JPH0782558B2 - Coin identification method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a coin discriminating method in a coin counting processor or the like, and in particular, absorbs variations in accuracy of parts such as a coin discriminating sensor unit and accuracy of assembly and mounting, The present invention relates to a new improvement for highly accurate coin discrimination.

b. Conventional technology As for the coin discriminating method in the coin counting machine and the like, various technologies have been proposed in the past, and although not mentioned here as a document, the configuration commonly present in all the technologies is as follows. A large number of optical, magnetic, and static coin discriminating sensor units are used in the passage for transporting coins, and the measurement data from these coin discriminating sensor units and the memory determined in advance for each denomination are stored in a memory. The denomination and authenticity of the coin are verified by comparing the measured data from the coin discriminating sensor unit with the measured data within the range of the measured data as a reference of the memory.

Further, as the memory of the measurement data used in the above-mentioned comparison processing, PROM is mainly adopted, and the measurement data regarding the characteristics such as the size of coins by denomination, the material and the presence or absence of reflection are manually handed each time, I had input memorized.

c. Problems to be Solved by the Invention Since the discrimination method in the conventional coin discriminating apparatus has been performed as described above, it has various problems as follows.

(1) The coin discriminating sensor unit provided in the coin transporting path requires extremely high-precision parts capable of detecting a size difference of about 0.1 mm, resulting in variations in accuracy and cost.

(2) Even if the accuracy of each of the above-mentioned parts is achieved, the accuracy itself is deteriorated if the accuracy in mounting and assembling is poor.

(3) Therefore, each part becomes extremely expensive, and it takes time for assembling work, and it takes time and cost for adjustment after shipping and after-sales service.

(4) Since the work of writing data to the PROM is required, a large amount of time and labor is lost, and it is necessary to rewrite the data each time the measurement content changes, so workability (productivity) is improved. It was extremely low.

(5) Since the PROM is only read-only, the usage range in the memory area is fixed, and the range is limited when a change is required, which is inconvenient to use.

(6) When PROM is used, the judgment range of each device is limited by the common data, so the adjustment value must always be within that range, and it applies to all devices. It was difficult. Further, if this is forced to be applied, precise adjustment of the mechanism, strict selection of sensor parts, and accurate adjustment of the sensor circuit are required.

The present invention provides a coin discriminating method capable of promptly solving the above problems, absorbing variations in precision of parts such as a coin discriminating sensor unit and accuracy of assembly and mounting, and performing highly precise coin discrimination. With the goal.

d. Means for Solving Problems A coin discriminating method according to the present invention is a coin discriminating apparatus having a coin discriminating sensor unit for discriminating the size, material, etc. of coins conveyed continuously or intermittently and a coin discriminating control unit. In the creation mode, the coin discrimination control unit stores in advance a basic equation relating to a program describing a procedure for obtaining a determination table, and the coin discrimination sensor unit stores in advance a specific hard content in which the denomination is clear. Based on this data, the coin discrimination control unit determines the state of the coin discrimination sensor unit in the initial state of the device prior to the data collection with a predetermined coin based on this data, and when the determination result is within the allowable value, the operation described above is performed. Then, the coin discrimination sensor unit is made to read a predetermined coin whose denomination is clear in advance, and based on this data, the coin discrimination control unit uses the basic equation to calculate When a discrimination table is dynamically created and the determination result is not within the allowable value, it is determined that the coin discrimination sensor unit is defective, and the display of the defect is displayed on the display unit. This is a method of comparing the data of the coins to be discriminated read by the unit with the contents of the discrimination table in the coin discrimination control unit to discriminate the denomination and authenticity of the coins to be discriminated.

e. Action In the coin discriminating method according to the present invention, before actually supplying coins of mixed denominations to the coin supplying unit to discriminate the coins, first, verification of accuracy and attachment accuracy of the coin discriminating sensor unit and the like in the apparatus is performed. In order to perform the above, in the initial stage of the creation mode, the measurement data of an appropriate coin is compared with the basic data in the ROM to verify whether it is within the allowable value.

If it is within the allowable value, coins of each denomination are transported, the measured data is compared with the basic data, and the discrimination table for each denomination is stored in RAM, so that ordinary coin discrimination can be performed. Preparation is complete.

