JPH10255102A - Coin processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply insufficient coins without stopping the use of a coin processing, and to prevent the device from being large-scaled by providing a coin receiving processing system for processing coins inputted from a coin receiving port, and a supplied coin processing system for processing supplied coins. SOLUTION: The authenticity of an inputted coin is identified by a first coin identifying part 34, and when it is correct, it is transmitted to a first coin discriminating part 32, discriminated for each denomination, and stored for each denomination in a coin storing part 44 corresponding to each denomination. On the other hand, the authenticity of a coin inputted to a coin supplying store part 14 is identified by a second coin identifying part 78, and when it is correct, it is transmitted to a second coin discriminating part 76, discriminated for each denomination, and stored for each denomination in the coin storing part 44 corresponding to each denomination. Even when insufficient coins for changes are plural denomination, the coins can be stored in the coin storing part 44 corresponding to each denomination, and used as changes only by inputting the coins together to the coin supplying store part 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic ticket dispensing machine at a station, a depositing and dispensing terminal device of an online system installed in a financial institution, an automatic depositing and dispensing device installed in a racetrack, etc. The present invention relates to a coin processing device for processing gold.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A coin processing device calculates and displays the total amount of coins received from a coin receiving slot, and pays out change by subtracting the amount of a purchased ticket or the like from the received amount, or adjusts a ticket. It is a device that pays out the amount of coins. The coins to be used for the change and the like are stored in advance in a coin storage unit as reserves for each denomination, and coins input by the user are sorted for each denomination and used for change. . That is, the structure of the so-called circulation system is employed, and the stop of the coin processing device due to shortage of change is avoided.

[0003] Preparing the above reserves causes a shortage of the absolute amount of the denomination which is frequently used as change because the payment amount is larger than the input amount of the user. This is in order to prevent unexpected situations from occurring. In addition, the reason why the coins input by the user to the change is that if all the change is covered by the reserve only, the reserve must be frequently replenished, which becomes complicated.

A coin processing apparatus employing such a circulation system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-16879. This coin processing device includes a hopper feed mechanism for storing and aligning input coins and sending them out, separating coins sent from the hopper feed mechanism for each denomination, and sending out coins to a passage provided for each denomination. Sorting mechanism, a change storage mechanism provided for each passage, and a coin cassette or the like in which a large number of necessary coins are stored as reserves in addition to coins to be stored in the change storage mechanism. .

[0005] Coins (usually, a plurality of coins are usually present at a time and the denominations are often different at the same time) inserted into a deposit port of a coin processing device are aligned by a hopper feed mechanism and sent to a sorting mechanism to be denominated. Each change is separated and stored in the change storage mechanism. When a change is required, a required amount of coins is paid out from the change storage mechanism, and the coin is paid out to the outlet.

When there is a shortage of coins of a specific denomination in the change storage mechanism, coins are replenished from a coin cassette containing the corresponding denomination. In this case, there is no problem if a coin cassette is used for all denominations and has a large capacity, but it is difficult because the size of the apparatus is limited.

Therefore, in this apparatus, when the change becomes insufficient, a plurality of coins are put into the hopper portion of the hopper feed mechanism of the coin processing apparatus and sent out to the sorting mechanism by the hopper feed mechanism, and the change storage mechanism is operated. And store them as change.

[0008]

However, in this coin processing apparatus, coins to be replenished for change are also supplied with the same hopper feed mechanism as that used by the user as described above.
When refilling coins to use a sorting mechanism,
There is an inconvenience that the user must temporarily stop using it.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and can replenish insufficient coins without stopping the use of coin processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a coin processing device that does not become large in size.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a coin processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention performs a deposit and withdrawal process of coins as shown in FIG. A coin processing device configured to process coins inserted from the coin receiving port 16; and a replenishment coin processing system processing refilled coins. I do.

With this configuration, a replenishment coin processing system is provided, so that coins can be replenished while the payment processing is continued.

Further, the coin processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention further comprises a coin replenishment storage for storing a shortage of coins; and supplies the coins stored in the coin replenishment storage to the replenishment coin processing system. In such a configuration, a coin replenishment storage is provided, so that a shortage of coins can be replenished from the coin replenishment storage without using a deposit port.

