JPH0991484A - Coin processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coin processor capable of substantially shortening processing time as an inspection part and accelerating a coin processing speed. SOLUTION: In this coin processor for performing the receiving/paying processings of coins, the inspection part for discriminating the authenticity and the kind of the coins is constituted of a first inspection part 23 composed of an optical sensor 21 for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin C and a magnetic sensor 22 for magnetically detecting the material of the coin C, a second inspection part 24 disposed adjacently to the upstream side of the first inspection part 23 for optically detecting a pattern on the surface of the coin C and a base member 25 for integrally supporting the first and second inspection parts 23 and 24. Then, control is performed so as to start the pattern detection processing of the coin C in the second inspection part 24 first accompanying the entrance of the coin C and to parallelly advance the pattern detection processing in the second inspection part 24 and the material and outer diameter detection processing of the coin C in the first inspection part 23 accompanying the advance of the coin C.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is mounted on, for example, an automatic teller machine in a financial institution such as a bank, and automatically performs coin depositing processing and withdrawal processing (coin receiving processing and payout processing). The present invention relates to a circulating type coin processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a financial institution such as a bank, an automatic teller machine is equipped with a circulation type coin processing device for automatically carrying out processing for depositing and withdrawing coins. What has made it possible is being developed. This type of coin processing device accepts deposited coins at the time of deposit, judges authenticity and denomination, stores them in denomination safes, and when withdraws coins of required denominations from this vault. After taking out, judging the authenticity and the denomination, it is supposed to be paid out.

Such a coin processing device has a forcible conveying means for forcibly conveying coins while pressing them against the conveying surface with a conveyor belt, and the coins to be conveyed are conveyed to the forcible conveying means. An inspection unit is provided to determine authenticity and denomination. This type of inspection unit generally includes, for example, a magnetic sensor for magnetically detecting the material of a coin and an optical sensor for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin.

Recently, however, a wide variety of foreign coins have been brought into the country, and even in the inspection department for judging the authenticity of coins and the denomination, the judgment can be made only by detecting the conventional material and outer diameter. It has become difficult. Therefore, recently, as an option, a technique has been developed to add a surface pattern in addition to the material and outer diameter as a coin determination element by adding an auxiliary inspection unit that detects the surface pattern of a coin. .

The auxiliary inspection section for detecting the pattern of the coin has a light source for irradiating the surface of the coin with light, and an area sensor for receiving the reflected light from the surface of the coin and converting it into an electric signal. Since it is necessary to process a large amount of image data, a processing circuit using a plurality of DSPs (digital signal processors) is used, and the hardware configuration is such that parallel processing is performed at high speed.

Further, as the installation position of the auxiliary inspection unit, the coin transfer position is determined to some extent in the coin feeding unit, so that in the main inspection unit that detects the material and outer diameter, the detection value varies depending on the transfer position. For the reason that it is desired to minimize the above, it is often the case that the main inspection unit is installed on the upstream side where the transfer position fluctuation is small and the auxiliary inspection unit is installed on the downstream side.

[0007]

The processing circuit for pattern detection in the auxiliary inspection section can be processed in parallel by using a plurality of expensive processors such as DSPs or a large number of them.
The processing speed is improved. However, there has been a problem that the cost is significantly increased due to an increase in the area of the printed wiring board for incorporating the processing circuit.

Further, when the auxiliary inspection section is disposed on the downstream side of the main inspection section, the material detection processing, the outer diameter detection processing in the main inspection section and the pattern detection processing in the auxiliary inspection section can be processed in parallel. Despite the configuration, after the processing in the main inspection unit is completed, the processing in the auxiliary inspection unit is performed, that is, the series processing is performed.

Therefore, the total processing time in the inspection unit is simply the sum of the processing time in the main inspection unit and the processing time in the auxiliary inspection unit, and the detection result is transmitted to the CPU that controls the entire apparatus. Will be delayed. As a result, the coin sorting unit that sorts the coins arranged on the downstream side for each denomination cannot be placed adjacent to the inspection unit, and it was necessary to place them at a distance corresponding to the processing time. This is a serious problem in the coin processing device with a high module integration degree, and the layout of other modules is sacrificed by the auxiliary inspection unit.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin processing device capable of significantly shortening the processing time as an inspection unit and increasing the coin processing speed.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A coin processing device of the present invention is a coin processing device that determines at least the type of a coin while it is being conveyed and sorts the coins by type. A payout means for paying out, a carrying means for carrying the coins paid out by the paying means one by one, and a first inspection section which is arranged along the carrying means and detects at least the material of the carried coins. And a second inspection section which is disposed near the upstream side of the first inspection section with respect to the conveying direction of the conveying means, and which detects the pattern of the conveyed coin, and with the entrance of the conveyed coin. First, the pattern detection process of the coin is started in the second inspection unit, and the pattern detection process in the second inspection unit is performed in accordance with the progress of the conveyed coins. Control means for controlling the first and second inspection parts so that the coin material detection processing in the inspection part of the first and second inspection parts is performed in parallel, and the detection result of the first inspection part and the detection result of the second inspection part. And a selecting means for selecting at least the type of the coins to be conveyed on the basis of the determination result, and a selecting means for selecting the coins to be conveyed for each type based on the determination result of the determining means.

