JPH0944641A - Image recognizing device and coin discriminator using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the generation of read error by separating image signals from ruggedness on the outer diameter and pattern of a coin and respectively identifying whether those image signals are coincident with the ruggedness on the outer diameter and pattern of coin prepared in a memory or not. SOLUTION: A coin 1 is placed on a glass board 2 with its pattern section 1a downward, a green LED 3 and a red LED 4 are arranged under this glass board, and pattern sections 1a and 1b of the coin 1 are irradiated with inspection light. On the other hand, a CCD camera 5 is arranged facing upward and receives the reflected light of inspection light based on the LED 3 and 4. The output signal from the CCD camera 5 is inputted to an image signal recognizing means 6, signals 11 and 12 are inputted to a comparator circuit 8, the comparative data on the outer diameter information and picture pattern information of the coin previously prepared in a memory 9 (ROM) are inputted to the comparator circuit 8 and these comtarative data are first compared with the outer diameter image signal 11 so that the denomination of coin can be discriminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recognition device for illuminating an object such as a coin with a light beam and receiving reflected light by a light receiving element to recognize an image, and a coin discriminating device using the image recognition device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of image recognition apparatus,
There is known a device that recognizes a subject based on an image signal obtained by irradiating a coin or the like, which is a subject, with a light beam emitted from a light source and receiving the reflected light by a light receiving element. In this image recognition device, the entire subject is illuminated at a predetermined angle of incidence (usually 0 ° to 45 ° with respect to the normal) with respect to the subject so that the outer diameter portion of the subject is mainly recognized. The object to be illuminated (bright field illumination system) or the subject is mainly uneven at an incident angle of a predetermined angle (usually 70 ° to 80 ° with respect to the normal line) to the subject, which is different from the bright field illumination system. It has been proposed in the past to illuminate a pattern part and illuminate it so as to mainly recognize irregularities of the pattern part of a subject (dark field illumination system).

[0003]

However, in the conventional image recognition apparatus, since the light source is composed of one type of monochromatic light and the light source irradiates the light source at one type of incident angle, the following problems occur. . For example, when the light source employs the dark field illumination method described above, the light source has a predetermined angle (for example, 70 ° to 80 ° with respect to the normal line) to the subject.
Since it is illuminated with the angle), the reflected light diffusely reflected by the unevenness of the pattern part can be received, but the reflected light of the entire plane cannot be received by the light receiving element provided at the position facing the object, and the uneven pattern of the object becomes clear. Although it can be obtained, the entire image of the subject, especially the outer diameter, becomes unclear.

Further, when the light source adopts a bright field illumination system, the object is illuminated at a predetermined angle (usually 0 ° to 45 ° with respect to the normal line), so that the entire plane is reflected. The light is received by the light receiving element, but the uneven portion of the pattern is also received similarly to the plane portion, and the entire image of the subject, especially the outer diameter can be obtained clearly, but the unevenness of the pattern of the subject becomes unclear.

From the above, in the conventional device, it is impossible to clearly illuminate both the outer diameter shape of the subject and the unevenness of the pattern, which is information necessary for image recognition of a coin, etc. Also, it is difficult to surely recognize the image signals of both the unevenness of the pattern and the reading error may occur.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In view of the above problems,
In the first means of the present invention, in an image recognition device for recognizing an image of the subject based on an image signal obtained by irradiating a subject with a light beam emitted from a light source and causing a light receiving element to receive the reflected light thereof, A first light emitting source that illuminates an inspection light of a predetermined color so as to detect at least an outer diameter portion of the subject to configure bright field illumination, and an inspection light from the first light emitting source that has a different color A second light-emitting source that irradiates inspection light so as to detect at least uneven portions of a pattern portion of the subject to configure dark-field illumination, and the subject is emitted from the first light-emitting source and the second light-emitting source. A color light receiving element for receiving the reflected light reflected by the light emitting element and outputting an image signal, and an outer diameter image signal by the first light emitting source and a pattern unevenness image signal by the second light emitting source obtained by this color light receiving element. Subject based It has a configuration having a recognizing means.

Further, in the second means of the present invention, in addition to the first means, the second light source emits the diffused reflected light from the uneven portion among the reflected light from the flat portion of the subject and the diffuse reflected light from the uneven portion. Is arranged with a predetermined incident angle so that the light is mainly received by the light receiving element, and of the reflected light from the flat surface portion of the subject and the diffused reflected light from the uneven portion, the reflected light mainly from the flat surface portion is The light receiving element is arranged with an incident angle smaller than the incident angle of the second light emitting source so as to be received by the light receiving element.

