JPH0785334A - Coin reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily execute the synchronization, to eliminate judgement errors and to miniaturize a coin reader by simultaneously discriminating the outer diameter and the pattern of a coin. CONSTITUTION:The coin reader rolls/transports the charged coin 2 in an inclined passage, reads the outer diameter and the pattern of the coin during transportation and discriminates denominations. Outer diameter discrimination means 8 and 7 reading the outer diameter of the coin and a pattern discrimination means 6 reading the pattern of the coin are provided so that they face each other across the inclined passage. Thus, the outer diameter and the pattern can simultaneously be discriminated, and the length of the inclined passage is shortened. The light-receiving element 7 of the pattern discrimination means 6 is shared with that for outer diameter discrimination.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coin reading device incorporated in various automatic transaction machines that handle coins.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional general coin discrimination, the outer diameter of the coin and the material of the coin are detected to discriminate the denomination.
If the outer diameter and the material of the yen coin are similar to those of foreign coins such as 20 fonts, 20 escords, and 1 cats, a discrimination error occurs.

As a means for solving this, an actual Kaihei 4-2 is used.
There is a coin reading device as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 76689. This coin reading device includes an outer diameter discriminating means for discriminating the outer diameter of a coin and a pattern for reading the surface of one of the coins along the lengthwise direction of an inclined passage for rolling and conveying the inserted coin. And a determining means.

That is, first, after the coin is discriminated by the outer diameter discriminating means, it is discriminated whether or not the pattern read by the pattern discriminating means coincides with the pattern stored in advance as the coin discriminated by the outer diameter discriminating means. .

[0005]

Therefore, for example, 5
You can make accurate judgments even with coins with similar outer diameters and materials, such as 00 yen coins and foreign coins such as 20 fonts, 20 escudo, 1 cat, etc. Since they are arranged separately along the direction,
There is a drawback that the device becomes large.

Further, since the coins are continuously inserted into the inclined passage and the succeeding coins pass through the outer diameter discriminating means, the preceding coins still pass through the pattern discriminating portion. It can happen that it is in transit. In such a case, since the read data for the next coin is input before the determination result of the pattern determining means is compared with the stored data, the outer diameter data of the preceding coin and the pattern data cannot be synchronized, Even if it is a legitimate coin, there is an inconvenience that it will be returned due to a judgment error.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin reading apparatus which can be downsized and at the same time can determine not only the outer diameter but also the pattern to improve the performance.

[0008]

Means for solving the above problems will be described. In the structure of the first invention, the inserted coins are roll-conveyed in an inclined passage, and coins are transferred during the conveyance. A coin reading device for reading an outer diameter and a pattern to discriminate a denomination, wherein an outer diameter discriminating means for reading the outer diameter of a coin across the inclined passage and a pattern discriminating means for reading the coin pattern are paired. It is a coin reading device provided.

The structure of the second invention is, in addition to the structure of the above-mentioned first invention, a coin reading device which shares the light receiving element of the outer diameter determining means and the light receiving element of the pattern determining means. And

[0010]

That is, according to the configurations of the first and second aspects of the invention, the coins that are thrown in and roll-conveyed in the inclined passage and the outer diameter discriminating means opposite to each other through the inclined passage are patterned. By the discriminating means, reading can be executed for each item at the same time.

[0011]

As a result of the above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the two means for determining the outer diameter and the means for determining the pattern are disposed opposite to each other with the inclined passage interposed therebetween, the length of the inclined passage is one means. Therefore, the size of the device can be reduced as compared with the conventional one. In addition, since the outer diameter and pattern of coins can be read at the same time, even when coins are continuously inserted at short intervals, it is possible to easily correlate two discrimination results for one coin and make an accurate denomination determination. Can be issued reliably.

Furthermore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the light receiving element for both the outer diameter discrimination and the pattern discrimination is shared, the number of parts can be reduced and the installation space can be reduced, and the cost can be suppressed. Is possible.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a coin reading device 1. This coin reading device 1 is provided with an inclined passage 3 for rolling and transferring the inserted coin 2, and the outer diameter and the pattern of the coin 2 are discriminated in the inclined passage 3. A discrimination unit 5 having a discrimination sensor 4 ... Is provided.

The inclined passage 3 described above is a standing position on which various coins 2 of different sizes such as 1-yen coin, 5-yen coin, 10-yen coin, 50-yen coin, 100-yen coin and 500-yen coin can be rolled. The coin 2 can be conveyed in a posture, and is inclined at an angle suitable for taking in each coin 2 at a constant speed. The coins 2 rolled in the inclined passage 3 are sequentially guided one by one to an inner coin processing unit (not shown) communicating with the coins 2.

The above-mentioned discriminating section 5 is constructed by arranging a large number of discriminating sensors 4 ... Composed of two light emitting elements and one light receiving element in a straight line along the height direction of the inclined passage 3. . Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the discrimination sensors 4 ...
An outer diameter determining light emitting element 8 for irradiating the light receiving element 7 of the pattern determining determination sensor 6 is disposed so as to face each other.