Further, the coin processing device according to claim 3 is
A coin processing device configured to perform coin depositing / dispensing processing and to replenish insufficient coins; a coin replenishment storage for storing missing coins; and true / false of coins inserted from a coin deposit opening. A first coin discriminator for discriminating coins; a second coin discriminator for discriminating the authenticity of coins fed from the coin replenishment store; and coins passing through the first coin discriminator for each denomination. A first coin sorting unit that performs sorting; and a second coin sorting unit that sorts coins that have passed through the second coin identifying unit for each denomination.
A coin storage unit for storing coins sorted by the first and second coin sorting units for each denomination.

With this configuration, the coin inserted by the user from the coin insertion slot is identified by the first coin identification section as to whether the coin is correct or not, that is, excluding a fake coin or a deformed coin. Then, the coins are sent to the first coin sorting unit, sorted by denomination, and stored in the coin storage unit for each denomination. As for dispensing of change and the like, coins stored in a coin storing section are taken out by a necessary number and paid out to a dispensing port.

On the other hand, the coins inserted into the coin replenishment bin are discriminated by the second coin discriminating section whether the coins are correct or not. The coins are stored in the coin storage unit for each denomination. Even if a shortage of coins for change is a plurality of denominations, the coins can be stored in coin storage units corresponding to the respective denominations and used as change simply by throwing them into a coin replenishment store. At that time, the true / false identification of coins and the classification of denominations are based on coins inserted by users,
Since the authenticity of coins inserted into the coin replenishment bin and the classification of denominations are separately performed, there is no need to suspend use when replenishing coins.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a front view (cross-sectional view) of the coin processing device 10, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the coin processing device 10 viewed from the right side, showing a customer service surface. It is to be noted that the internal structure is shown in cross section for explanation. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of the coin processing apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB. The coin processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is unitized, and can be highly functionalized by assembling it with various vending machines, vending machines, and other automatic machine systems. Things.

As shown in FIG. 1, the coin processing apparatus 10 includes a main body 12 and a coin replenishment storage 14 which is attached to the upper part of the main body 12 so as to be able to be pulled out. In addition,
A method of pulling out the coin replenishment storage 14 will be described later. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body 12 has a deposit port 16 and a dispensing port 18 at an upper end, and a hopper for dispensing deposited coins below the deposit port 16. A feed mechanism 20 is provided.

The hopper feed mechanism 20 has a
Has a container-like hopper portion for temporarily storing an arbitrary number (one or two or more) of coins inserted from above, and the coins stored in this hopper portion are fed by a belt-type hopper feed mechanism. The sheets are arranged and sent one by one to the downstream.

A drive pulley 22 and a driven pulley 24 are arranged on the downstream side of the hopper feed mechanism 20 so as to face each other, and a transport belt 26 is wound between the pulley 22 and the coin transport. It is configured as a unit. A sorting plate 30 is disposed below the conveyor belt 26. The sorting plate 30 is formed with four holes for sorting coins for each denomination from upstream to downstream. Yes,
From the upstream side, in order of decreasing diameter, the sizes correspond to 50 yen coin, 100 yen coin, 10 yen coin, and 500 yen coin. The coins sandwiched between the conveyor belt 26 and the sorting plate 30 are sent down from the holes. The transport belt 26 and the sorting plate 30 form a first coin sorting unit 32.

As described above, in this embodiment, the deposit processing system is constituted by the hopper feed mechanism 20 and the coin sorting section 32.

Further, on the upstream side of the transport belt 26, a first
Is disposed, and has a function of identifying the authenticity of coins sent from the hopper feed mechanism 20 and sent between the sorting plate 30 and the transport belt 26.
The fake coin is rejected, and only the correct coin is sent to the first coin sorting unit 32. The fake coin referred to here is a concept that includes not only fake coins but also extremely worn coins, deformed coins, foreign coins, and the like.

Under each hole of the sorting plate 30 of the first coin sorting section 32, four frames 36 (50, 100, 1 from the upstream side) are provided.
0,500 yen coin), and transmission type sensors (not shown)
After discriminating the 0, 10, 500 yen coin, whether or not the coin has actually fallen into the corresponding frame according to the discrimination result, and the number of the dropped coins are counted.