According to the image recognizing device in the first means and the second means, the light emitting sources which mainly irradiate the irregularities of the outer diameter portion and the pattern portion are provided in different colors, and the light emitting sources from these light emitting sources are provided. Since the light beam is emitted to the subject at different angles and the image signals of different colors are separately recognized, both the outer diameter of the subject and the unevenness of the pattern can be obtained as a clear image signal. The occurrence of read errors is greatly reduced.

Further, in the third means of the present invention, in addition to the first means, the second light emitting source is constituted by a red LED.

According to the image processing device in the third means, since the second light emitting source of the image recognition device in the first means is constituted by the red LED having a high light intensity, it is difficult to recognize it like a design. The image signal is captured and the image processing is performed more reliably.

Further, in the fourth means of the present invention, in addition to the second means, the first light emitting source is constituted by a green LED.

According to the image processing device in the fourth means, the first light emitting source of the image recognition device of the second means is a green LED composed of a color different from the red color of the second light emitting source.
With this configuration, the image signals from the first and second light emitting sources can be easily and clearly discriminated, and in addition to the design, the image signal of the outer diameter can be captured and the image processing can be performed more reliably.

The fifth means of the present invention is configured to discriminate a coin by using the image recognition device of the first means.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes a coin as a subject, and this coin 1 is placed on a glass substrate 2 which is a sample table with the symbol portion 1a facing downward. Below the glass substrate 2, there are arranged a green LED 3 which is a first light emitting source which constitutes a bright field illumination and a red LED 4 which is a second light emitting source which constitutes a dark field illumination.
The inspection lights from the ED 3 and the red LED 4 are simultaneously emitted so as to pass through the glass substrate 2, and the symbol portion 1 of the coin 1
The inspection light is radiated to a and the outer diameter portion 1b.

The green LEDs 3, 3, ... Are arranged so that the incident angle is 0 ° to 45 ° over the entire coin 1, and a plurality of annular LEDs are arranged immediately below the edge of the coin 1. That is, in the green LEDs 3, 3, ... Of the reflected light from the flat surface of the coin 1 which is the subject and the diffused reflected light from the uneven portion, the reflected light from the flat surface is mainly received by the light receiving element described later. It is arranged at an angle smaller than the incident angle of the light rays from the red LEDs 4, 4, ... Specifically, the green LED 3,
The inspection light from 3, ...
It is arranged to be illuminated at an incident angle of °. The inspection light from each of the green LEDs 3, 3, ... Is reflected mainly by the entire portion including the outer diameter portion 1b of the coin 1, and the brightness projection (photoelectric conversion value) of the reflected light is used to detect the coin 1. The center position is detected, and the outer diameter of the coin 1 is detected based on this center position information.

However, since the unevenness of the design of the coin 1 is unclear only with the above configuration, the red LED 4 for arranging the design information is arranged at the same time. This red LED 4 is
Of the reflected light from the flat surface portion of the coin 1 which is the subject and the diffused reflected light from the concave-convex portion, the diffused reflected light from the concave-convex portion is arranged with a predetermined incident angle so that it is mainly received by the light receiving element described later. Specifically, red LED4,
The inspection light from 4, ... illuminates the symbol portion 1a of the coin 1 from the lower side at an incident angle of about 70 to 80 ° so as to constitute a light emitting source for clearly revealing the irregularities of the symbol of the coin 1. As shown in FIG.
The light ray from the green LED 3 which constitutes the bright-field illumination is also irregularly reflected by the uneven portion and becomes diffuse reflection light and is incident on a light receiving element which will be described later, but the light ray from the green LED 3 is reflected light reflected on a plane. It is difficult to clearly recognize diffusely reflected light as an image because it is a light beam weaker than the light intensity of.

On the other hand, the green LED 3 and the red LED 4
A CCD camera 5 is arranged at a lower position of the above, and the inspection light based on the green LED 3 and the red LED are arranged.
4 is configured to receive the reflected light of the inspection light based on 4. The outer diameter image signal and the pattern unevenness image signal output from the CCD camera 5 are input to the image signal recognition means 6. The CCD camera 5 in the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention has a single-plate color light receiving element, and both image signals of the above two colors are sequentially output by one line.

The image signal recognition means 6 includes a signal separation circuit 7, a comparison circuit 8, a memory 9 (ROM) and a processing circuit 1.
It has 0. The two image signals input to the image signal recognizing means 6 are first input to the signal separation circuit 7 and the two image signals of the two colors are based on the green LED 3 which is the first light emission source in the signal separation circuit 7. Outer diameter image signal 11 and second
Are separated into two types of image signals, a pattern unevenness image signal 12 based on the red LED 4 which is a light emitting source.