The coin processing device of the present invention is a coin processing device for determining at least the type of a coin while it is being conveyed and sorting the coins according to the type. A transport means for transporting the coins dispensed by the dispense means one by one, a magnetic sensor arranged along the transport means for magnetically detecting the material of the transported coin, and A first inspecting section formed of an optical sensor for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin to be conveyed, and the first inspecting section arranged near the upstream side of the conveying means in the conveying direction, The coin is transported by a light source that illuminates the surface of the coin to be transported, and a photoelectric conversion element that receives the light from the coin due to the illumination of the light from the light source and converts the light into an electric signal. With the second inspection unit for detecting the pattern of the IN, and with the entrance of the coin to be conveyed, first, the pattern detection process of the coin is started in the second inspection unit, and at the same time, the coin to be conveyed is advanced. Accordingly, control for controlling the first and second inspection parts so that the pattern detection process in the second inspection part and the coin material detection process and outer diameter detection process in the first inspection part proceed in parallel. Means, determination means for determining at least the type of the coin to be transported based on the detection result of the first inspection portion and the detection result of the second inspection portion, and the transportation means based on the determination result of the determination means. And a sorting means for sorting the coins by type.

Further, the coin processing device of the present invention is a coin processing device for determining at least the type of coins while they are being conveyed and sorting the coins according to the type, and feeding means for feeding out one coin to be processed one by one. A transport means for transporting the coins dispensed by the dispense means one by one, a magnetic sensor arranged along the transport means for magnetically detecting the material of the transported coin, and A first inspecting section formed of an optical sensor for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin to be conveyed, and the first inspecting section arranged near the upstream side of the conveying means in the conveying direction, The coin is transported by a light source that illuminates the surface of the coin to be transported, and a photoelectric conversion element that receives the light from the coin due to the illumination of the light from the light source and converts the light into an electric signal. A second inspection unit that detects the pattern of the in, a selection unit that selects use or non-use of the second inspection unit, and when the use of the second inspection unit is selected by this selection unit, With the entrance of the conveyed coin, first, the pattern detection process of the coin is started in the second inspection unit, and the pattern detection process in the second inspection unit is performed as the conveyed coin advances. When the coin material detection process and the outer diameter detection process in the first inspection unit are made to proceed in parallel and the non-use of the second inspection unit is selected by the selection unit, the first inspection unit When the use of the second inspection unit is selected by the selection unit, the control unit controls the first and second inspection units so as to perform only the coin material detection process and the outer diameter detection process by the coin. Is the first inspection unit At least the type of coins to be conveyed is determined based on the detection result and the detection result of the second inspection unit, and when the non-use of the second inspection unit is selected by the selection unit, the first It is provided with a judging means for judging at least the type of the conveyed coins only based on the detection result of the inspection section, and a selecting means for selecting the conveyed coins according to the kind based on the judgment result of the judging means. .

Further, in the coin processing device of the present invention, in the coin processing device for accepting and paying out coins, the payout means for paying out the coins to be accepted or the coins to be paid out one by one, and the payout means. And a magnetic sensor for magnetically detecting the material of the coin to be conveyed, and a conveying unit arranged along the conveying unit for conveying the formed coins one by one. A first inspecting section formed of an optical sensor for optically detecting the diameter, and the first inspecting section is disposed in the vicinity of the upstream side of the conveying means in the conveying direction,
A light source that irradiates the surface of the coin to be conveyed, and a photoelectric conversion element that receives the light from the coin due to the light irradiation of the light source and converts the light into an electric signal. The second inspection unit that detects the coin, and at the time of accepting the coin, the coin inspection unit starts the coin pattern detection process in the second inspection unit along with the entrance of the conveyed coin, and advances the conveyed coin. Accordingly, the pattern detection process in the second inspection unit and the material detection process and outer diameter detection process of the coin in the first inspection unit are made to proceed in parallel.
First control means for controlling the inspection unit, and the authenticity or the type of the accepted coin conveyed by the conveying means is determined based on the detection result of the first inspection unit and the detection result of the second inspection unit. And a storing means for sorting and storing received coins carried by the carrying means based on the judgment result of the first judging means, and a coin in the storing means for paying out coins. Take-out means for taking out and sending to the pay-out means, and controlling the first and second inspecting sections so that only coin material detection processing and outer diameter detection processing by the first inspection section are performed at the time of paying out coins. Second control means, second determination means for determining the authenticity or type of payout coins conveyed by the conveying means based on only the detection result of the first inspection section, and the second determination means. Judgment result of It has and a paying out payout means a payout coins conveyed by said conveying means based on.

