JPH10143702A - Method for detecting plain and flat false coin and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and device for detecting a plain and flat false coin with high detecting precision. SOLUTION: The material, outer diameter, and thickness of a coin 13 is confirmed at first by a magnetic detecting device 10, and the presence of a pattern on the surface of the coin 13 is confirmed by a photoelectric detecting device 11. Even when the coin 13 is judged as a true coin according to the material, outer diameter, and thickness of the coin detected by the magnetic detecting device 10, the coin 13 is judged as a flat (plain) false coin as long as the presence of a pattern on the surface of the coin 13 is not confirmed by the photoelectric detecting device 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for detecting a plain flat fake coin, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for detecting a plain flat fake coin using photoelectric technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, forging coins is mainly performed by casting and pressing. With respect to a false coin produced by casting, the mixing error, the outer diameter error, and the thickness error of the material components could be identified by a conventional magnetic detection device. Such a magnetic detection device is composed of a set of induction coils arranged at different positions on a coin orbit, and a signal induced and generated by interaction with a coin in an oscillating magnetic field generated by each induction coil by an alternating current. Is used to detect the material, outer diameter and thickness of the coin. For fake coins manufactured by press, it is possible for a coin counterfeiter to obtain a steel sheet material close to the material of the true coin, and if the error between the steel sheet thickness and the thickness of the true coin is 0.2 mm or less, precision With the use of a simple press manufacturing technology, the outer diameter error of the manufactured fake coin could be reduced to 0.05 mm or less. However, the magnetic detection device of the related art could not detect.

[0003] The point that the fake coin manufactured by pressing such a steel sheet raw material is the most different from the true coin is that the surface of the fake coin has no pattern with irregularities at all. If a pattern is to be formed on the surface, it must be subjected to secondary processing, which not only raises the cost of manufacturing fake coins, but also raises the risk of violating the criminal law as evidence of counterfeit currency. It does not fit. Therefore, fake coins are not usually subjected to secondary processing, and almost all fake coins found in vending machines are flat plain coins manufactured by press, but such flat plain coins are Currently, it is one of the most vexing problems for vending companies.

[0004]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is that the prior art magnetic detecting device could not detect a false coin by a precise press manufacturing technique. A main object of the present invention is to provide an improved false coin detection method for distinguishing a plain false coin from a true coin by using a photoelectric detection technique in combination.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a plain and flat false coin detecting device which detects a plain and flat false coin by using a photoelectric detecting device in combination with a magnetic detecting device.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a plain and flat false coin detecting method according to the present invention detects the material, outer diameter, thickness and surface pattern of the coin by using two kinds of detecting means together. , A step of obtaining predetermined detection data and a step of comparing the detection data and the predetermined data, and if the detection data and the predetermined data do not match, determining a coin as a fake coin.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a plain and flat false coin detecting device according to the present invention is provided for detecting whether or not a coin is a false coin. And at least one magnetic detection device for detecting the pattern and outputting a detection result, at least one photoelectric detection device for detecting a pattern on the coin surface and outputting the detection result, and the magnetic detection device and the photoelectric detection device. It is electrically connected, receives detection results from the magnetic detection device and the photoelectric detection device, determines whether the coin is a fake coin based on the detection result, and detects the supplied magnetic detection device. A central processing unit (CPU) that controls whether the photoelectric detection device should detect a coin based on the result is provided.

To briefly explain the operation of the present invention, if the coin is a true coin, the material of the coin is first determined by a magnetic detection device.
The outer diameter and thickness are confirmed, and then the pattern is confirmed on the coin surface by the photoelectric detection device.If it is a fake coin, the coin material, outer diameter and thickness are detected by the magnetic detection device. Even if the coin is determined to be a true coin, the coin is determined to be a flat (plain) fake coin unless the photoelectric detection device confirms that there is a pattern on the coin surface.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a plain and flat false coin detection method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in FIG.
The device of the present invention comprises at least one magnetic sensing device 10 and photoelectric sensing device 11. Generally, the coin orbit described later must be wider than the coin, and the coin swings in the coin orbit. Therefore, in order to make the detection result of the magnetic detection device 10 more precise, the magnetic detection device 10 according to this embodiment includes two magnetic detection units 10a and 10a.
b is provided. Of course, the manufacturer may employ one or more magnetic sensing means as needed. The structure and principle of the magnetic sensing device 10 will not be described again here because the magnetic sensing device 10 belongs to a known technique and those skilled in the art understand the function, structure, and operating principle. Further, for convenience of explanation, in this embodiment, a vending machine (described later) is described as an example, but as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the present invention can be applied to other devices. This is possible, and the present invention is not intended to be limited by this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, the magnetic detecting means 10a and the magnetic detecting means 10b are provided on the coin orbit 1 of the vending machine 15.
Central processing unit (CPU)
12 (hereinafter, referred to as CPU 12), detects the material, outer diameter, and thickness of the inserted coin, and inputs the detection result to the CPU 12. The photoelectric detection device 11 is disposed on one side of the coin orbit 14 and has a C
The CPU 13 is electrically connected to the PU 12, detects the surface form of the coin 13 inserted in response to a command from the CPU 12, and inputs the detection result to the CPU 12. The main feature of the present invention lies in the photoelectric detection device 11, and all the other components used together are known devices. Therefore, in this specification, only the photoelectric detection device 11 will be described in detail below.

