JPH0954848A - Paper money discrimination device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the color discrimination of paper money in miniaturized configuration, to remarkably improve discrimination accuracy and to facilitate the maintenance. SOLUTION: At a bill validation part 21, a light source device 27 is provided in which plural LED chips 36-38 for respectively generating the beams of plural wavelength bands λ1, λ2 and λ3 loaded or a base plate 35 are provided on the back side of a slot 22 for paper money and on one side of passage for paper money 23 and a diffusion film 40 is arranged on the surface, and a condenser lens 28 is arranged for collecting the light from the light source device 27. On the opposite side of passage for the paper money 23, a slit member 29 for which a slit 42 linearly extended in the breadthwise direction of paper money 23 is formed, prism 30 and CCD image pickup device 31 are arranged. The signal from the CCD image pickup device 31 is read by a pattern discriminating device 41, the pattern of a prescribed color is discriminated, and the truth or counterfeitness of paper money 23 and the denomination of paper money 23 are discriminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bill validator used in an automatic vending machine or the like which can use bills.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a conventional bill validator 1 for performing color discrimination of bills. Here, the color discrimination is a technique of irradiating a bill with light of a plurality of wavelengths and discriminating the authenticity of the bill from the intensity distribution of the transmitted light or the reflected light from the bill for each wavelength. A conventional bill identifying device (hereinafter, bill bill) 1 is provided with a pair of pull-in rollers 4, 5 for pulling a bill 3 behind a bill insertion slot 2. Power is transmitted from the motor 6 to the pull-in roller 4, and the pull-in rollers 4 and 5 are interlocked by a gear or the like. Pull-in roller 4,
On the back side of 5, there is a wavelength λ1 across the passage of the bill 3.
A sensor S1 including a light-emitting element 7 and a light-receiving element 8 for generating the light is disposed. In addition, a sensor S2 including a light emitting element 9 and a light receiving element 10 that generate light having a wavelength λ2 is arranged at the subsequent stage of the sensor S1. The wavelengths λ1 and λ2 of the light from these sensors S1 and S2 are determined in correspondence with the predetermined colors of the printing ink used for the banknote 3. Further, the positions of the sensors S1 and S2 are determined so as to scan on the same line along the conveyance direction of the banknote 3. A pair of conveyance rollers 11 and 12 are arranged at the subsequent stage of the sensor S2 to convey the bill. The transport roller 11 has a motor 13
Power is transmitted from the transfer rollers 11, 12 and the transfer rollers 11 and 12 are interlocked by gears or the like.

The bill 3 inserted into the bill burr 1 from the insertion slot 2 is drawn in by the drawing rollers 4 and 5, and the sensor S
The pattern discriminating device 14 discriminates a pattern of a predetermined color on the basis of the signals from S1 and S2, and discriminates the authenticity of the bill 3 and the type of the bill 3. The banknote 3 determined as a counterfeit is discharged to the outside by the motors 6 and 13 rotating in reverse. The banknote 3 determined to be genuine is the motor 6,
It is further conveyed to the inside by the rotation of 13.

[0004]

In such a bilver 1 of the prior art, the positions of the sensors S1 and S2 are determined so as to scan on the same line along the conveyance direction of the banknote 3, Each light emitting element 6 and 8 has a single L
An ED (light emitting diode) element is used and is a point light source. Therefore, there is a problem that the banknote 3 cannot be scanned in a region of a predetermined width along the width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction, and there is a limit to improvement of the identification accuracy.

A conventional LED serving as a linear light source is an array of a plurality of LED elements that generate light of the same wavelength, and the linear LED cannot perform color discrimination regarding a plurality of colors. There are lamps such as white lamps as a light source having a bandwidth instead of a single wavelength, but such lamps have a problem that the life of the lamps is short and maintenance of the building burr 1 is troublesome.