According to the above means, the second inspection unit (auxiliary inspection unit) for detecting the pattern is arranged upstream of the first inspection unit (main inspection unit) for detecting the material and outer diameter, and the processing is performed. The process of the second inspection unit, which requires the longest time, can be started quickly, and thereafter, the process of the second inspection unit and the process of the first inspection unit having a relatively short processing time are performed in parallel. Therefore, the total processing time as the inspection unit becomes almost equal to the processing time of the second inspection unit, and the processing time can be significantly shortened as compared with the conventional series processing.

As a result, it is possible to dispose the inspection section and the coin sorting means, which is often disposed downstream of the inspection section, adjacently to each other, which makes the apparatus compact, shortens the conveying path, and High-speed processing by it can be realized.

Further, by providing the selecting means for selecting the use or non-use of the second inspection unit, it is possible to freely turn on and off the pattern detection processing function which is highly likely to be installed as an option.

Furthermore, a plurality of judgment tables for detecting the pattern of the second inspection unit are made selectable for each detection result of the first inspection unit, and prior to the second inspection unit, After the detection result of the first inspection unit is output, the determination process of the second inspection unit becomes faster by selecting the determination table of the second inspection unit based on the detection result. Therefore, the processing time as the inspection unit can be remarkably shortened and the coin processing speed can be increased.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 schematically shows the configuration of the coin processing device according to the present embodiment. This coin processing device is, for example, a circulating coin processing device that is mounted on an automatic teller machine or the like in a financial institution such as a bank, and automatically performs coin depositing and dispensing processing.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a saucer as a deposit / withdrawal port. When depositing, coins of various mixed denominations to be processed are put in from the outside of the device, and when dispensing, various kinds of coins to be dispensed to the outside of the device. Coins of multiple denominations are released. Saucer 1
When a coin is inserted, the coin rotates to drop the received coin into the feeding unit 2 located below. Feeding section 2
Feeds coins dropped from the tray 1 one by one and sends them to the transport path 3.

The conveying path 3 compulsorily conveys the coins from the feeding section 2 onto the conveying surface 4 while pressing them against the conveying surface 4, and sends them to the inspection section 6. The inspection unit 6 determines the authenticity, type, and the like of the coins that are conveyed by the detection and determination processing described below.

The coins that have passed through the inspection section 6 are again conveyed to the conveyance path 3
It is forcibly conveyed by and is sent to the sorting section 7. The sorting unit 7 sorts the coins transported by the transport path 3 by denomination based on the determination result of the inspection unit 6. The sorting unit 7 is composed of, for example, a plurality of shutters 8 ... Corresponding to each denomination of coins, and selectively opens and closes the shutters 8 to sort coins. There is.

The coins sorted by the sorting unit 7 are held in a temporary holding unit 9 provided below the coins.
When the transaction is established, the temporarily held coins are inserted into the denomination safe 10 provided below the coins.

The above is the description of the deposit process.
At the time of withdrawal processing, coins are taken out from the money safe 10 and paid out. That is, the extraction mechanism 11 from the cash box 10
The coin taken out by is conveyed to the right side in the figure by the horizontal conveying path 12 and further conveyed to the feeding section 2 by the vertical conveying path 13.

The coins conveyed to the feeding section 2 pass vertically from the feeding section 2 through the inspection section 6 and the sorting section 7 and from a reject gate 14 provided at the end of the conveyance path 3 through a horizontal conveyance path 15. It is conveyed to the passage 16 and discharged to the tray 1 by the vertical conveying passage 16. Reference numeral 17 is a staff safe for storing supplementary coins, and 18 is an overflow safe for storing overflowed coins.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration example of the inspection unit 6. The inspection unit 6 includes a first inspection unit (main inspection) that includes an optical sensor 21 that optically detects the outer diameter of the transported coin C and a magnetic sensor 22 that magnetically detects the material of the transported coin C. Part) 23, a second inspection part (auxiliary inspection part) 24 which is arranged adjacent to the upstream side of the first inspection part 23 and optically detects the pattern on the surface of the coin C being conveyed,
In addition, the first inspection unit 23 and the second inspection unit 24 are integrally supported, and are configured by a base member 25 for attaching and detaching them to the mounted portion.