The discrimination sensor 6 for pattern discrimination described above is formed by the light receiving element 7 and the light emitting element 9, and the optical axis 10 emitted from the light emitting element 9 is edge-processed by the optical waveguide 11 and reflected by the coin 2. Bending so as to face the intersection with the optical axis 12, the reflected optical axis 12 reflected by the coin 2 is captured by the light receiving element 7 via the lens 13, and the light receiving element 7 electrically outputs the pattern of the coin 2. The pattern 14 is read (see (b) in FIG. 4).

The discrimination sensor for discriminating the outer diameter is formed by the light receiving element 7 and the light emitting element 8, and the light emitting element 8 is used.
Irradiates the above-mentioned light-receiving element 7 with the emitted optical axis 15 through the lens 13 of the above-described pattern-determination determination sensor 6, and the light-receiving element 7 that receives the illumination electrically changes the outer diameter of the coin 2. The output pattern 16 is read (see (a) in FIG. 4).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control circuit of the coin reading device, in which the CPU 17 drives and controls the discrimination sensors 4 ... In accordance with a program stored in the ROM 18, and RA
M19 stores necessary data such as the outer diameters and patterns of various coins 2 and reads them out as appropriate.

The processing operation of the coin reading device 1 thus constructed will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
When the coin 2 is inserted and rolled in the inclined passage 3 and guided to the position of the discrimination sensor 4 ... Of the discrimination unit 5, the CPU 17 reads the output of the discrimination sensor group 4 ... And based on this output, FIG.
(A) Outer diameter output pattern 16 of coin 2 and RAM
The outer diameter reference pattern stored in 19 is compared, and denomination discrimination based on the outer diameter is executed (steps n1 to n7). If there is no corresponding denomination by the above-mentioned denomination determination based on the outer diameter, it is determined as a counterfeit coin (step n32).

When the denomination is determined by the above-mentioned outer diameter discrimination, the output of the discrimination sensor group 4 ... Is switched at high speed, and the pattern pattern of the coin 2 shown in FIG.
The denomination discrimination based on the pattern is executed by comparing with the pattern reference pattern stored in 19. That is, the pattern pattern of the coin 2 is read (steps n8 to n13), and the RAM is further read.
The pattern reference pattern of each denomination is extracted from 19 and set (steps n14 to n19), and the read pattern pattern and the pattern reference pattern are compared and collated to determine which denomination is relevant (steps n20 to n25). .

When the applicable denomination is confirmed by the above judgment, a flag of the denomination is set (steps n26 to n3).
1) If there is no corresponding denomination, it is determined as a counterfeit coin (step n32).

As described above, with respect to the coin 2 which is thrown in and rolled and conveyed in the inclined passage 3, the discrimination between the outer diameter and the pattern is simultaneously performed by the large number of discrimination sensors 4 provided in the discrimination unit 5. it can. Therefore, the outer diameter data and the pattern data of the coin 2 can be reliably synchronized, and even when the coin 2 is continuously inserted, the two determination results can be easily collated to ensure the accurate determination result. Can be sent to

Further, since the two means 6 and 8 for discriminating the outer diameter and the pattern of the coin 2 are arranged opposite to each other with the inclined passage 3 in between, the length of the inclined passage 3 is shortened by one means. it can. Therefore, the size of the device can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

Furthermore, since the light receiving element 7 is shared between the two means, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be suppressed.

Since the optical axis 10 irradiated from the light emitting element 9 is bent by using the optical waveguide 11 which has been subjected to the edge treatment,
The light emitting element 9 can be placed close to the light receiving element 7 to make the whole compact.

In the correspondence between the structure of the present invention and the above-mentioned embodiment, the outer diameter discriminating means of the present invention is the outer diameter discriminating light emitting element 8 and the pattern discriminating sensor 6 of the light receiving element 7 of the embodiment.
Similarly, the pattern discriminating means corresponds to the pattern discriminating sensor 6, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

For example, the discrimination sensors 4 for discriminating the outer diameter of the coin 2 and discriminating the pattern may be arranged in a plane having a predetermined area as shown in FIG.

Further, the shared light receiving element may be the element for discriminating the outer diameter.

Further, the outer diameter discrimination and the pattern discrimination may be performed simultaneously instead of separately switching the outputs of the discrimination sensor 4 at high speed as described in the previous embodiment. In this case, as the output of the discrimination sensor 4, as shown in FIG. 7, an outer diameter output and a pattern output are obtained at the same time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a coin reading device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a coin reading structure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control circuit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a coin reading operation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is another output waveform diagram of the discrimination sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Coin reading device 2 ... Coin 3 ... Inclined path 6 ... Pattern determination discrimination sensor 7 ... Light receiving element 8 ... Outer diameter discrimination light emitting element

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A coin reading device for rolling an inserted coin into an inclined passage, reading the outer diameter and pattern of the coin during the conveyance, and discriminating the denomination, wherein the inclined passage is sandwiched. A coin reading device in which an outer diameter discriminating means for reading the outer diameter of the coin and a pattern discriminating means for reading the pattern of the coin are arranged to face each other. 2. The coin reading device according to claim 1, wherein the light receiving element of the outer diameter discriminating means and the light receiving element of the pattern discriminating means are shared.