identification signal that identifies the authenticity of the inserted bill and issues a bill identification signal corresponding to the identification result, for example, a genuine bill signal 110a. Based on the identification machine 101, the identification result of the banknote sent from the banknote recognition machine 101 side, and the customer's instruction, it is determined whether or not the payment operation is possible, and the operation of returning the banknote on the banknote recognition machine 101 side or And a control unit 102 that issues a prohibition signal 111a corresponding to the storing operation. Further, between the bill validator 101 and the control unit 102, when an abnormality occurs on the bill validator 101 side, the bill validator 101 can also send an abnormality signal 112a to the control unit 102. ing. Note that 113 is 24
The v-system power supply wiring 114 is a ground wire.

[0003]

However, in the conventional money changer 100, a backup mechanism such as a battery is not provided on either side of the bill validator 101 and the controller 102, so that a power failure or the like occurs. In this case, not only the operation of storing banknotes and the operation of paying out coins for exchange are interrupted, but also information corresponding to the state of the operation that was being performed at the time of the power failure is cleared.
Immediately after the inserted bill is identified as a genuine bill, and in the event of a power outage immediately before the signal indicating that the bill is the genuine bill is output, even if the money changer 100 is started up, the bill is again billed. Since the identification is not performed, there is a problem that an abnormal operation (collecting and swallowing) occurs in which the bills are stored as they are without performing the exchange operation.
On the other hand, it is practically impossible to mount a battery capable of backing up the entire operation of the money changer 100 due to space limitations.

In view of the above problems, the object of the present invention is to
When the power is restored, it is detected whether the banknote is inside the machine, and based on the detection result, the banknote is returned and stored, and it is possible to reliably recover from the power failure state without causing malfunction. It aims to realize a bill validator, a money changer, and a vending machine.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, means taken in a bill validator according to the present invention are a bill transport means capable of forward and reverse transport of inserted bills, and a bill transport means. A bill discriminating means for discriminating the authenticity of the conveyed bills, and a bill storing means for discriminating the bills by the bill discriminating means and storing the bills conveyed to a predetermined position where the signal should be sent in a storing portion. Means, an abnormal signal generating means for detecting whether or not a bill is present at the predetermined position when the power is turned on, and an abnormal signal for detecting the presence of the bill, and the abnormal signal It is to be provided with return storage control means for performing either processing of returning the banknote by reverse transport of the banknote transport means or storing by the banknote storage means in response to a command based on this.

In a money changer or a vending machine equipped with a bill validator having such a configuration, information corresponding to the progress state of the processing performed based on the result of the bill validating means of the bill validator discriminating the true bill from the power is cut off. Temporary storage means for temporarily storing even inside,
It is preferable to provide a command means for sending a command based on the abnormal signal to the bill validator based on the information stored in the temporary storage means when the power is turned on.

[0007]

In the bill validator according to the present invention having the above-mentioned means, normally, the bill correctly conveyed by the bill conveying means is identified by the bill discriminating means, and only the genuine bill is bill. It is stored in the storage section by the storage means. Here, in the case of a power failure in the state where the banknote is conveyed to the position where the genuine note signal should be sent, when the power is turned on, the abnormal signal generating means causes While detecting whether there is a bill and detecting that there is a bill and sending an abnormality signal, when this abnormality signal is input, the return storage control means has received the genuine bill signal before the power failure. Depending on whether or not the banknote is to be returned, it is instructed to either return the banknote by reverse transportation of the banknote transport means or store it by the banknote storage means. Therefore, even if a power failure occurs when the bill is present at the position where the identification signal should be sent, the bill is stored without performing the processing that should be performed based on the genuine bill signal. Does not occur.

In a money changer or a vending machine equipped with a bill validator having such a configuration, information corresponding to the progress state of the processing performed based on the result of the bill validator's discrimination with a genuine bill is temporarily stored even during a power failure. In the case where the temporary storage means to be stored and the command means for sending a command based on the abnormality signal to the bill validator based on the information stored in the temporary storage means when the power is turned on are provided. , It is possible to determine whether or not a genuine bill signal is received from the progress of processing on the side of the money changer or the vending machine, and have the bill validator perform storage or return of bills. Subsequent processing can be continued.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the bill validator of this example, and this bill validator is mounted on a money changer.