The optical sensor 21 is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, an open portion 31 for entering and exiting the conveyor belt 5 is provided in the upper center of the conveyor path 3, and an LED (light emitting diode) array 32 as a light source is arranged on the left and right in the width direction of the conveyor path, and an LED array. Slit 33 for guiding the light from 32 to the transport surface 4 and transport path 3
A condenser lens (such as a self-fox lens) 34 for condensing the light from the slit 33, and a CCD for receiving the light condensed by the condensing lens 34, which is arranged below the slit 33 so as to face each other. A line sensor 35, a printed wiring board 36 to which the line sensor 35 is attached, and a sensor body 37 that integrally supports these.

In the optical sensor 21 having such a structure, when the coin C forcibly conveyed by the conveyor belt 5 passes, the LE
The diameter (outer diameter) of the coin C is detected by measuring the length of the shadow generated by blocking the light from the D array 32.

The magnetic sensor 22 is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, the wide primary core 41 disposed in the width direction of the transport path below the transport path 3, and
A primary coil 42 for excitation wound around a primary core 41;
Narrow secondary cores 44 and 45, which have an opening 43 for entrance and exit of the conveyor belt 5 in the upper center part of the conveyor path 3 and are arranged on the left and right in the width direction of the conveyor path, and a secondary core. 44, 45
The secondary coils 46 and 47, which are respectively wound around the primary coil 42, are electromagnetically induced from the primary coil 42, and a sensor body 48 that integrally supports these.

The primary coil 42 is composed of the sine wave oscillator 4
It is designed to be excited by a sine wave signal from 9. The second inspection unit 24 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, a transparent plate 51 such as a sapphire glass plate is embedded in the center of the transport surface 4,
The coin C is forcibly conveyed on the transparent plate 51 by the conveyor belt 5, and is sent to the first inspection unit 23.

At the lower part of the transparent plate 51, an LED (light emitting diode) array 5 as a light source for irradiating the conveyed coins C with light obliquely to the lower surface of the transparent plate 51.
2. A CCD type area sensor 53 as a photoelectric conversion element that receives the reflected light from the coin C and converts it into an electric signal, a printed wiring board 54 to which the area sensor 53 is attached, and these are integrally supported. The sensor main body 55 (corresponding to the base member 25).

As the area sensor 53, for example, a consumer area sensor having 20 to 300,000 pixels is used. In the area sensor 53, when the coin C reaches a predetermined position, the LED array 52 is momentarily turned on to read an image (pattern) on the surface of the coin C and transfer it to a memory such as a RAM as image data. It is supposed to do. In addition, the discharge time of the image data is usually
It is fixed by the standard, and it takes 1/60 seconds.

FIG. 5 shows an electric circuit of the first inspection section 23. First, the system of the magnetic sensor 22 will be described. The respective outputs of the secondary coils 46 and 47 are amplified by amplifiers (for example, differential amplifiers) 61 and 65, respectively, and then a DC component cut circuit 62 including a capacitor and the like,
The DC component is cut off at 66, and the full-wave rectification circuits 63, 67
Is full-wave rectified, smoothed by the low-pass filters 64 and 68, and input to the arithmetic circuit 69. The arithmetic circuit 69, for example, Vout = anp1 * [Vref-anp2 * (V64 + V6
8)] is performed, and the calculation result Vout is input to the channel 2 of the A / D converter 70. Here, the above V64
Is an output of the low pass filter 64, V68 is an output of the low pass filter 68, Vref is a reference value, and anp1 and anp2 are constants.

The outputs of the low-pass filters 64 and 68 are also directly input to the A / D converter 70. That is, the output of the low-pass filter 64 is input to the channel 0 of the A / D converter 70, and the output of the low-pass filter 68 is input to the channel 1 of the A / D converter 70.

The A / D converter 70 includes a CPU 72, which will be described later.
The channel switching control is performed by the multiplexer 71 which is controlled by the low pass filter 6
Each of the outputs of 4, 68 and the arithmetic circuit 69 is adapted to be converted into a digital signal.