Further, when scanning is performed with respect to a plurality of colors, it is necessary to dispose the sensors S1 and S2 at positions spaced apart from each other so that the generated light is not confused as shown in FIG. There is a problem that can not be miniaturized.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to enable color discrimination of banknotes with a miniaturized structure and to significantly improve the discrimination accuracy. An object of the present invention is to provide a bill validator that is easy to maintain.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A bill discriminating apparatus of the present invention is a light diffusing member for arranging a plurality of light emitting elements which respectively generate light in a plurality of wavelength bands in a straight line and diffusing light in a light emitting direction. And a light detection device arranged at a position capable of receiving light from the banknote identified from the light source device, and detecting light in a predetermined wavelength band from the banknote for each wavelength band. And is provided, whereby the above object can be achieved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bill discriminating apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the photo-detecting device includes a spectral member for splitting light from the bill into light in a plurality of predetermined wavelength bands. By doing so, the above object can be achieved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the bill identifying device according to the second aspect, wherein the photodetector includes a CCD (charge coupled device) image pickup device on which light from the spectroscopic member is incident. The above object can be achieved by the above.

In the bill discriminating apparatus of the invention of claim 4, in the invention of claim 2, a prism is used as the spectral member, whereby the above object can be achieved.

[0012]

According to the invention of claim 1, light of a plurality of wavelength bands is generated from a plurality of light emitting elements of the light source device,
These lights are diffused by the light diffusion member. Therefore,
Light including the light in the plurality of wavelength bands is emitted from the light source device. The light from the light source device is received by the photodetector through the identified banknote. The photodetector detects light in a predetermined wavelength band from the bill for each of the plurality of wavelength bands.

Therefore, in the present invention, when the light source device is used in the bill discriminating apparatus so that the arrangement direction of the plurality of light emitting elements is the width direction of the bill to be discriminated, the bill is predetermined along the width direction. The scanning can be performed in the width region, and the identification accuracy can be significantly improved.

Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary to use lamps having a short life, and it is not necessary to regularly monitor or replace the light source device. This facilitates maintenance of the bill validator.

Further, since the present invention uses a configuration in which a plurality of light emitting elements that respectively generate light in a plurality of wavelength bands are linearly arranged, the configuration of the light source device is downsized, and the configuration of the bill validator is realized. Can be miniaturized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the photodetector is provided with a spectral member that splits the light from the bill into light in a plurality of predetermined wavelength bands. It is possible to realize the same operation as that of the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the photodetector is a CCD on which light from the spectral member enters.
Since the image pickup device is provided, the same operation as that of the first aspect can be realized by this.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, a prism is used as the light-splitting member, so that the same action as the first aspect can be realized.

[0019]

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a bill validator 21 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a light source device 22 included in the bill validator 21, and FIG. 3 explains the operation of the present embodiment. It is a graph.

The configuration of the bill validator 21 (hereinafter referred to as "bill burr") 21 of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The bill discriminating action of the bill burr 21 of the present embodiment is performed by using the transmitted light from the light source, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the bill burr 21, a pair of pull-in rollers 24, 25 for pulling in the bill 23 is provided behind the bill insertion slot 22. Power is transmitted from the motor 26 to the pull-in roller 24, and the pull-in rollers 24 and 25 are interlocked by a gear or the like. Behind the pull-in rollers 24, 25, a light source device 27 having a configuration to be described later and a condenser lens 28 for condensing light from the light source device 27 are arranged on one side of the passage of the banknote 23. . The condensing lens 28 is, for example, a cylindrical lens or the like, in the width direction (see FIG.
(Longitudinal direction to the paper surface) is selected.

On the opposite side of the passage of the bill 23, in order to make the transmitted light obtained by the light from the condenser lens 28 passing through the bill 23 to be linear, the bill 23 extends linearly in the width direction. The slit member 29 in which the slit 42 is formed is arranged, and the light from the slit member 29 is dispersed through the prism 30 which is a spectral member. A two-dimensional CCD image pickup device 31 is arranged at a position where the dispersed light is detected. A light detection device is configured to include the prism 30 and the CCD image pickup device 31. The signal from the CCD image pickup device 31 is read by the pattern discriminating device 41 to discriminate a pattern of a predetermined color, and to discriminate the authenticity of the banknote 23 and the type of the banknote 23. A pair of conveyance rollers 32 and 33 are arranged downstream of the arrangement position of the light source device 27 and the like to convey the bill. Power is transmitted from the motor 34 to the transport roller 32, and the transport rollers 32 and 33 are interlocked with each other by a gear or the like.

