JPH0684042A - Paper money identifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a misjudgement rate and to shorten a processing time by collating feature data with plural reference data based on the 1st reference data even when the feature data are lacking. CONSTITUTION:When a paper money is inserted, a detecting means 2 detects the feature data of plural area in the paper money and a temporary storage device 3 storage the feature data. A 1st feature data in a prescribed area out of the stored feature data are collated with normal reference data stored in a reference data storage device 4. When data inconsistent with the normal reference data are included, a 2nd feature data corresponding to the inconsistent 1st feature data are read out from the device 3 and collated with substitutive reference data stored in the device 4. The authenticity of the paper money is identified based on the collated result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bill discriminating device used in an automatic teller machine, an automatic money changer, an automatic vending machine and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional bill discriminating apparatus, while the inserted bill is being conveyed, the characteristic data of a specific area of the bill is detected by a sensor fixed on the conveying path, and the detected data and the storage unit are stored in a storage unit. The authenticity of the banknote was discriminated by comparing it with the regular reference data stored in advance. Here, as the reference data, a certain width is provided in consideration of the difference in the printing density of the banknote and the variation due to stains, and the authenticity of the banknote is determined by comparing whether or not the detection data is present within this certain width. I was doing it. The width of this reference data cannot be set wide enough because there is a risk that false banknotes due to alteration or the like will be judged as true banknotes. For this reason, it has been determined that a banknote partially missing, severely soiled, or having foreign matter attached thereto is a false banknote even though it is originally a true banknote.

In order to solve such a problem, there has been considered a bill discriminating device which once discriminates a false bill, detects characteristic data of another area again and collates it with regular reference data for discrimination. However, with this bill discriminating apparatus, the probability of erroneously determining a true bill as a false bill is reduced, but since it is necessary to repeat the process of characteristic data detection and discrimination, it takes an extra time until the discrimination is completed.

Further, there has been considered a bill discriminating apparatus which judges true bills when the coincidence rate of both data is not less than a fixed value, instead of simply comparing the detected data with reference data. However, in such a bill discriminating apparatus, it is possible to suppress the discrimination time without taking extra time and to keep the erroneous determination rate low. Inevitably, the coincidence rate of 1 has become low, and therefore the problem of erroneously determining a true bill as a false bill has not been resolved.

[0005]

As described above, conventionally, if a part of the characteristic data of a banknote is missing, even if the banknote is a true banknote, there is a high probability that the banknote is erroneously determined as a false banknote. Further, it takes extra processing time to reduce the false determination rate. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bill discriminating apparatus that has a low erroneous determination rate and a short processing time even when there is a loss in the characteristic data due to a loss of bills, severe dirt, adhesion of foreign matter, or the like.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to detecting means for detecting characteristic data in a plurality of areas on a bill, and first characteristic data which is characteristic data of a predetermined area detected by the detecting means. And a temporary storage device that temporarily stores second characteristic data that is characteristic data of an area other than the predetermined area, and regular reference data that is a discrimination reference of the first characteristic data,
And a reference data storage device that stores alternative reference data that is a discrimination reference of the second feature data, and the first feature data and the second feature data that are stored in the temporary storage device. A collating unit that collates with data stored in the device, collates the first characteristic data with the regular reference data, and if there is a non-matching one, the first characteristic data corresponds to the non-matching first characteristic data. The second characteristic data to be read is read from the temporary storage device, the second characteristic data is collated with the alternative reference data, and the bill is discriminated based on the collation result.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when a bill is inserted, the detecting means detects the characteristic data of a plurality of areas of the bill, and the characteristic data is stored in the temporary storage device. Of the characteristic data, the first characteristic data in a predetermined area is collated with the regular reference data stored in the reference data storage device. Here, if there is one that does not match the normal reference data, the second feature amount corresponding to the first feature data that does not match is read from the temporary storage device, and the second feature amount is set to the reference data storage device. Collation with alternative reference data stored in. The authenticity of the bill is discriminated based on the verification result.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal construction of the bill validator. In the figure, the detection means 2 is a device in which a large number of detectors are arranged at a desired position on a banknote transport path (not shown) at right angles to the transport direction. Along with this, the bill is scanned in a plane and the distribution of the physical quantity such as the reflected light or the transmitted light or the magnetism at each position on the bill is detected. The temporary storage device 3 temporarily stores the characteristic data of the bill detected by the detection means 2. The characteristic data stored in the temporary storage device 3 is collated with reference data described later to discriminate bills.

The reference data storage device 4 stores regular reference data serving as a reference for each banknote type and substitute reference data serving as a substitute thereof. Both of the reference data are composed of predetermined detection position data on the bill and detection level data of the detector at the predetermined position.