Therefore, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, when coin 13 is inserted in step 20 in FIG.
Proceeding to step 21, the coin 13 rolls on the coin orbit 14 and the magnetic detecting means 10a and the magnetic detecting means 10
b, the magnetic detecting means 10a and the magnetic detecting means 10b detect the material, outer diameter, and thickness of the inserted coin 13 and supply the detection result to the CPU 12. The CPU 12 compares the supplied detection result with the conditions of the material, the outer diameter, and the thickness of the true coin, and if the coin 13 does not satisfy the conditions of the thickness, the material, and the outer diameter of the true coin, a false result is obtained. It is determined that the coin is a coin, and the process proceeds to step 22,
Without the detection by the photoelectric detecting device 11, the coin 1
3 is delivered directly to the return. If the coin 13 satisfies the conditions of the material, the outer diameter, and the thickness of the true coin, the process proceeds to step 23, where a control signal is sent from the CPU 12 to the photoelectric detecting device 11 to detect the surface pattern of the coin 13. The detection result is supplied from the photoelectric detection device 11 to the CPU 12, and the detection result received by the CPU 12 is compared with the condition of the surface pattern of the true coin, and if the condition is satisfied that the coin 13 does not satisfy the condition of the surface pattern of the true coin Is determined to be a fake coin, the process proceeds to step 22, and the coin 13 is delivered to the return port. If the coin 13 satisfies the condition of a true coin surface pattern, it is determined that the coin is a true coin and the process proceeds to step 24 to deliver the coin 13 to the coin box.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a specific example of the photoelectric detection device 11 in a partially sectional view. The photoelectric detecting device 11 includes a light emitting element 30, a light detector 31, a lens module 32
And one optical fiber 33, wherein the photodetector 31 is connected to the optical fiber 33,
The lens module 32 is connected to the optical fiber 33 and receives the reflected light of the incident light 37 and outputs it as a current signal or a voltage signal. θ can be adjusted. 4 shows components of the lens module 32, and FIG. 5 shows components of the optical fiber 33.

In FIG. 4, a lens module 32 is
The lens cylinder 40, the convex lens 41, the space ring 42, and the connector 43 are provided. The lens cylinder 40 is an outer housing of the lens module 32, and the convex lens 41 is disposed inside the lens cylinder 40. The space ring 42 is connected to the optical fiber 33 and adjusts the distance between the edge surface 34 of the optical fiber 33 and the convex lens 41 so that the optical fiber 33 and the convex lens 41 are accurately connected. Control to keep the focal length. The connector 43 is for connecting the optical fiber 33 and the lens cylinder 40.

In FIG. 5, in order to reduce the mounting space, the optical fiber 33 is, for example, a coaxial optical fiber as shown in the figure, and has a core incident optical fiber 50 and a clad receiving optical fiber 51 having a large diameter. Among them, the core incident optical fiber 5
0 is connected to the output terminal of the light emitting element 30 as shown in FIG.
1 input terminal. In addition, the light emitting element 30
For example, it may be a light emitting diode (LED) or a laser diode, and the light detector 31 may be, for example, a photodiode sensor or a photoelectric transistor sensor.