On the lower side of these frames 36, there are formed deposit temporary holding sections 38 corresponding to the denominations, and the bottom thereof is swingable from both sides, as shown in FIG.
38b. In FIG. 1,
A deposit reject passage 40 is located on the right side of the deposit temporary holding unit, and is a first coin identification unit 34 among the deposited coins.
Is rejected and returned to the dispensing port 18 through the passage 40 (see FIG. 4).

As shown in FIG. 1, four hopper-shaped coin storages 44 corresponding to respective denominations are formed below the deposit temporary holding unit 38, and are used for 100-yen coins. Coin storage section 44b and coin storage section 4 for 10-yen coins
4c, a deposit return passage 46 is provided. Then, for example, when the flapper 38a on the right side of the deposit temporary holding unit 38 shown in FIG.
The coins temporarily stored in 8 return to the dispensing port 18 via the deposit return passage 46. On the other hand, when the flapper 38b on the left side is opened, the coins temporarily stored in the deposit storage section 38 fall into the coin storage section 44. The flapper 38a is opened when a user tries to deposit money and stops the processing in the middle of the deposit, or when the deposited coin is not properly separated.

As shown in FIG. 3, the coin storage section 44 is provided with a disc-shaped feed mechanism 50 which is rotated by a motor 48 at the bottom, and the coins stored therein by the rotation of the motor 48. Are sent downstream one by one. The transmission type sensor 5 is provided at the exit of the coin storage section 44.
2 is arranged to count the number of coins to be sent out. Further, a swingable flapper 54 is attached downstream of the exit of the coin storage unit 44, and the coins sent from the coin storage unit 44 according to the position of the flapper 54 receive a belt disposed below the coin. It is dropped on the conveyer 56 and paid out to the dispensing port 18 as change, or is dropped and collected in a collection box 58 provided at the lowermost part of the main body 12.

If there is a withdrawal mistake in which the required amount of change is different from the amount of coins sent from the coin storage unit 44, the belt conveyor 56 rotates in the reverse direction and is placed on the upper side. The coins are sent out to a dispensing reject box 60 installed at the lowermost end of the main body 12. Reference numeral 62 in FIG. 1 is a control board for controlling the operation of the coin processing device 10.

Next, a replenishing mechanism for coping with a shortage of coins for change will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the coin replenishment storage 14 for replenishing change is disposed above the main body 12, and a belt conveyor 14a is disposed therein. The coins inserted into the coin replenishment bin 14 are transported by the belt conveyor 14a and fall into the main body 12 from the opening 14b formed on the lower surface of the end of the coin replenishment bin 14. The method of refilling coins will be described later.

A hopper feed mechanism 70 is provided in the main body 12, which is located below the opening 14b of the coin replenishment box 14, for storing refill coins dropped from the opening 14b and feeding them out downstream. Hopper feed mechanism 70
Has a container-like hopper section for temporarily storing an arbitrary number (one or two or more) of coins that have been thrown into the coin replenishment bin 14 and dropped from the opening 14b, and are stored in this hopper section. The coins are arranged one by one by a disc-shaped feed mechanism provided at the bottom thereof and sent out downstream one by one.

A drive pulley (not shown) and a driven pulley (not shown) are arranged on the downstream side of the hopper feed mechanism 70 in the same manner as in the above-described coin processing. Between these, as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, a transport belt 72 similar to the transport belt 26 is wound and configured as a coin transport section. A sorting plate 74 is disposed below the conveyor belt 72, and the sorting plate 74 is formed with four holes for sorting coins for each denomination, arranged from upstream to downstream. Yes,
50 yen coin, 100 yen coin, 10 yen coin, 5 from upstream
It is a size corresponding to a 00 yen coin. Coins sent between the conveyor belt 72 and the sorting plate 74 fall down from the holes. The transport belt 72 and the sorting plate 74 constitute a second coin sorting unit 76.

As described above, in this embodiment, a replenishment coin processing system is constituted by the hopper feed mechanism 70 to the coin sorting section 76. This configuration is basically
This is the same as the deposited coin processing system including the hopper feed mechanism 20, the driving pulley 22, the driven pulley 24, the transport belt 26, and the first coin sorting unit 32.