The comparator 5 directly takes in the characteristic amount data read by the detecting means and compares the characteristic amount data with a predetermined threshold value. The thickness detector 6 detects the thickness of the bill, and detects a change in the thickness of the bill due to the adhesion of foreign matter or the like. The banknote processing unit 7 is a mechanism part for taking in or ejecting inserted banknotes, and if the result of discrimination is a false banknote, the banknote is ejected and returned. The collation unit 1 reads the characteristic amount data of the bills obtained by the detecting means 2 into the temporary storage device 3, compares the data with the reference data stored in the reference data storage device 4, and discriminates the bills. The matching unit 1
A CPU 8 that controls the operation of the above-described bill discriminating device, a RAM 9 that stores missing position data of bill characteristic data, and the like.
And a ROM 10 for storing operation programs and the like.

Next, individual components of the bill discriminating apparatus of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows the structure of the detection means 2.
The inserted bill 20 is conveyed by the conveying path 22 and passes near the image sensor 21. Image sensor 21
Is a banknote with two detectors arranged in a line.
It is arranged orthogonal to the transport direction of 0. By reading the output of the image sensor 21 at regular time intervals as the bill 20 is conveyed by the conveying path 22, the bill 20 on the characteristic data reading track indicated by the broken lines A, B, and C in the drawing.
The distribution of the feature data of is detected.

FIG. 3 is an example of the output signal of the image sensor 21, showing the characteristic data distribution on the tracks A, B and C. The characteristic data distribution is obtained by the image sensor 21.
It is composed of a collection of output level data of each detector, which is a unit division constituting the above. This figure shows that the characteristic data is detected for each detector unit section (1) to (n). The bill is discriminated by checking whether the characteristic data at a predetermined position on the bill is within a predetermined level range stored as reference data.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the output of the image sensor 21 when a bill has a defect such as a hole or a tear. Here, it is assumed that the amount of transmitted light is detected as the characteristic data. Since light is almost completely transmitted through the defective portion of the bill, the detector output at the position D corresponding to the defective portion has a significantly higher value than that of the portion without the defect. Therefore, a value sufficiently higher than the original amount of transmitted light of the bill is set as the threshold value S, the characteristic data of the bill is compared with the threshold value S, and the position D where the characteristic data exceeds the threshold value S is detected. By doing so, the position where the bill is defective can be known.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the output of the image sensor 21 when the bill is dirty. Also here, if the amount of transmitted light is detected as the characteristic data, the amount of transmitted light at the soiled portion becomes smaller than the amount of transmitted light originally present in the bill. Since the size of the characteristic data of the bill varies depending on each position, a threshold value SS is set for each characteristic data of the characteristic detection position, and the position where the characteristic data falls below the threshold value SS is detected. By doing so, it is possible to know the dirty position DD of the bill. Although the threshold value SS is set for each of the tracks A, B, and C in this figure, the threshold value SS may be set for each detector unit section.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the construction of the thickness detector 6 for detecting the adhesion of foreign matter to bills. The thickness detector 6 includes bill conveying rollers 61 and 62, and a displacement sensor 60 that detects a positional fluctuation of the rollers. The bill 20 is nipped and conveyed by the conveyance rollers 61 and 62 arranged in the vicinity of the characteristic data detecting means 2. The support member 63 of the one conveyance roller 62 is rotatably supported by a pivot shaft 64, and is urged toward the other roller 61 by urging means (not shown). The thickness detector is arranged in the vicinity of the tip of the support member 63, detects a positional variation of the support member 63 in the banknote thickness direction, and uses this as thickness detection data. If a threshold value is also provided for the thickness detection data, and if a foreign matter is attached to the bill when the threshold value is exceeded, the foreign matter attachment position of the bill can be known.

Here, the collation based on the alternative reference data will be described. The normal reference data is a reference for the normal characteristic data of a predetermined area, and if the A track of FIG. 2 is set as the predetermined area, as shown in FIG.
Detection level data 1, 2, ..., N for each detection section
It is represented by. The substitute reference data is represented by detection level data 1 ′, 2 ′, ..., N ′ in the B track of the true bill, which corresponds to each detection section of the normal reference data. Both of these reference data are stored in the reference data storage device 4.

Therefore, in the bill discrimination, when the characteristic data of the A track (the data of "4" in this example) is lost as shown in FIG. 8 due to a partial loss of the bill, etc., as shown in FIGS. As described above, the data missing position is detected when the level of the detection output corresponding to the missing portion exceeds the threshold value, and the characteristic data corresponding to the detection section “4” in which the data missing occurs is recorded on the B track. The detected feature data is read from the detection section “4 ′” and complemented. Further, as for the normal reference data, the reference data "4" of the A track corresponding to the detection section in which the feature data is lost is replaced with the alternative reference data "4 '" of the B track, similarly to the complement of the feature data. The replaced reference data is used as reference data for collation.

