JPS6129295B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a conveyed object monitoring and discrimination device that conveys objects such as banknotes and identifies them while monitoring the conveyance state. This system enables the monitoring and discrimination of conveyed objects and the output of the discrimination results at random.

[Prior Art] In general, in this type of conveyed object monitoring and discrimination device such as a bill validating device, various operations such as monitoring a conveying device for conveying objects such as paper sheets, discriminating the conveyed object, and outputting the discrimination results are conventionally performed. This was done using a single processor or a device with equivalent functionality.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional device, these operations have to be performed sequentially in chronological order, so the conveyance of paper sheet-like objects becomes high speed, and the communication with external devices becomes difficult. If the interface becomes random, for example, if the identification result of the preceding conveyed object must be output to an external device and the subsequent conveyed object must be identified at the same time, a single processor cannot handle this in principle. A situation will arise where you will no longer be able to benefit.
Therefore, there is a drawback that the object conveyance speed and interface processing speed are limited by the processing capacity of the processor.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and allows various operations such as monitoring the conveyance state of a conveyed object, discrimination of the conveyed object, and interfacing with an external device in response to the discrimination results to be performed independently and randomly. It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyed object monitoring and identification device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the present object, the present invention includes a first sensor group consisting of a plurality of sensors that detects monitoring information of the conveyance state of an object that is continuously conveyed; The object monitoring operation is started in synchronization with predetermined monitoring information output from the second sensor group consisting of a plurality of sensors that detect identification information and the first sensor group, and the transportation state of the object is determined based on the monitoring information. The first
and a second processor that starts an object discrimination operation in synchronization with predetermined monitoring information output from the first sensor group and performs object discrimination based on the discrimination information output from the second sensor group. It is characterized by being equipped with a processor.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration of a conveyed object monitoring and identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the arrangement positional relationship of sensors of the device. In Figure 1, 1
1 is a transport state monitoring upper processor (master processor) that interfaces with an external device (not shown) and monitors the transport state of the transported object. Reference numeral 4 denotes a lower processor (slave processor) for identifying conveyed objects, which performs a system check of the entire apparatus and identifies conveyed objects based on commands from the upper processor 1. These processors 1 and 4 transfer data to each other via bidirectional buses via input/output ports 2 and 5, respectively, and each has a dedicated random access memory 3 or 6. As a result, there is no access competition due to the shared memory as in the prior art, and various data processing can be performed smoothly at high speed. However, since processors 1 and 4 can operate independently of each other, the system basically operates asynchronously.

In the monitoring and identification device according to the present invention, the processor 1 that interfaces with external devices and monitors the conveyance state is the upper processor, and the processor 4 that identifies the conveyed object is positioned and operated as the lower processor. This prevents the system from going down due to the asynchronous operation described above, and avoids contention between processors 1 and 4.

Next, the basic operation in this embodiment will be explained.

Although processors 1 and 4 basically operate asynchronously as described above, it is necessary to synchronize the startup of processors 1 and 4 when starting operation upon power-on or when restarting operation upon system reset. Therefore, initial synchronization communication as shown in FIG. 3 is performed.

That is, at the start of initial operation, the upper processor 1 first sends the signal X'98' to the bidirectional bus, and then waits until the signal X'98' is sent back. On the other hand, lower processor 4
waits until signal X'98' is transmitted from processor 1, and upon detecting signal X'98', immediately sends that signal Wait until 'FF' is transmitted.

Next, when processor 1 confirms that the signal X'98' has been sent back, it sends the next signal X'FF.
' is sent to the bidirectional bus to complete its initial operation, and remains in an initial loop state at P level until an operation command is received from an external device. On the other hand, when processor 4 confirms that the next signal X'FF' has been sent, it sends the signal X'FF' back to the bidirectional bus, completes its initial operation, and then It remains in an initial loop state until an operation command from No. 1 is received.

Next, when starting the actual monitoring and discrimination operation, an operation start command from an external device is notified to the processor 1 through interrupt processing, so that the processor 1 shifts to an interrupt level state. In this interrupt level state, the upper processor 1 performs its own data processing operation according to the contents of the command data output from the external device to the interface bus, and also issues operation commands to the lower processor 4. report.

Operation commands from processors 1 to 4 are also notified by interrupt processing, so
Processor 4, also in the interrupt level state, branches into each assigned operation mode according to the contents of the command data output to the bidirectional bus from processor 1, and thereafter performs the above-mentioned operation process. A predetermined monitoring and discrimination operation is performed repeatedly.