Also, on the upstream side of the conveyor belt 72, FIG.
As shown in the figure, a second coin identification section 78 is disposed, and is sent from the hopper feed mechanism 70 and the sorting plate 74
And a function of discriminating between true and false coins sent between the conveyor belts 72. The fake coin is rejected, and only the correct coin is sent to the second coin sorting unit 76.

Below each hole of the sorting plate 74 of the second coin sorting section 76, four frames 80 (50, 100, 1 from the upstream side) are provided.
0,500 yen coin), and a transmission type sensor (not shown) is disposed in each
The number of 0,100,10,500 yen coins is counted.

As shown in FIG. 3, a replenishment coin temporary holding section 82 is formed below the frame 80 in correspondence with the denomination, and the bottom thereof is swingable from both sides.
a, 82b. When the flapper 82a located on the left side is opened, the coins temporarily stored in the replenishment coin reserving unit 82 are dropped and collected in a replenishment coin reject box 84 provided below. When the right flapper 82b is opened, the coins in the coin escrow unit 82 are stored in the four coin storage units 44 provided for the respective denominations (where coins deposited from the deposit opening 16 are stored). It is dropped and stored and used for change. This configuration is basically the same as that of the deposit temporary holding unit 38 and the flappers 38a and 38b on the lower side of the frame 36.

The structure of the coin processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment has been described above, and its operation has been briefly described. However, the coin processing apparatus 10 will be further described with reference to FIGS. The operation of the device 10 will be described. Note that FIG.
(A) is a front view, (b) is a side view, and (c)
Is a cross-sectional view, and (a) and (b) also show cross sections for convenience of explanation of the operation.

First, when a user inserts coins into the deposit port 16 of the coin processing device 10, the coins are temporarily stored in a hopper in the hopper feed mechanism 20, and the coins stored in the hopper are: The sheets are aligned by a belt-type hopper feed mechanism and sent out one sheet at a time.
At that time, if there is a foreign matter such as a clip,
As shown by the arrow in FIG. 5, the flapper 20 a provided on the side surface of the hopper feed mechanism 20 is opened, and the foreign matter is returned to the outlet 18.

The coins sent from the hopper feed mechanism 20 are sent downstream by the coin transport unit 28 for processing. At this time, the authenticity of the coin is identified by the first coin identification unit 34. If it is determined that the coin is a fake coin containing deformation or the like, as shown in FIG. 6, the flapper 30a at the sorting plate 30 is opened, the corresponding fake coin falls, and the deposit reject passage 40 as shown by the dashed arrow. At this time, the belt conveyor 56 moves rightward in the figure, toward the customer service surface, and the coins are returned to the outlet 18. In the case of regular coins, the coins are sorted into respective denominations by the first coin sorting unit 32 and held in the deposit temporary holding unit 38 as indicated by solid arrows.

Next, when the user purchases a ticket or the like, for example, operates the amount button to the destination, the coins held in the deposit holding section 38 are moved to the left side of the deposit holding section 38. The flapper 38b (FIG. 7 (c)) is opened and falls and stored in the coin storage section 44 as indicated by the arrow in FIG. On the other hand, when the user inserts a coin into the deposit port 16 but operates a button for canceling the purchase, the right flapper 38a (FIG. 8C) of the deposit temporary holding unit 38 opens, and FIG. As indicated by the arrow, the coins held in the deposit temporary holding unit 38 drop onto the belt conveyor 56 via the deposit return passage 46, and at this time, the belt conveyor 56 The coin moves in the plane direction, and the coin is returned to the dispensing port 18.

Next, the dispensing operation will be described. The difference between the input amount and the required amount is paid out as change. The rotation of the motor 48 of the coin storage unit 44 causes the feed mechanism 50 to rotate, and as shown by the arrow in FIG. Coins are sent out from the outlet one by one. The number is counted by the transmission type sensor 52 provided at the exit of the coin storage unit 44. At that time, the swingable flapper 54 provided on the downstream side of the exit of the coin storage section 44 is tilted downward, and the coins sent from the coin storage section 44 are indicated by broken lines in FIG. 9A. Then, it is dropped on the belt conveyor 56 disposed below and paid out to the dispensing port 18 as change.