In FIG. 1 and FIGS. 3 to 6, the input terminal of the light emitting element 30 is electrically connected to the CPU 12.
When it is determined that the coin 13 is a true coin through the detection by the magnetic detecting unit 10a and the magnetic detecting unit 10b, the CPU 12 sends the light emission signal 35 to the light emitting element 30 and outputs the emission light 36. The emitted light 36 is guided to the convex lens 41 via the core incident optical fiber 50, and becomes the incident light 37 through the transmission of the convex lens 41. When the coin 13 reaches the light source irradiation area, the incident light 37 is focused on the surface of the coin 13. At this time, if coin 1
If 3 is a true coin, as shown in FIG.
Since the uneven pattern 60 on the surface scatters the incident light 37, a part of the reflected light ray 38 is returned to the incident direction. Then, a part of the reflected light beam 38 is condensed by the convex lens 41 and enters the clad receiving optical fiber 51, and as shown in FIG.
It is led to. The light detector 31 converts the light signal into the electric signal 39 again and inputs the electric signal 39 to the CPU 12.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIGS. 6 to 9, the electric signal 39 of FIG. 3 is synthesized from the edge reflection signal 70 and the pattern reflection signal 71 shown in FIG. Consists of a number of waveforms similar to noise. this is,
The concavo-convex pattern 60 oscillates with the coin 13 and the incident light 3
7 is randomly reflected. The edge reflection signal 70 is a reflection signal due to the edge 61 of the coin 13. The CPU 12 obtains the edge reflection signal 70 and the pattern reflection signal 71 shown in FIG.
It is determined that the coin 13 is a true coin. Conversely, if the coin 13 is a fake coin, the surface of the coin 13 is a flat surface with no pattern (plain color), so that the incident light 37 is reflected by the flat surface 80 of the coin 13 as shown in FIG. The light ray 38 does not return in the incident direction, and the reflected light ray 38
1 (FIG. 3), only the edge reflected signal 90 (FIG. 9) due to the edge 81 of the coin 13 is detected and becomes the electric signal 39 shown in FIG. And CP
When such an electric signal 39 is input, U12 determines that the coin 13 is a fake coin. As can be seen from a comparison between FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, the detection results of the true coin and the false coin include the edge reflection signal 70 and the edge reflection signal 90 in both cases. It is possible to generate a pattern reflection signal 71 in which only the pattern 60 has many waveforms similar to noise. Thus, combining these two distinctly different photoelectric detection signals with a magnetic detection process of the prior art would result in coin 1
3 can be more accurately identified.

The intersection angle .theta. Between the incident direction of the incident light 37 and the coin orbit 14 shown in FIG. 3 can be changed, and the user can adjust it to an appropriate one according to actual needs. . In practice, the surface roughness of the surface of the fake coin is different, and the rougher the surface, the higher the probability that the scattered light rays are returned to the incident direction. The probability of reflection must be low. However, if the intersection angle θ is too small, the reflection signal of the true coin is also reduced, and most of the true coins whose surface is worn or dirty and whose irregularities are not clear are determined to be false coins. Become. Therefore, the limit detection condition can be adjusted by adjusting the intersection angle θ, and the smaller the intersection angle θ, the more severe the limit detection condition.

Furthermore, if the coin orbit 14 is slightly wide, when the coin 13 swings while rolling, the swing changes the crossing angle between the incident direction of the incident light 37 and the coin 13 surface. Therefore, if the limit detection condition is severe, a perfect true coin is erroneously determined to be a false coin by this swing.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the photoelectric element 100 and the photoelectric element 101 are arranged on both sides of the coin orbit 107, and the incident light 102 and the incident light 103 are respectively incident thereon. Assuming that the intersection angles of 103 and coin 104 are 105 and 106, respectively, when one of intersection angles 105 and 106 becomes smaller, the other becomes larger when coin 104 swings. For example, as shown in FIG.
When the coin 104 is tilted to the right as shown by the dotted line, the intersection angle 105 becomes smaller and the intersection angle 106 becomes larger. Therefore, the CPU 12 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent an error due to swing.

Although the method and apparatus for detecting a plain flat fake coin according to the present invention have been disclosed as described above according to the preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, but to any person skilled in the art. However, it is natural that some modifications and decorations can be made in the spirit and scope of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention should be based on the claims described in the appended claims. .

[0021]

As is clear from the above description, the method and the apparatus for detecting a plain and flat false coin according to the present invention can improve the detection accuracy by using the photoelectric detection technique together. In addition, the fake coin identification function can be greatly improved, and the business loss of the vending machine and the difficulty in processing the fake coin can be reduced. Further, in the present invention, since the limit detection condition can be adjusted by adjusting the intersection angle between the incident light and the coin orbit, it is possible to adjust the sensitivity of the false coin detection according to practical needs. It will be possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a plain and flat false coin detecting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a coin detecting procedure of a method and an apparatus for detecting a plain and flat false coin according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a specific cross section of a specific example of the photoelectric detection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded sectional view showing the lens module of FIG. 3 taken out therefrom;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the coaxial optical fiber of FIG. 3 taken out therefrom;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view for explaining true coin detection by the photoelectric detection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram of a photoelectric detection signal obtained by true coin detection by the photoelectric detection device of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view for explaining fake coin detection by the photoelectric detection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram of a photoelectric detection signal obtained by detecting a fake coin by the photoelectric detection device of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing another example of a method and a device for detecting a plain and flat false coin according to the present invention, in which photoelectric detection devices are respectively arranged on both sides of a coin orbit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Magnetic detection device 11 Photoelectric detection device 12 CPU 13 Coin 30 Light emitting element 31 Photodetector 32 Lens module 33 Optical fiber 36 Emitted light 37 Incident light 40 Lens cylinder 41 Convex lens 42 Space ring 43 Connector 50 Core incident optical fiber 51 Cladding receiving optical fiber 60 Irregularity Pattern θ intersection angle