In the figure, a money changer 1 is a bill validator 11
And a control unit 12, and the control unit 12 also controls the coin exchanging operation of the money changing machine. Further, between the control circuit 10 and the control unit 12 of the bill validator 11, the authenticity of the inserted bill is identified, and a bill identification signal corresponding to the identification result,
For example, a genuine bill signal 110, a prohibition signal 111 corresponding to a bill returning operation or a bill storing operation on the bill validator 11 side,
When an abnormality occurs on the bill validator 11 side, the control unit 12
The abnormal signal 112 sent to the device can be input / output. Reference numeral 113 is a 24v power supply wiring, and 114 is a ground wire. Here, the bill validator 11 has a bill transport path 13 penetrating from the upper portion on the front surface side to the lower end portion thereof,
From the upstream side to the downstream side, a banknote guide port 14 into which a banknote is inserted, an insertion detection sensor 15 that detects that a banknote is inserted from the banknote guide port 14, a denomination of the inserted banknote, and The bill conveying means 13 discriminates authenticity from a signal from the bill discriminating sensor 16 and the bill discriminating means for transmitting the discrimination result to the control section 12 as a bill discriminating signal, and the operation of other portions so as to interlock. Timing sensor 17 for detecting the passage time of the banknotes in the above, and mechanically preventing the banknotes passing therethrough from being extracted from the outside, and preventing the banknotes from detecting the passage and outputting the genuine note signal 110. Sensor 18 and banknote transport path 1
A banknote detection sensor 19 that can detect whether or not banknotes are held at the middle position 13a of 3 is arranged. Further, the bill validator 11 guides the bills by rotating the transport belt (not shown) that constitutes one surface of the bill transport path 13 downstream from the midway position 13a of the bill transport path 13 and rotationally driving the transport belt. A transport motor 20 for transporting toward the mouth 14 side (reverse rotation) or the downstream side (forward rotation).
The banknote transport mechanism includes a and a roller (not shown), and a storage motor 21a for storing the banknotes inside the banknote storage unit 21 by reciprocating the pusher in a direction orthogonal to the banknote surface. Here, the bill transport mechanism is
Among the bills that are identified as genuine, the bills that are determined to be genuine are transported further downstream, and immediately after the rear end of the transported bill passes the arrangement position of the pull-out prevention sensor 18, the bill validator The reference numeral 11 sends the genuine bill signal 110 to the control unit 12 side. Therefore, when the inserted banknote is determined to be a genuine banknote, the power supply is interrupted immediately after the rear end of the banknote passes through the pull-out prevention sensor 18, and the power is restored thereafter, as shown in FIG. Since the edge is located between the disposition position of the pull-out prevention sensor 18 and the disposition position of the reserved banknote detection sensor 19, the banknote identification sensor 16 has identified the banknote as a genuine banknote. The ticket signal 110 is not sent to the control unit 12 side.
When the power is restored from such a state, the banknotes are stored as they are, and an abnormal operation in which currency is not exchanged occurs. Therefore, in the banknote validator 11 of the present example, the reserved banknote detection sensor 19 is provided, and the power is supplied. When it is restored, it is detected whether or not a bill is held in the middle position 13a of the bill transport path 13, and when it is detected that the bill is held, an abnormal signal 112 is sent to the control unit 12. Then, the control unit 12 can send an appropriate command signal.