An example of the structure of the light source device 27 is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a configuration example of the light source device 27 will be described.
The light source device 27 is linearly arranged on the substrate 35, and as an example, a plurality of light beams of wavelength bands (hereinafter, wavelength bands λ1, λ2, λ3) having three types of central wavelengths λ1, λ2, λ3 are generated. The LED chips 36, 37, and 38 are provided, and the LED chips 36 to 38 are connected to a wiring pattern 39 on the substrate 35. Through the wiring pattern 39, a bill burr 21 is provided as an example of a vending machine or the like. The light emission state is controlled by a microcomputer or the like. The wavelengths λ1, λ2, and λ3 of the light are determined in correspondence with the predetermined color of the printing ink used for the banknote 23. In the light source device 21, the LED chips 36 to 3
The diffusion film 40 is arranged so as to cover all of the eight.

The plurality of LED chips 36 to 38 are
As an example, the LED chips 36, 37, 38, 36, 37,
38, ..., However, the present invention is of course not limited to such an arrangement method. As the diffusion film 40, various ones such as a milky white synthetic resin film or a transparent synthetic resin film having a roughened surface can be used. In this embodiment, by using such a diffusion film 40, the CCD
It is possible to prevent unevenness in the intensity of light from the LED chips 36 to 38 of the light source device 27 with respect to the imaging device 31. Further, the LED chips 36 to 38 having the intensity distributions shown by the solid curves L1, L2, and L3 in FIG. 3, respectively.
The light in the wavelength bands λ1, λ2, and λ3 from is sufficiently mixed, and the bill 23 is irradiated with the light in the predetermined wavelength band shown by the broken line in FIG.

The light source device 27 of the present embodiment is in the form of a long plate as described above, and is arranged on the bill burr 21 so that the width direction of the banknote 23 becomes the long direction. The condenser lens 28 and the slit 42 of the slit member 29 are also long in the width direction. Therefore, the light from the slit 42 becomes linear, and this light is also dispersed by the prism 30 which is long in the width direction, and diffused in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 according to the wavelength band. Therefore, the light from the prism 30 is
The predetermined area of the CCD image pickup device 30 is irradiated.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below. Banknote 23 inserted from bill slot 21 into bill burr 21
Is drawn by the draw-in rollers 24 and 25, is generated by the light source device 27, and is condensed by the condenser lens 28 to irradiate the bill 23. The light transmitted through the banknote 23 is linearly converted by the slit 29, and is dispersed by the prism 30. The separated light is divided into the wavelength bands λ1, λ2, λ.
Each of the light intensity distributions 3 has a different intensity distribution, and this light intensity distribution is detected by the CCD image pickup device 31. Based on the signal from the CCD image pickup device 31 corresponding to the light intensity distribution, the pattern discriminating device 41 discriminates a pattern of a predetermined color, and discriminates the authenticity of the banknote 23 and the type of the banknote 23. Done. The banknote 3 determined to be a counterfeit is discharged to the outside by the motors 26 and 34 rotating in reverse. The banknote 23 determined to be genuine is further conveyed inside by the rotation of the motors 26 and 34.

In the bill bill 21 of this embodiment, a linear portion of a predetermined length along the width direction of the bill 23 is scanned, and the wavelength bands λ1 and λ2 having the colors of the points of the linear portion are scanned. , Λ3 for each intensity distribution is detected by the CCD imaging device 31. Since the pattern discriminating device 41 discriminates the pattern from the image signal from the planar area of the CCD image pickup device 31 as described above, the pattern discriminating device 41 is arranged on the same line along the conveyance direction of the banknote 23 as in the prior art. Different from the scanning configuration, the identification accuracy can be significantly improved. Moreover, since this discrimination operation can be performed by color discrimination, the discrimination accuracy can be improved also in this respect. Moreover, it is not necessary to use a lamp such as a white lamp as a light source for performing color identification, unlike the prior art. Therefore, it is not necessary to regularly monitor or replace the lamp as in the case of the lamps having a short life, the bill burr 21 can have a long life, and the maintenance of the bill burr 21 can be significantly facilitated. .