Therefore, even if the accuracy of each part such as the coin discrimination sensor part varies, it can be verified for each device and verified with a permissible value with a considerable width. It is not necessary to request high precision, and high-precision determination processing can be performed.

f. Examples Hereinafter, preferred examples of the coin discriminating method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 are for explaining a coin discriminating method according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a coin discriminating apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a discriminating process. Is.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a coin discriminating sensor unit as means for detecting various characteristics such as size, material and reflection of a coin passing through a coin transporting path (not shown) in a coin counting processor or the like. Is an A / D converter for converting various characteristics of curing detected by the coin discrimination sensor unit 1 into a signal format suitable for digital processing, and 3 is the A / D converter 2
By inputting the digital signal obtained by the above, various processing is performed, and a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as CPU) as a coin discrimination control unit for comparing the measurement data from each coin and the basic data, 4 Is a random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) with a power failure protection function that stores data related to the correction value and has a backup battery 4a.
5 is a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM) for storing basic data relating to a program and a sensor, which describes a series of procedures for obtaining a discrimination table described later, and basic equations, and 6 is the discrimination table. In order to obtain the coins, the operator indicates the coins to be conveyed, and the display for displaying the state, and the operation switch 7 for giving an instruction to execute the function of collecting the data for creating the discrimination table. , 8 are bus lines to which the above-mentioned components are connected.

The coin discriminating method according to the present invention is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below.

First, a discrimination table creation mode (hereinafter referred to as a creation mode) for creating the above-mentioned discrimination table will be described prior to the coin discrimination operation.

Here, as the first operation, the creation mode is selected by the operation switch 7 (first step).

Next, when the mode setting is completed, as the first state, in order to determine the initial state of the apparatus itself, first, the ROM 5 issues an instruction to convey a specific coin, for example, an instruction to convey 10 10-yen coins. The instruction signal is input to the display 6 via the bus line 8 and the instruction content is displayed (second step).

The operator inserts ten 10-yen coins into a coin supply unit (not shown) according to the above-mentioned instruction, and collects data on unique conditions regarding the coin size, material, reflection, etc. of these 10-yen coins ( (3rd step).

When the ten 10-yen coins are conveyed and pass through the coin discrimination sensor unit 1 such as an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor, the coin discrimination sensor unit 1 detects data relating to conditions unique to these coins as measurement data. .

The output signal relating to the measurement data is input to the A / D converter 2 and converted into a digital signal.
Is output to the CPU 3 via the bus line 8.

In the CPU3, the measurement data is compared with the basic data (data read from the ROM5) about the 10-yen coin stored in advance, and the rough adjustment of various sensors such as the optical sensor and the magnetic sensor is appropriate. It is determined whether or not the coin is conveyed in a good condition, etc. in the initial state of the apparatus prior to data collection (fourth step).

In the above determination, if any of the measurement items in the measurement data is outside the allowable range of the basic data, it is determined to be defective, and the output signal associated with the determination is displayed on the display 6 via the bus line 8. Input is made and a defect is displayed (fifth step). If the above-mentioned determination result is within the allowable range, a coin transportation instruction is displayed as the second state regarding the data collection for creating the determination table (the sixth state).
Step).

The operator then follows the instructions, for example, first 1
Eight yen coins are inserted into the coin supply unit to collect data on 1 yen coins (7th step). Therefore, when these eight 1-yen coins are conveyed and pass through the coin discrimination sensor unit 1, the coin size, material, reflection, etc. for each coin are detected as measurement data. The output signal relating to this measurement data is input to the CPU 3 via the A / D converter 2 in the same manner as described above, and in this CPU 3, the above-mentioned measurement data and the basic data relating to the previously stored 1-yen coin (from ROM 5 It is determined whether or not the variation of each measurement item in this measurement data is within a predetermined range of the variation (dispersion value) included in the basic data (eighth step).

In the above determination, if any of the measurement items of the measurement data is outside the predetermined range of the basic data, it is determined to be defective, and the output signal of this determination result is displayed on the display 6 via the bus line 8 ( 9th step).

Further, in the above determination, if the measurement data is determined to be within the predetermined range of the basic data, in the CPU3,
This measurement data is arithmetically processed in relation to the basic data, and 1
Correction data for each sensor for yen coins, that is,
Deviations from the standard values for coin size, material, reflection, etc. contained in the basic data, and the allowable range etc. are calculated based on the basic equations, and these calculated data (hereinafter referred to as the discrimination table) are calculated on the bus line. It is stored in RAM4 via 8 (10th step).

Next, after reading the stored data in the RAM4 into the CPU3 and performing a parity check or the like to calculate data for verification,
It is stored again in RAM4 (11th step).