On the other hand, the control unit 12 is provided with a microcomputer, and when the bill validator 11 normally inputs a genuine bill signal 110 indicating that the bill is a genuine bill, An ON level prohibition signal 111 is issued to prohibit the insertion of a new bill, and this prohibition signal 11
When 1 becomes the ON level, the bill validator 11 operates to store bills. Here, the control unit 1
When the power source is started up from the power failure state, 2 is a command to return the banknotes in the reserved state to the banknote guide opening 14 based on the abnormal signal 112 from the reserved banknote detection sensor 19 as a basic operation thereof. However, the control unit 12
Includes a temporary storage unit 31 that temporarily stores information corresponding to the progress state of currency exchange processing based on bills that are inserted before the power supply goes into a power failure state and is determined to be a genuine note, and a power supply that is turned on. When it is determined from the information stored in the temporary storage unit 31 that the currency exchanging operation for the banknotes being held is in the suspended state, even if the banknote detection sensor 19 issues the abnormal signal 112 when the banknotes are raised. , And a continuation instructing section 32 for instructing to continue the processing on the banknote from the suspended state. Here, the information corresponding to the progress state of the processing on the banknotes stored in the temporary storage unit 31 is set when the currency exchange operation is started based on the genuine banknote signal 110 sent from the banknote validator 11. The exchange operation flag that is turned off when the exchange operation is completed is used. That is, when the genuine note signal 110 is input, the control unit 12 issues a prohibition signal 111 for prohibiting the insertion of new banknotes, and then exchanges money when the exchange operation performed by the money changer body is started. The operation flag is set, and the exchange operation flag is cleared when the storing operation is completed. Therefore, the state in which the exchange operation flag is set means that the exchange operation has been interrupted midway after the genuine bill signal 110 is transmitted. On the other hand, when the exchange operation flag is cleared,
This means that the currency exchange operation for the banknotes inserted before that has been completed, and in this example, even if the reserved banknote detection sensor 19 issues the abnormal signal 112, if the currency exchange operation flag is set, The prohibition signal 111 changes from the ON level to the OFF level at a predetermined timing, and the bill is stored. On the other hand, when the exchange operation flag is cleared, the abnormality signal 112 is issued based on the output of the reserved banknote detection sensor 19, and the prohibition signal 111 is held at the ON level, and the banknote is returned. Works like. Here, even if a power failure occurs, the control unit 12 does not clear the exchange operation flag that is backed up in memory and stored in the temporary storage unit 31.

Next, each operation of the bill validator 11 and the control unit 12 of this example will be described. Before that, the bill validator 1 will be described.
1 and the timing of sending each signal from the controller 12 will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, after the genuine note signal 110 is sent out, the bill validating signal (true bill signal 110) sent from the bill validator 11 after the power supply of the bill validator 11 is turned on in the state where the bill is held.
, The waveform of the prohibition signal 111 sent from the controller 12, and the waveform of the abnormal signal 112 sent out based on the output of the reserved bill detecting sensor 19. In this example, the prohibition signal 111 sent from the control unit 12 to prohibit the insertion of a new banknote is used as a confirmation signal corresponding to whether or not the banknote can be stored.

In this figure, as shown by the solid line 41,
When the power is turned on, as indicated by the solid line 42, when the held banknote detection sensor 19 detects the holding of the banknote, the OFF level signal is transmitted for about 1 second from that time, and then the intermediate position 13a of the banknote transport path 13 is reached. Assuming that the banknotes are being held at, the abnormal signal 112 that turns ON / OFF with a pulse width of 10 ms is sent for a period T ₃ (70 ms). Further, since the bill has finished passing the installation position of the bill identifying sensor 16, the genuine bill signal 110 is at the OFF level as indicated by the solid line 43. On the other hand, on the control unit 12 side, when the power is turned on, even if the genuine note signal 110 is not input (OFF
(Even at the level), if the exchange operation flag is set, the period T from the transmission start timing of the abnormal signal 112
₂ (30 ms) later, period T ₁ (20 ms or more, 40
ms or less), the OFF level prohibition signal 111
The (confirmation signal) is sent out, and the bill validator 11 performs the bill storing operation. Here, if the prohibition signal 111 remains at the ON level after the power is restored, the period T ₁
The bills are returned after the. In the normal operation, when the bill validator 11 outputs the genuine bill signal 110, the prohibition signal 111 changes from the OFF level to the ON level, and the bill validator 11 performs the bill storing operation. Next, of the operations in the money changer 1 of this example, first, the operation of the bill validator 11 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, at step ST1, when the power supply is restored from the power failure state, the memory of the microcomputer on the side of the bill validator 11 is cleared and the initial state is set (step ST2).

Next, in step ST3, it is judged whether or not the storage section 21 is in the open state, and if the storage section 21 is in the closed state, it waits for one second (step ST).
4).