In the light source device 27 of this embodiment,
The light sources are a plurality of LED chips 36 to 38 integrated on the substrate 35, and it is not necessary to arrange a plurality of light sources at a distance as in the prior art, and the structure of the bill burr 21 can be miniaturized. You can

The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, but includes a wide variety of modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. As an example, the light source device 27 is not limited to the wavelength bands λ1, λ2, and λ3, and the number of LED chips may be increased so as to generate light of other wavelength bands. In this case, this can be dealt with by changing the pattern discrimination program by the pattern discrimination device 41.
Further, the condenser lens 28 may be another lens having a condenser function such as a flat lens. In addition, the spectral member,
The prism 30 is not limited to the prism 30, and a spectral grating or the like may be used as an example. Further, the light from the light source device 27 may be condensed in a point shape by the condenser lens 28. At this time, the slit member 29 having a through hole is used. When the light from the through hole is split into a linear light by a light splitting member such as the prism 30, a one-dimensional line CCD image pickup device may be used as the CCD image pickup device. In this case, as compared with the two-dimensional CCD image pickup device 31, the configuration is simplified and the cost can be reduced.

[0030]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1,
When the light source device is used in the bill identifying device so that the arrangement direction of the plurality of light emitting elements is the width direction of the banknote to be identified, light of a plurality of wavelength bands generated from the plurality of light emitting elements of the light source device is used. The light is diffused by the light diffusing member to irradiate the bill. The light from the light source device is received by the photodetector through the identified banknote, and the photodetector detects the light in the predetermined wavelength band from the banknote for each of the plurality of wavelength bands.

Therefore, in the present invention, the banknote can be scanned in a region of a predetermined width along the width direction of the banknote, so that the identification accuracy can be significantly improved.

Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary to use lamps having a short life, and it is not necessary to regularly monitor or replace the light source device. This facilitates maintenance of the bill validator.

Further, according to the present invention, since a plurality of light emitting elements for respectively generating lights of a plurality of wavelength bands are linearly arranged, the structure of the light source device is miniaturized and the structure of the bill discriminating device is realized. Can be miniaturized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the photodetector is provided with a light splitting member that splits the light from the bill into light in a plurality of predetermined wavelength bands. An effect similar to that of the item 1 can be realized.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, the photodetector has a C on which light from the spectral member enters.
Since the CD image pickup device is provided, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be realized.

According to the invention of claim 4, in the invention of claim 2, a prism is used as the spectral member.
This can also achieve the same effect as the effect of claim 1.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a bill burr 21 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a light source device 22 provided in the bill burr 21.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the operation of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a conventional bill Bali 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 Bill Bill 23 Banknote 27 Light Source Device 28 Condensing Lens 29 Slit Member 30 Prism 31 CCD Imaging Device 36, 37, 38 LED Chip 40 Diffusion Film 41 Pattern Discriminating Device 42 Slit λ1, λ2, λ3 Wavelength Band

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A light source device in which a plurality of light emitting elements respectively generating light in a plurality of wavelength bands are linearly arranged and a light diffusing member for diffusing the light in the light emitting direction is arranged, and a light source device from the light source device. A banknote discriminating apparatus, which is arranged at a position capable of receiving light through a banknote to be discriminated, and which includes a photodetector that detects light in a predetermined wavelength band from the banknote for each wavelength band. 2. The bill discriminating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photodetector includes a spectral member that disperses light from the bill into light in a plurality of predetermined wavelength bands. 3. The bill validator according to claim 2, wherein the photodetector includes a CCD (charge-coupled device) imager on which light from the spectroscopic member is incident. 4. The bill validator according to claim 2, wherein a prism is used as the spectral member.