Channel 0 of the A / D converter 70,
The input signal level 1 is preset to a predetermined value because the amplification factors of the amplifiers 61 and 65 can be adjusted. Further, the output of the arithmetic circuit 69 is adjusted so that the input signal level of the channel 2 of the A / D converter 70 becomes “0” when there is no coin on the sensor.

The output of the A / D converter 70 is the magnetic sensor 2
It is input to the CPU (Central Processing Unit) 72 as the output data of No. 2. At the time of determining a coin, the CPU 72 selects the channel 2 of the A / D converter 70 via the multiplexer 71 to read (sample) the output of the magnetic sensor 22 and store it in the RAM (random access memory) 73. Store sequentially.

Further, when adjusting the amplification factors of the amplifiers 61 and 65, the CPU 72 sets the A
By sequentially switching the channels 0 and 1 of the / D converter 70, the outputs of the secondary coils 46 and 47 of the magnetic sensor 22 are sequentially read and the amplification factor adjustment control is performed.

The CPU 72 stores a control program for the CPU 72 and determination reference value data such as magnetic material and outer diameter for each coin denomination in the form of a table.
An M (read only memory) 74 and a counter section 75 for counting to detect the outer diameter of the coin are connected.

The output of the line sensor 35 is input to the CPU 72 via the signal processing unit 76. Thereby, the CPU 72 is adapted to perform an optical outer diameter detection process of the coin based on the output of the line sensor 35.

Further, the CPU 72 has a communication controller 77.
CPU 82 (FIG. 6) of the second inspection unit 24 described later via
(See) is connected, and data is transmitted and received between the two.

It should be noted that the CPU 72 controls the entire control system such as processing for determining the type and authenticity of coins, control for adjusting the amplification factor of the amplifier, and control processing for various actuators of the coin processing device based on the determination result. I am supposed to do it.

FIG. 6 shows an electric circuit of the second inspection section 24. That is, the output of the area sensor 53 is input to the CPU 82 via the signal processing unit 81. The CPU 82 performs overall control and also performs coin pattern detection processing based on the output of the area sensor 53. The DSP (digital signal processor) 83 for performing high-speed arithmetic processing of image data and the coin A RAM 84 for writing image data, control programs for the CPU 82 and the DSP 83, and a ROM 85 for storing a plurality of determination tables storing determination reference value data for coin pattern detection are connected.

Next, the processing for detecting the outer diameter of the coin by the optical sensor 21 of the first inspection unit 23 in the above-mentioned configuration will be described. As for the output signal of the line sensor 35, a signal in which the light shielding portion of the coin C is at high level and the light incident portion is at low level is output for each scanning. Therefore, the logical product of the signal in which only the light-shielding portion is at the high level and the reference clock pulse corresponding to one pixel of the line sensor 35 is obtained,
An outer diameter detection pulse corresponding to each pixel is generated, and the outer diameter detection pulse is counted by the counter unit 75 to detect the outer diameter of the coin C for each scanning of the line sensor 35 and sequentially compare it. Therefore, the maximum value is R
Store in AM73.

Next, the magnetic sensor 22 of the first inspection unit 23.
The output processing of will be described. The outputs of the secondary coils 46 and 47 of the magnetic sensor 22 are respectively fed to amplifiers 61 and 66.
After being amplified by, the DC components are cut by the DC component cut circuits 62 and 66, full-wave rectified by the full-wave rectifier circuits 53 and 57, smoothed by the low-pass filters 64 and 68, and then input to the arithmetic circuit 69. Here, the arithmetic processing of the following equations described above is performed.

Vout = anp1 * [Vref-anp2 *
(V64 + V68)] This operation output Vout is converted into a digital value by the A / D converter 70 and then input to the CPU 72. CPU7
In No. 2, the output of the A / D converter 70 is sampled at a predetermined interval, and the maximum value (peak value) is detected by successive comparison and stored in the RAM 73.

Since the output of the magnetic sensor 22 is the integral value of the magnetic flux, it has a gentle mountain shape and the peak value can be easily detected. As is well known, the detection principle is to compare the amount of eddy current generated on the surface of a coin with respect to an alternating magnetic field.The amount of eddy current is determined by the conductivity of the material of the coin, and the small amount of white copper coin with low conductivity is small. , Aluminum coins and bronze coins, which have high conductivity, become large. Therefore, the output of the magnetic sensor 22 increases as the coin having the higher conductivity.