At step ST5, the reserved bill detecting sensor 1
It is determined whether or not 9 is operating, and when the reserved banknote detection sensor 19 is off, that is, when the banknote is not reserved in the midway position 13a of the banknote transport path 13, the normal operation is performed in step ST6. After confirming the operating states of the other sensors, a standby state is entered (step ST7).
Then, when the insertion detection sensor 15 detects that a bill has been inserted in step ST8, the authenticity of the bill is identified in step ST9. If the bill is a fake bill and the prohibition signal 111 is input (step ST1
0), the conveyance motor 20a is reversely driven to return the bill (step ST11). On the other hand, step ST
When the bill is identified as a genuine bill by the signal from the bill identifying sensor 16 in 9 and the prohibition signal 111 (confirmation signal) is not input from the control unit 12 (step ST1).
0), when the bill is further conveyed in the storing direction and the rear end of the bill has finished passing the installation position of the pull-out prevention sensor 18,
The genuine note signal 110 is transmitted (step ST12). Based on the genuine bill signal 110, the prohibition signal 1 from the control unit 12
When 11 is sent out, the storage motor 20b is operated to store the bill in the bill storage unit 21. Correspondingly, ten coins are required for the required coins, for example, one thousand yen bills.
The control unit 12 controls the exchange operation for paying out the 00 yen coin. In step ST8, when the bill is not inserted, the state of the insertion detection sensor 15 is checked (step ST13). When the bill is normal, the standby state is entered, while when there is an abnormality, the sensor is abnormal. And the signal (step ST14).

On the other hand, in step ST5, the reserved bill detecting sensor 19 is turned on, that is, the middle position 13 of the bill conveying path 13.
If the banknote is held in a, step ST15
The hold bill detection sensor 19 sends out the abnormal signal 112 and turns the abnormal signal 112 ON / OF with a pulse width of 10 ms.
F Here, when the control unit 12 outputs the prohibition signal 111 (confirmation signal) that prohibits the insertion of new banknotes and collects the banknotes at the time when the 10 ms pulse is generated three times. (Step ST16), as a bill collection operation, after the paper is normally fed until it is no longer detected by the reserved bill detection sensor 19, the storage motor 20b is operated to store the bill in the bill storage unit 21 (step ST17). At this time, when the prohibition signal 111 (confirmation signal) for storing the bill is not issued, the pull-out prevention sensor 18 is retracted from the bill transport path 13 by a solenoid or the like, and then the transport motor 20a is rotated in the reverse direction. Then, the bill is returned toward the bill guide port 14 (step ST18).

The control operation of the control unit 12 which issues a command signal as to whether or not a bill should be collected on the side of the bill validator 11 which performs such an operation will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

First, when the power failure state is restored in step ST21, the memory of the microcomputer on the control unit 12 side is cleared except for the exchange operation flag of the temporary storage unit 31 and set to the initial state ( Step ST22).

In this state, when the bill validator 11 sends out the genuine bill signal 110 from the bill validator 11 in step ST23, the insertion of new bills is prohibited and the bills are collected in step ST24. ON level prohibition signal 11 with power
At the same time as issuing 1, the currency exchange operation flag is first set in step ST25 to perform the currency exchange operation of the banknotes. When this operation is completed, the currency exchange operation flag is cleared and the process returns to step ST23 (normal operation). Along with this operation, bills are stored on the bill validator 11 side.

On the other hand, at step ST23, the bill validator 11
When the identification signal that the bill is a genuine bill is not sent from the first, whether or not the abnormality signal 112 based on the detection signal of the reserved bill detection sensor 19 is issued in step ST26, that is, the bill conveyance path. It is determined whether or not banknotes are being held in the middle 13a of 13. Here, when the abnormal signal 112 is not issued, the prohibition signal 111 is set to the OFF level in step ST27 to make it possible to insert a new bill.

On the other hand, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, when a power failure occurs immediately after the rear end of the bill passes the pull-out prevention sensor 18, the midway position 13 of the bill transport path 13
The rear end of the bill is located at a, and the bill holding sensor 1
9 and the abnormal signal 112 is emitted, the control unit 12 first emits the ON-level prohibition signal 111 in step ST28. Next, in step ST29, an ON / OFF pulse signal of 10 ms is detected, and when it is detected, it is determined in step ST30 whether or not the exchange operation flag is set in the temporary storage unit 31, and it is not set. In this case, the prohibition signal 111 is held at the ON level and the OFF level prohibition signal 111 (confirmation signal) is not sent out. Therefore, as described in the explanation of the timing chart shown in FIG. 1
Since 11 remains at the ON level, the bill is returned after the lapse of the period T ₁ , and the process returns to step ST23.

On the other hand, in step ST30, the temporary storage unit 31
If the exchange operation flag is set to, it means that the genuine note is held in the middle position 13a of the banknote transport path 13, and the exchange operation for the banknote is in a state of being interrupted by a power failure. In ST31, first,
The prohibition signal 111 of the OFF level is sent to perform the exchange operation, and when this operation is completed, the exchange operation flag is cleared and the process returns to step ST23. According to this, this banknote is stored. In addition, when the ON / OFF pulse of 10 ms is not emitted in step ST29, it is determined that another abnormality such as a sensor is occurring, a predetermined display is performed (step ST32), the operation is stopped, Wait for return (step ST33).