When a withdrawal error occurs in which the amount of change is incorrect, the belt conveyor 56 rotates in the reverse direction, that is, moves to the opposite side to the customer service surface, and as shown in FIG. The discharged coin is discharged into the dispensing reject box 60 installed at the lowermost end of the main body 12 on the side opposite to the customer service surface.

Next, a method of replenishing coins will be described.
The coin processing device 10 uses coins inserted by the user as change, but replenishes coins when a shortage occurs. Also,
Before the operation of the coin processing device, the coins must be supplied to the coin processing device, which is also performed by a replenishment method via a replenishment storage.

First, as shown in FIG. 11, the coin replenishment storage 14 is pulled out of the main body 12 along a rail (not shown),
Insert coins from above. In this case, different coin types may be mixed in the input coin. When you have finished inserting coins,
When the coin replenishment storage 14 is returned to the original position of the main body 12 and operated, the internal belt conveyor 14a operates, and as shown in FIG. 12, coins are carried by the belt conveyor 14a,
It falls into the hopper feed mechanism 70 provided in the main body 12 from the opening 14b.

The coins stored in the hopper feed mechanism 70 are arranged one by one and sent out downstream. The authenticity is discriminated by the second coin discriminating section 78, and the denomination is performed by the second coin discriminating section 76 composed of the transport belt 72 and the sorting plate 74 arranged below the transport belt 72. Each coin is separated and stored in the replenishment coin temporary storage unit 82. Then, the right flapper 82b (FIG. 12)
(C)) opens, and the coins in the replenishment coin temporary holding unit 82 are
The coins are dropped and stored in four coin storages 44 provided corresponding to the respective denominations, and are used for change.

As shown in FIG. 13, to reject a coin inserted into the coin replenishment box 14, a flapper 82a (FIG.
When (c) is opened, the coins temporarily stored in the replenishment coin temporary storage unit 82 are dropped and collected by a replenishment coin reject box 84 provided below the coins as indicated by the arrow.

In order to collect the coins after the processing of the coin processing device 10 is completed, as shown in FIG. 14C, the flapper 5 provided near the exit of the coin storage section 44 is provided.
When you launch 4, the coins inside, as shown by the arrow,
It can be dropped into the collection box 58 and collected.

[0046]

As described above, the present invention is configured so that the coin inserted from the deposit port and the coin inserted into the coin replenishment bin are discriminated correctly and falsely and the denomination is separated. As a result, shortage coins can be replenished without stopping use of coin processing. In addition, coins of different denominations can be mixed and put into the coin replenishment storage, so that various coins can be replenished without increasing the size of the coin processing device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of one embodiment of a coin processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view on the customer service side of the coin processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the coin processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, taken along line AA.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the coin processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 taken along line BB.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a returning operation of a foreign substance.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a deposit processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a storing operation of a deposited coin.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a return operation of a deposited coin.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a dispensing operation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a dispensing rejection operation.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a coin replenishment method.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the flow of a refill coin.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an operation of replenishment rejection.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a flow of collecting coins.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Coin processing apparatus 12 Main body 14 Coin replenishment store 32 1st coin classification part 34 1st coin identification part 44 Coin storage part 76 2nd coin classification part 78 2nd coin identification part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A coin processing device configured to perform a deposit / withdrawal process of coins and to replenish insufficient coins; a deposit processing system for processing coins inserted from a coin deposit port; And a replenishment coin processing system for processing the used coins; a coin processing device. 2. The coin processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a coin replenishment storage for storing a shortage of coins; and configured to supply the coins stored in the coin replenishment storage to the replenishment coin processing system. apparatus. 3. A coin processing apparatus configured to perform a deposit / withdrawal process of coins and to replenish insufficient coins; a coin replenishment storage for storing missing coins; A first coin discriminator for discriminating the authenticity of the coin; a second coin discriminator for discriminating the authenticity of the coin fed out from the coin replenishment box; and a coin passing through the first coin discriminator. A first coin sorting unit for sorting coins for each denomination; a second coin sorting unit for sorting coins that have passed through the second coin identification unit for each denomination; and the first and second coin sorting. A coin storage unit for storing coins separated by the unit for each denomination; a coin processing device.