In this way, when the maximum value of the outer diameter (the maximum value of the outer diameter detection) and the maximum value of the output of the magnetic sensor 22 (the maximum value of the material detection) are detected and stored in the RAM 73, the CPU 72 Is a variety of judgment reference value data stored in the ROM 74 in the form of a table in advance, and R
By comparing each maximum value stored in AM73, it is determined which range each belongs to,
Based on those determination results, the authenticity and the type of the coin C as the first inspection unit 23 are determined.

Next, the coin pattern detection processing by the second inspection unit 24 will be described. The output signal of the area sensor 53 is converted into a digital value by the signal processing unit 81 and then sent to the CPU 82 as image data of the coin C, and the CPU 8
2 is stored in the RAM 84.

When the image data of the coin C is stored in the RAM 84, the image area of the coin C is specified from the image data stored in the RAM 84 (a so-called ticket cutting process is performed). Next, the image data of the specified image area is
By converting into a value, the feature amount of the image is extracted. These image processes are performed by high-speed arithmetic processing by the DSP 83. When the feature amount is extracted, the CPU 82 compares the extracted feature amount with a determination table prepared in the ROM 85 in advance to determine the coin pattern, and the determination result is the first inspection unit. 23 CPUs
Send to 72.

In this way, when the determination result of the second inspection unit 24 is obtained, the CPU 72 of the first inspection unit 23 determines the determination result of the first inspection unit 23 and the determination result of the second inspection unit 24. By making a comprehensive determination based on, the final determination of the authenticity and type of the coin C is made.

Next, the overall operation of the inspection unit 6 according to the first embodiment will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. Coin C for deposit processing or withdrawal processing
Is transported on the transport path 3 and reaches the inspection unit 6, first,
The detection start processing of the second inspection unit 24 that detects the pattern of the coin C is performed. Next, the detection process of the second inspection unit 24 is advanced, and in parallel with this, the detection process of the first inspection unit 23 that detects the outer diameter and the material of the coin C is advanced.

The first and second inspection units 23 and 24 each have the above-mentioned determination means, and perform the above-described determination processing based on the respective detection results. And finally, by performing a comprehensive determination process based on each determination result in the first inspection unit 23 and the second inspection unit 24,
The authenticity of the coin C and the denomination are determined.

Next, the overall operation of the inspection unit 6 according to the second embodiment will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. In the second embodiment, a selection unit for selecting whether to use the second inspection unit 24 or not is provided.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the selection switch 78 for selecting whether to use the second inspection unit 24 is set to the CPU.
It connects to 72 and selects whether to execute the pattern detection in the second inspection unit 24. When executing (when using)
The subsequent processing is the same as that in the first embodiment. When not executing (when not in use), the first inspection unit 23
The detection and determination processing is performed only in.

Next, the overall operation of the inspection unit 6 according to the third embodiment will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. In the third embodiment, each determination table in the ROM 85 of the second inspection unit 24 is selected based on the detection result of the first inspection unit 23, has a matrix configuration that can be limited, and the detection process can be performed in a relatively short time. First to finish
When the detection result of the inspection unit 23 is obtained, the first inspection unit 2
The CPU 72 of No. 3 sends the determination table selection command according to the detection result to the CPU 82 of the second inspection unit 24 so that the CPU 82 selects and limits the determination table in the ROM 85. Therefore, in this case, the CPU 82
The determination process is performed after the determination table is selected and limited.

As described above, by selecting and limiting the determination table of the second inspection unit 24 based on the detection result of the first inspection unit 23, the pattern detection determination process in the second inspection unit 24 can be performed quickly. It becomes possible to do it.

Next, the overall operation of the inspection unit 6 according to the fourth embodiment will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. In the fourth embodiment, when accepting coins from the outside of the device as in the coin depositing process, the second inspection unit 24 is also operated, and together with the first inspection unit 23. The coin-type safe 1 that has been determined to be a regular coin has been subjected to detection and determination processing, and once the detection and determination processing in the second inspection unit 24 has been completed, as in coin withdrawal processing.
When the coins in 0 are paid out to the outside of the device, the second inspection unit 24 does not perform the detection and determination processing and omits them, and only the first inspection unit 23 performs the detection and determination processing. Is.

With the structure of the inspection section 6 as described above, the second inspection section (pattern inspection) for detecting the pattern is provided on the upstream side of the first inspection section (main inspection section) 23 for detecting the material and outer diameter. The auxiliary inspection unit) 24 is arranged so that the process of the second inspection unit 24, which requires the longest processing time, can be started promptly, and thereafter, the process of the second inspection unit 24 and the processing time can be relatively reduced. Since the processing of the first inspection unit 23, which is short, is performed in parallel, the total processing time of the inspection unit 6 becomes substantially equal to the processing time of the second inspection unit 24, and
As shown in FIG. 2, the processing time can be significantly shortened as compared with the conventional series processing. In FIG. 12, (a) shows the conventional case and (b) shows the case of the present embodiment.