Both image signals 11 and 12 are input to the comparison circuit 8. Information comparison data of outer diameter information and symbol information of a coin prepared in advance in a memory 9 (ROM) is input to the comparison circuit 8, and first, the outer diameter image signal 11 and this information comparison data are compared. By this, it is determined which coin is the coin.

Next, the symbol unevenness image signal 12 is similarly compared with the information comparison data of the symbol pattern information prepared in advance in the memory 9 (ROM) to determine which coin. Then, the coin discrimination signal and the pattern unevenness image signal 1 determined based on the above-mentioned outer diameter image signal 11
The coin discrimination signal determined based on 2 is the processing circuit 1
It is output to 0, and the final determination is performed on condition that both the determination signals match.

As described above, the apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention separates the image signal from the outer diameter of the coin 1 and the unevenness of the pattern, and separates the image signals from the coins prepared in advance in the memory 9 (ROM). Since it is configured to recognize and identify from the image signal whether or not it matches the diameter and the unevenness of the pattern, the outer diameter of the subject and the unevenness of the pattern can be obtained as a clear image signal, and the occurrence of reading errors is significant. Is reduced to.

Although the two color image signals are separated as described above in the embodiment of the present invention, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, instead of the CCD camera 5 using the single-plate color light receiving element, it is also possible to use a CCD camera in which the input light is separated by an optical prism and is received by two color light receiving elements.

Further, although the subject is a coin in the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the subject is not limited to the coin, and it corresponds to the specification of recognizing the outer diameter of the subject and the unevenness of the pattern as an image. Anything is fine.

The colors of the light emitted from the first light emitting source and the light emitted from the second light emitting source are not limited to those in the above embodiment, and if the two colors are different, other colors can be arbitrarily selected. It is possible to select.

[0025]

As described above, according to the image recognition apparatus of the first invention and the second invention, the light emitting sources for irradiating the outer diameter and the unevenness of the pattern with different colors are respectively provided, and the color light receiving device is provided. Since the recognition means for recognizing the image signal of each color received by the element based on the image signal from the first light emitting source and the image signal from the second light emitting source is provided, the outer diameter of the subject and the pattern The subject is recognized from the image signal in which the unevenness is clear. Therefore, it is possible to reliably recognize the image of the subject, and it is possible to improve the performance and ensure the reliability of the apparatus.

According to the image recognition device of the third invention,
Since the second light emitting source of the first invention is constituted by the red LED having high light intensity, the unevenness of the pattern of the subject is illuminated more clearly, and the reflected light reflected by the subject is recognized as a more reliable image signal. . Therefore, the uneven pattern of the design of the subject is more surely recognized as an image, and the reliability of the device can be secured.

According to the image recognition device of the fourth invention,
In addition to the third invention, since the first light emitting source is configured by the green LED which is a color different from the red LED of the first light emitting source,
The image from the first light emitting source and the image from the second light emitting source are easily separated when light is received by the light receiving element.
Therefore, the image signal of the outer diameter of the subject and the unevenness of the pattern can be recognized more reliably, and the effect of improving the reliability of the apparatus is provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 coin 1a design surface 1b outer diameter part 3 green LED 4 red LED 5 CCD camera 6 image recognition means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image recognition apparatus for recognizing an image of a subject based on an image signal obtained by irradiating a subject with a light beam emitted from a light source and having a light receiving element receive the reflected light. A first light-emitting source that illuminates the test light so as to detect at least the outer diameter part of the subject to form bright-field illumination; and a test light of a color different from the test light from the first light-emitting source. A second light-emitting source that illuminates so as to detect at least the uneven portion of the pattern portion of the subject to form dark-field illumination, and is emitted from the first light-emitting source and the second light-emitting source and reflected by the subject. A color light receiving element that receives reflected light and outputs an image signal, and an object based on the outer diameter image signal obtained by the first light emitting source and the pattern unevenness image signal obtained by the second light emitting source obtained by this color light receiving element Recognize Image recognition apparatus characterized by comprising: a recognizing unit that, the. 2. The second light-emitting source according to claim 1, wherein, of the reflected light from the plane portion of the subject and the diffused reflected light from the uneven portion, the diffused reflected light from the uneven portion is mainly received by the light receiving element. Arranged with a predetermined angle of incidence, the first light source is
Of the reflected light from the flat portion of the subject and the diffused reflected light from the uneven portion, the reflected light mainly from the flat portion is arranged with an incident angle smaller than the incident angle of the second light source so that the light receiving element receives the reflected light. An image recognition device characterized in that 3. The image recognition device according to claim 1, wherein the second light source is a red LED. 4. The image recognition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first light source is a green LED. 5. The coin discriminating apparatus using the image recognition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object is a coin.