Through the above process, the creation of the discrimination table for 1-yen coins is completed, and the display 6 displays the next coin (for example, 5 coins).
A display for collecting data for (yen) is displayed, and a discrimination table for 5 yen coins is obtained by going through the same process as described above.

Thereafter, for coins of other denominations, instructions for data collection are sequentially issued, and the discrimination table is created in the same process as described above.

Next, a coin discriminating mode for performing ordinary coin discriminating and counting will be described by using the discrimination table for each coin of each denomination obtained through the above process.

First, the coin discriminating mode is selected by the operation switch 7. When this coin discrimination mode is selected, it is verified whether or not the contents of the discrimination table for each denomination described above are correct before performing the coin discrimination and counting operation (twelfth step).

That is, the discrimination table read from the RAM4 is verified by the CPU3, and if the result of the verification reveals that there is an error in the discrimination table, it is determined to be a RAM error, and the contents of the output signal accompanying the determination are It is displayed at 6 (step 13). On the other hand, if it is found in the above determination that the contents of the discrimination table are correct, it is considered that the coin discrimination mode has been officially set (the
14 steps).

Next, based on the setting of the coin discrimination mode, when the operator inserts a mixed coin of a plurality of denominations into the coin supply unit, the inserted mixed coin is
Various characteristics relating to coin size, material, reflection, etc. are detected as measurement data in the order of conveyance.

The output data from the coin discriminating sensor unit 1 is input to the A / D converter 2 and becomes a digital signal, which is input to the CPU 3 via the bus line 8.

In the CPU 3, the measurement data is compared with the content of the discrimination table stored in the RAM 4, that is, the data such as the correction data and the allowable range, and the processing such as the authenticity determination and the denomination determination is performed.

Further, when the discrimination table display mode is selected by the operation switch 7 with respect to the coin discrimination mode described above, the table contents for each denomination stored in the RAM 4 are successively displayed for each operation of the switch 7. Is displayed on the display 6, and the contents of the discrimination table can be checked.

g. Effect of the invention Since the effect determination method according to the present invention has the above-described configuration and operation, a predetermined coin is transported and compared with basic data before collecting data for coin determination. By doing so, it is possible to verify the state of variations in each part of the device, and because the discrimination table can be stored in RAM, it is not necessary to adapt all devices to be measured by software as in the conventional case. It is possible to obtain a discriminating means that uses the content according to the variation of each device as a criterion, and it is possible to greatly relax the precision of each component and the precision of assembly.

In addition, since RAM is used as the memory means, data can be written and read freely, and workability (productivity) is greatly improved.

Further, since the allowable value of each device can be compared with the basic data before the determination table is created, the verification after the assembling of the device becomes extremely easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings are for explaining a coin discriminating method according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a coin discriminating apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a discriminating process. 1 is a coin discrimination sensor unit, 2 is an A / D converter, 3 is a CPU, 4 is
RAM, 4a is a battery, 5 is a ROM, 6 is a display, 7 is an operation switch, and 8 is a bus line.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page Examiner Kenichi Awazu (56) References JP-A-53-75998 (JP, A) JP-A-55-57987 (JP, A) JP-A-58-18160 (JP, A) Special Public Sho 61-8477 (JP, B2) Actual Public Sho 57-3094 (JP, Y2)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A coin discriminating apparatus having a coin discriminating sensor section for discriminating the size, material, etc. of coins conveyed continuously or intermittently, and a coin discriminating control section in advance in the creating mode. Stores a basic equation relating to a program describing a procedure for obtaining a determination table, causes the coin discrimination sensor unit to read the contents of a specific coin whose denomination is clear in advance, and based on this data, a coin discrimination control unit. In the state of the coin discrimination sensor unit is determined in the initial state of the device prior to the data collection by a predetermined coin, if the determination result is within the allowable value, following the operation, the coin discrimination sensor unit of the denomination in advance. Based on this data, the coin discrimination control unit automatically creates a discrimination table using the basic equation based on this data, and the discrimination result is If it is not within the acceptable value, it is determined that the coin discriminating sensor unit is defective and the display indicates that the coin is defective.In the coin discriminating mode, the coin data to be discriminated read by the coin discriminating sensor unit is displayed. A coin discriminating method characterized by performing a comparison process with the contents of a discrimination table in the coin discrimination control unit to discriminate the denomination and authenticity of the coin to be discriminated. 2. The discrimination table includes correction data obtained by correcting a standard value of the basic data of the coin stored in advance, and an allowable range based on the basic equation. The coin discriminating method according to item 1.