As a result, the inspection section 6 and the coin selection section 7 such as the opposed type selection gate which is often arranged on the downstream side thereof.
And can be arranged adjacent to each other, downsizing of the device,
It is possible to shorten the transport path and realize high-speed processing accordingly.

Further, by providing the selection switch 78 for selecting the use or non-use of the second inspection section 24, it is possible to freely turn on and off the pattern detection processing function which is highly likely to be installed as an option. is there.

Furthermore, a plurality of determination tables for detecting the pattern of the second inspection unit 24 are provided in the first inspection unit 23.
After the detection result of the first inspection unit 23 is output prior to the second inspection unit 24, the second inspection unit 24 can be selected and limited for each detection result of the second inspection unit 24.
By selecting and limiting the determination table of No. 2, the determination process in the second inspection unit 24 becomes quicker.

In this case, as a measure against foreign coins brought in one after another, the capacity of the judgment table for pattern detection tends to increase significantly, and it is expected that the judgment processing time cannot be ignored. Especially effective for.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the coin processing device for depositing and withdrawing coins has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, medals are sorted according to type. The same can be applied to a coin processing device and the like.

[0063]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a coin processing device which can significantly reduce the processing time as an inspection unit and can increase the coin processing speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of an inspection unit used in a coin processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a top view, (b) is a vertical side view, and (c) is a view. Is a front view.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a coin processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical sensor in a first inspection unit.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a magnetic sensor in a first inspection unit.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric circuit of a first inspection unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric circuit of a second inspection section.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a general operation of the inspection unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a general operation of the inspection unit according to the second embodiment.

9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric circuit of a first inspection unit in the second embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating overall operation of the inspection unit according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating overall operation of the inspection unit according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the effect of the present invention in comparison with the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