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (71) Applicant 596170000 No. 195, Chung Hsing Road, Sec. 4, Chutung, H. sinchu 31015, Taiwan, R .; O. C. (72) Inventor Thun-Fu Shei Taiwan Tsing Lin Cian Sang Min 16-16, No. 107

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. To determine whether a coin is a fake coin: a. The first detecting means detects the pattern on the coin surface,
Obtaining first sensing data; b. Comparing the first detection data with the predetermined data, and if the first detection data does not match the predetermined data, determining that the coin is a fake coin. Coin detection method. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first detecting means is at least one photoelectric detecting device. 3. The step (a) further comprises: detecting a material, an outer diameter, and a thickness of the coin by a second detector,
Obtaining the second detection data, wherein the step (b) further comprises comparing the first detection data and the second detection data with predetermined data, and determining whether any one of the first detection data and the second detection data. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining that the coin is a true coin if the first coin conforms to predetermined data. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said second detecting means is at least one magnetic detecting device. 5. In order to detect whether or not the coin is a fake coin, at least one photoelectric detecting device for detecting a surface pattern of the coin and outputting a detection result, and electrically connecting the photoelectric detecting device. And a central processing unit (CPU) that receives the detection result of the photoelectric detection device and determines whether the coin is a fake coin based on the detection result. apparatus. 6. At least one magnetic detection device that detects a material, an outer diameter, and a thickness of the coin and outputs a detection result, in order to detect whether the coin is a fake coin, At least one photoelectric detection device that detects a pattern on the surface and outputs a detection result; and is electrically connected to the magnetic detection device and the photoelectric detection device, and receives detection results from the magnetic detection device and the photoelectric detection device. Determining whether the coin is a fake coin based on the detection result, and determining whether the photoelectric detection device should detect the coin based on the detection result of the supplied magnetic detection device. And a central processing unit (CPU) for controlling the operation. 7. The photoelectric detection device, comprising: a light emitting element for generating emission light; an optical fiber connected to the light emitting element for guiding the emission light; and an optical fiber connected to the optical fiber for converting the emission light into incident light. A lens module that focuses on the coin surface and guides a part of the reflected light beam of which the incident light is reflected on the coin surface again to the optical fiber; and a reflection part connected to the optical fiber and guided by the optical fiber. 7. The plain flat fake coin detecting device according to claim 5, further comprising: a light detector that receives the light beam, converts it into an electric signal, and inputs the electric signal to the central processing unit (CPU). 8. The device for detecting a plain and false fake coin according to claim 7, wherein the light emitting element is a light emitting diode. 9. The plain flat false coin detecting device according to claim 7, wherein the light emitting element is a laser diode. 10. The photodetector according to claim 1, wherein said photodetector is a photodiode.
The solid and flat false coin detecting device according to claim 7, which is a sensor. 11. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the photodetector is a photoelectric transistor sensor. 12. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the optical fiber is a single coaxial optical fiber. 13. The optical fiber according to claim 7, wherein the optical fiber comprises: a core incident optical fiber for guiding the emitted light to the lens module; and a clad receiving optical fiber for guiding the part of the reflected light to the photodetector. 12
The false flat coin detection device according to the above description. 14. The lens module, comprising: a lens cylinder serving as an outer housing of the lens module; and a lens cylinder installed inside the lens cylinder, for focusing the incident light on the coin surface and for reflecting the part of the reflected light. A convex lens for transmitting to the coaxial optical fiber, interposed between the optical fiber and the convex lens, adjust the distance between the edge surface of the optical fiber and the convex lens,
A space ring for controlling an accurate focal length of an optical fiber and a convex lens, and a connector for connecting the lens cylinder and a coaxial optical fiber.
2. The plain flat false coin detection device according to item 2. 15. The plain flat fake coin according to claim 7, wherein an intersection angle between the incident light and the passage path of the coin is adjustable, and determines a limit detection condition of the photoelectric detection device. Detection device.