In this way, it is detected when the power is turned on that there is a bill at the position where the genuine bill signal 110 should be sent out, and whether the control unit 12 receives the genuine bill signal 110 before the power failure, and Since it is determined whether the bill should be returned or stored according to the progress of the process due to the receipt, it is possible to prevent the bill from being collected. When a bill is detected by the pull-out sensor 18 when the power is turned on, that position is not the position at which the genuine bill signal 110 should be sent, and therefore the bill is conveyed in the reverse direction regardless of the detection by the reserved bill detecting sensor 19. To return.

In the above embodiment, the exchange operation flag is stored in the temporary storage unit as the information corresponding to the genuine bill signal before the power source goes into the power failure state, but the present invention is not limited to this. The information may be information corresponding to the progress status of any process such as the product unloading operation of the vending machine as long as it is performed based on the result of identification with the ticket.

[0027]

As described above, in the bill validator according to the present invention, a bill is present at a predetermined position to which a signal corresponding to the discrimination result of the bill discriminating means should be sent when the power is turned on. Abnormal signal generation means for detecting whether or not there is a banknote, and an abnormal signal is generated when it is detected that there is a banknote, and in response to a command based on this abnormal signal, return of the banknote by the banknote transport means and It is characterized in that it is provided with return storage control means for performing any one of storage processing. Therefore, according to the present invention, even if there is a power failure in the state where there is a bill at the position where the bill identification signal should be sent, when the power is turned on, the abnormality signal generating means determines that the bill is at that position. A signal is issued, and based on this abnormality, the return storage control means causes the banknote to be returned or stored depending on whether or not the genuine note signal was received before the power failure, so that the processing to be performed based on the genuine note signal is performed. The abnormal operation that the bills are stored without being disturbed does not occur.

In a money changer or a vending machine equipped with a bill validator having such a structure, temporary storage means for temporarily storing information corresponding to the progress of processing even during a power failure, and when the power is turned on. On the basis of the information stored in the temporary storage means, if there is provided a command means for sending a command based on the abnormality signal to the bill validator, if the processing on the side of the money changer or vending machine It is possible to discriminate whether or not the genuine bill signal is received from the progress status and make the bill validator carry out the bill storing or returning process, or it is possible to continue the process after the interruption.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a money changer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where bills are held inside the bill validator shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the bill validator shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit shown in FIG.

5 is a timing chart showing the timing of sending each signal in the money changer shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional bill validator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Currency exchange machine 10 ... Control circuit 11 ... Banknote identification machine 12 ... Control part 13 ... Banknote conveyance path 16 ... Banknote identification sensor 19 ... Reserved banknote detection sensor 21 ...・ Storage unit 31 ... Temporary storage unit 32 ... Continuation command unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A bill transporting means capable of forward and backward transporting an inserted bill, a bill validating means for discriminating the authenticity of a bill forwardly transported by the bill transporting means, and the bill validating means discriminating a genuine bill. Then, the bill storing means for storing the bill conveyed to the predetermined position to which the signal should be sent in the storing portion, and detecting whether the bill is present at the predetermined position when the power is turned on. , An abnormal signal generating means for issuing an abnormal signal when it detects that there is a bill, and a return by the reverse conveyance of the bill conveying means and a storage by the bill storing means for the bill in response to a command based on the abnormality signal. And a return storage control unit that performs any one of the above processes, and a bill validator. 2. A money changer equipped with the bill validator according to claim 1, wherein information corresponding to a progress state of processing performed based on a result of discrimination by the bill validator with a genuine bill is temporarily stored even during a power failure. And a command means for sending a command based on the abnormal signal to the bill validator based on information stored in the temporary storage means when the power is turned on. Characteristic money changer. 3. An automatic vending machine equipped with the bill validator according to claim 1, wherein information corresponding to a progress state of a process performed based on a result of the bill validator discriminating the genuine bill is temporarily stored even during a power failure. And a command means for sending a command based on the abnormal signal to the bill validator based on the information stored in the temporary storage means when the power is turned on. A vending machine characterized by that.