Finally, the operation of the bill discriminating apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the characteristic data of the inserted bill is detected (step S1). All the detected characteristic data are stored in the temporary storage device 3.
Next, it is checked whether or not the read characteristic data is missing (step S2). If there is no missing in the characteristic data, bill discrimination is performed in step S10. If the feature data is missing, the missing position of the feature data is sequentially obtained by the detecting means shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 (step S).
3, S6 and S8). When the missing position is the characteristic position of the regular reference data and the characteristic data serving as the discrimination reference of the banknote is missing, the alternative data is read to determine whether the characteristic data of the alternative position is missing ( Steps S4, S7 and S9). If there is characteristic data of the alternative position, the alternative data is adopted (step S5), and bill discrimination is performed based on the alternative data (step S10).

In the explanation of the flowchart of FIG. 9, the missing position of the characteristic data is detected in steps S3, S6 and S8, but the order of the three steps may be arbitrary, and the three steps may be performed in parallel. You may carry out. Further, the detection of the feature data missing position is performed in step 1
It may be performed at the same time as the detection of the feature data. Further, the detection of the characteristic data missing position may be configured by a comparator having a set threshold value, or may be compared by software with the threshold value data.

In this flow, the bill is discriminated after determining whether or not the feature data is missing. Instead of this, the bill is discriminated (step S10) immediately after the feature data is detected (step S1). Alternatively, the result of discrimination from the fake bill may be received and the result may be collated with the alternative feature.

Further, the alternative reference data used for the collation is not limited to the data of the B track as shown in FIG. 8, and a plurality of alternative reference data may be provided. By sequentially collating the plurality of alternative data with the characteristic data, it becomes possible to discriminate with high accuracy even a banknote having a large amount of missing data.

In this manner, by collating the alternative characteristic data of the bill with the alternative reference data, it is possible to reliably discriminate even a bill lacking the proper characteristic data.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if there is a loss in the characteristic data due to a loss of banknotes, heavy dirt, adherence of foreign matter, etc., it is possible to collate a plurality of reference data based on one detection data. It is possible to perform reliable banknote discrimination with a low rate of misidentifying a banknote as a false banknote in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of a bill validator.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a detection means

FIG. 3 is a feature data output signal of a bill by the detection means.

FIG. 4 is a detection unit output signal when a bill has a defect such as a hole or a tear.

FIG. 5: Output signal of detection means when bill is dirty

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a thickness detector

FIG. 7: Normal reference data and alternative reference data

FIG. 8: Data complementation with alternative feature data

FIG. 9 is an operation flowchart of the bill validator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Collation unit 2 Detection means 3 Temporary storage device 4 Reference data storage device 5 Comparator 6 Thickness detectors A, B, C Characteristic data detection track D, DD Data missing portion S, SS Threshold value

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A detection means for detecting characteristic data in a plurality of areas on a banknote, a first characteristic data which is characteristic data of a predetermined area detected by the detection means, and an area other than the predetermined area. A temporary storage device that temporarily stores second characteristic data that is characteristic data, normal reference data that is a discrimination criterion of the first characteristic data, and alternative reference data that is a discrimination criterion of the second characteristic data are stored. Reference data storage device, and the first data stored in the temporary storage device.
And a second collation unit that collates the second characteristic data with the data stored in the reference data storage device, and collates the first characteristic data with the normal reference data,
If the non-matching ones are included, the second feature data corresponding to the non-matching first feature data is read from the temporary storage device, the second feature data is collated with the alternative reference data, A bill discriminating apparatus which discriminates the bills based on a collation result. 2. The output of the detecting means is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and when the first characteristic data includes one exceeding the threshold value, the first characteristic data corresponding to the first characteristic data is detected. The bill discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic data of No. 2 is collated with the substitute reference data. 3. A thickness detector for detecting the thickness of a bill, the thickness of a detection position of the first characteristic data is detected based on a preset reference thickness, and the first characteristic is detected. The second characteristic data corresponding to the first characteristic data is collated with the alternative reference data when there is a portion that does not match the reference thickness in the detection area of the data. Alternatively, the bill discriminating apparatus according to claim 2. 4. When a plurality of the alternative reference data are provided and the first characteristic data is not matched by collating with the regular reference data, the first characteristic data corresponding to the non-matching first characteristic data is included. The bill discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the characteristic data of No. 2 is read out from the temporary storage device and sequentially collated with the plurality of alternative reference data.