Next, a description will be given of the basic operations of the processors 1 and 4 in the discrimination operation mode with respect to banknotes as conveyed objects that are being continuously conveyed. The upper processor 1 monitors the conveyance state for paper failure during conveyance by constantly receiving detection output signals from monitoring sensors S1, S8, and S9 distributed over the conveyance path 20, as shown in FIG. , by measuring the spacing between banknotes. Also, as shown in FIG. 2, the banknotes are discriminated by the lower processor 4 which receives detection output signals from a plurality of discrimination sensors IS1 to IS6 distributed on the conveyance path 20. Note that these monitoring and discrimination sensors, for example, use photo sensors, and are distributed at appropriate positions to monitor the conveyance state of banknotes or to discriminate banknotes.

In the banknote discrimination mode, the upper processor 1
constantly receives the detection output signals of the monitoring sensors S1, S8, and S9 through the inverter 11 and the NAND gate 13, respectively, and the input/output port 2, and monitors the conveyance state of the banknotes during continuous conveyance. The distance between the banknotes is measured based on the above-mentioned detection output signal. That is, when the trailing edge of the preceding banknote passes the position of the front monitoring sensors S8 and S9, how far has the leading edge of the following banknote been conveyed since it entered the position of the rear monitoring sensor S1? By measuring the elapsed time, the mutual distance between continuously conveyed banknotes is constantly measured.

On the other hand, the lower processor 4 starts from the time when the leading edge of the banknote enters the position of the rear monitoring sensors S2 and S3, and the rear end of the banknote enters the position of the front monitoring sensor S6,
The detection output signals received from the sensors S2, S3 and S6, S7 via the input/output port 5 through the NAND gates 14 and 15, respectively, and the monitoring sensor From S1 via inverter 12,
Detection is performed based on the detection output signal received via the input/output port 5. During the detection period, the lower processor 4 randomly accesses the detection output signals of various patterns on the banknote surface obtained from the discrimination sensors IS1 to IS6 from the amplifier group 9 via the analog-to-digital converter 8. The banknote is read into the memory 10, and the type, authenticity, etc. of the banknote are discriminated based on the output read from the random access memory 10.

Then, the rear end of the bill is detected by the monitoring sensor S6,
At the time when S7 is passed, the processor 4 transmits the discrimination result to the upper processor 1. The processor 1 creates final bill discrimination information based on the data of the discrimination results and the data of the above-mentioned mutual interval measurement results of the bills, and monitors the terminal end of the bill at the final position using the monitoring sensors S8 and S9. After a certain period of time has elapsed since the banknote passed through the banknote, the created banknote discrimination information is reported to an external device.

In addition, the position, number, etc. of each sensor in the above-mentioned configuration example may be changed appropriately depending on the shape, size, pattern, etc. of the banknote to be discriminated, that is, the conveyed object.
Can be set arbitrarily. Further, the timing of each of the above-mentioned operations of the lower processor 4 is controlled by a timing pulse generator 7.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a plurality of processors are provided, and each processor is connected to a Since interrupt processing is performed by the output, it is possible to distinguish the type and authenticity of conveyed objects that are connected and conveyed at a high speed that cannot be processed by a single processor, and to perform arbitrary (random) processing with external devices. ) and the transportation status can be reliably and easily monitored. Note that such effects are not limited to the above-mentioned example of banknotes, but can also be obtained in the same way when monitoring and identifying conveyed objects that are loaded in bulk and conveyed at high speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of a conveyed object monitoring and identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the arrangement and configuration of each sensor of the monitoring and identification device, and FIG. The figure is also a diagram showing an example of the mode of operation. 1, 4... Processor, 2, 5... Input/output port, 3, 6, 10... Random access memory,
7...Timing pulse generator, 8...Analog-digital converter, 9...Amplifier, 11,1
2... Inverter, 13, 14, 15... NAND gate, 20... Conveyance path, S1-S9... Monitoring sensor, IS1-IS6... Discrimination sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first sensor group consisting of a plurality of sensors that detects monitoring information on the conveyance state of an object that is continuously conveyed; and a second sensor group consisting of a plurality of sensors that detects identification information of the object. a group of sensors, and a first processor that starts a monitoring operation of the object in synchronization with predetermined monitoring information output from the first sensor group and monitors the conveyance state of the object based on the monitoring information. and starting a discrimination operation of the object in synchronization with predetermined monitoring information output from the first sensor group, and performing discrimination of the object based on the discrimination information output from the second sensor group. A conveyed object monitoring and identification device comprising: a second processor;