C: coin (coin), 2 ... feeding section, 3 ... transport path,
4 ... transport surface, 5 ... transport belt, 6 ... inspection section, 7 ...
... Sorting section, 9 ... Temporary holding section, 10 ... Safe box by denomination, 1
1 ... take-out mechanism, 12, 13, 15, 16 ... transport path,
21 ... Optical sensor, 22 ... Magnetic sensor, 23 ... First inspection section, 24 ... Second inspection section, 25 ... Base member, 32 ... LED array (light source), 35 ... Line sensor (Photoelectric conversion element), 41 ... Primary core, 42 ... 1
Secondary coil, 44, 45 ... Secondary core, 46, 47 ... 2
Next coil, 51 ... Transparent plate, 52 ... LED array (light source), 53 ... Area sensor, 69 ... Arithmetic circuit, 70
A / D converter, 72 ... CPU, 73 ... RAM,
74 ... ROM, 75 ... Counter section, 76 ... Signal processing section, 77 ... Communication control section, 78 ... Selection switch (selection means), 81 ... Signal processing section, 82 ... CPU, 83
... DSP, 84 ... RAM, 85 ... ROM.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A coin processing device for determining at least the type of a coin while conveying the coin and sorting the coins by type, and a payout means for paying out one coin to be processed one by one, and a payout means for paying out by the payout means. Transporting means for transporting the coins one by one, a first inspecting portion arranged along the transporting means and detecting at least a material of the transported coin, and the transporting means of the first inspecting portion. A second inspection unit that is disposed near the upstream side with respect to the conveyance direction of the coin, and detects the pattern of the coin that is conveyed; The pattern detection process is started, and the second coin
Control means for controlling the first and second inspection parts so that the pattern detection process in the inspection part and the material detection process of the coin in the first inspection part are made to proceed in parallel, Judgment means for judging at least the type of the conveyed coins based on the detection result and the detection result of the second inspection section, and a selection means for selecting the conveyed coins by type based on the judgment result of the determination means. And a coin processing device. 2. A coin processing device for determining at least a type of a coin while conveying the coin and sorting the coins according to the type, and a feeding means for feeding one coin to be processed one by one, and a feeding means for feeding the coin. Transporting means for transporting the coins one by one, a magnetic sensor arranged along the transporting means for magnetically detecting the material of the transported coins, and
A first inspection section formed of an optical sensor for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin to be conveyed, and a first inspection section arranged near the upstream side of the conveyance means in the conveying direction, A light source that irradiates the surface of the coin to be conveyed, and a photoelectric conversion element that receives the light from the coin due to the light irradiation of the light source and converts it into an electric signal, and detects the pattern of the coin to be conveyed. With the second inspection unit that performs the above-mentioned operation, the coin inspection process is started in the second inspection unit, and the second coin inspection unit performs the second operation according to the progress of the transferred coin.
Control means for controlling the first and second inspection parts so that the pattern detection process in the inspection part and the material detection process and outer diameter detection process of the coin in the first inspection part are allowed to proceed in parallel. Determination means for determining at least the type of the coin to be transported based on the detection result of the inspection unit 1 and the detection result of the second inspection unit, and the type of the transported coin for each type based on the determination result of the determination unit. A coin processing device comprising: a sorting means for sorting into. 3. The second inspection unit includes a plurality of determination tables for determining the pattern of the coin based on the output of the photoelectric conversion element, and the plurality of determination tables based on the detection result of the first inspection unit. 3. The coin processing device according to claim 2, wherein a specific judgment table is selected from among the judgment tables, and the pattern of the coin is judged using the selected judgment table. 4. A coin processing device for determining at least the type of a coin while it is being conveyed and sorting the coins by type, and a payout means for paying out coins to be processed one by one, and a payout means for paying out the coins. Transporting means for transporting the coins one by one, a magnetic sensor arranged along the transporting means for magnetically detecting the material of the transported coins, and
A first inspection section formed of an optical sensor for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin to be conveyed, and a first inspection section arranged near the upstream side of the conveyance means in the conveying direction, A light source that irradiates the surface of the coin to be conveyed, and a photoelectric conversion element that receives the light from the coin due to the light irradiation of the light source and converts it into an electric signal, and detects the pattern of the coin to be conveyed. A second inspection unit, selection means for selecting whether to use or not use the second inspection unit, and when the use of the second inspection unit is selected by this selection unit, the coin to be conveyed First, the second
Of the pattern detection process of the coin in the inspection unit, and the pattern detection process of the second inspection unit and the material detection process of the coin in the first inspection unit as the conveyed coin advances. When the non-use of the second inspection section is selected by the selection means, the outer diameter detection processing and the outer diameter detection processing are performed in parallel, and only the coin material detection processing and the outer diameter detection processing by the first inspection section are performed. When the use of the second inspection unit is selected by the control unit that controls the first and second inspection units to be performed, the detection result of the first inspection unit and the first inspection unit At least the type of coin to be conveyed is determined based on the detection result of the second inspection unit, and when the non-use of the second inspection unit is selected by the selection unit, the detection result of the first inspection unit Based only on A coin processing device comprising: a determination unit that determines at least the type of coins to be conveyed; and a selection unit that selects the coins to be conveyed for each type based on the determination result of the determination unit. 5. A coin processing device for performing a coin receiving process and a payout process, wherein a payout unit for paying out a coin to be accepted or a coin to be paid out one by one, and a coin fed by the payout unit one by one. And a magnetic sensor arranged along the carrying means for magnetically detecting the material of the carried coin, and
A first inspection section formed of an optical sensor for optically detecting the outer diameter of the coin to be conveyed, and a first inspection section arranged near the upstream side of the conveyance means in the conveying direction, A light source that irradiates the surface of the coin to be conveyed, and a photoelectric conversion element that receives the light from the coin due to the light irradiation of the light source and converts it into an electric signal, and detects the pattern of the coin to be conveyed. When the coin is received, when the coin is received, first, the coin pattern detection process is started in the second inspection unit, and the coin is advanced. Accordingly, the pattern detection processing in the second inspection section and the first and second inspection sections are performed so that the coin material detection processing and the outer diameter detection processing in the first inspection section proceed in parallel. A first control unit for controlling, and a first control unit for determining the authenticity or the type of the accepted coin transported by the transport unit based on the detection result of the first inspection unit and the detection result of the second inspection unit. A determining means, a storing means for sorting and storing received coins conveyed by the conveying means based on the determination result of the first determining means, and a coin in the storing means when the coin is paid out. A take-out means for sending to the means, and a second controlling means for controlling the first and second inspection parts so that only the material detection process and the outer diameter detection process of the coin by the first inspection part are performed when the coin is paid out. A control means and a second means for judging the authenticity and the type of payout coins carried by the carrying means based on only the detection result of the first inspection section.
And a payout means for paying out payout coins carried by the carrying means based on the judgment result of the second judgment means.