JPS6137180B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a paper sheet conveying device, and in particular to a paper sheet conveying device that can easily adjust the width of the sheet so that the width of the sheet is conveyed along the conveyance direction approximately at the center of the width of the conveyance path. Regarding a conveyance device.

Generally, when there are a plurality of paper sheets such as banknotes, postcards, and cards, it is necessary to align their widths and convey them. For example, when the paper sheet is a banknote, the banknote conveyance device is used in a bank operation labor-saving device such as an automatic teller machine, an automatic teller machine, or a currency exchange machine.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a bill conveying state of an automatic deposit machine as an example of the background of the present invention and to which the paper sheet conveying device of the present invention is applied. In the figure, a banknote inserted into an insertion slot 11 is transported to the position of an identification sensor 12 by a banknote transport mechanism (not shown). A width adjustment mechanism 13 is provided on the conveyance path of this conveyance mechanism. The width adjustment mechanism 13 aligns the widths of a plurality of banknotes transported by the transport mechanism perpendicular to the transport direction, and performs width adjustment so that the centers of the banknotes pass through the center of the transport path. The reason why the width adjustment mechanism 13 is provided in the conveyance path is that the area that is usually identified by the identification sensor 12 is limited to a certain partial area rather than the entire surface of the banknote, so that the position of the banknote in the width direction is shifted. This is to prevent incorrect identification from being made by using the identification sensor 12 to identify an area other than the area to be identified. The banknotes identified by the identification sensor 12 are further transported to the position of the distribution mechanism 14 by the transport mechanism. Based on the result of identification by the identification sensor 12, the sorting mechanism 14 stores the banknotes in a temporary storage section 15 if the banknotes are normal.
If the banknotes are defective (or abnormal), they are not brought to the temporary storage section 15 and are distributed to a conveyance path from the temporary storage section 15 to the distribution mechanism 16. Then, the defective banknotes are sorted by the transport mechanism to the sorting mechanism 1.
6, are sorted by the sorting mechanism 16 to a conveyance route leading to a return port 17, and are returned from the return port 17. On the other hand, normal banknotes are stored in the temporary storage section 1.
After being temporarily stored in step 5, when the deposit processing (for example, displaying and confirming the deposit amount, and recording it in a passbook) is completed, the money is transported again to the distribution mechanism 16 by the transport mechanism. Then, normal banknotes are transferred to the sorting mechanism 16.
The data is then distributed to the store section 18 and stored therein.

By the way, in the above-mentioned automatic teller machine, the width of the banknote differs depending on the type of banknote, and if the widthwise position of the banknote is misaligned when determining the authenticity of the banknote, the identification sensor 12 detects the width of the banknote. Since the reading pattern of the banknote is deviated from the reference pattern, accurate discrimination is difficult. Therefore, the width adjustment mechanism 13 is required to be precisely adjusted.

Conventionally, the adjustment of the width adjustment mechanism was performed by recording the state in which the banknotes are being transported on a video tape recorder (VTR), and then artificially adjusting the width adjustment mechanism 13 while reproducing the transport state of the banknotes on the VTR. The discrepancies were determined and adjustments were made based on the results. For this reason, the mounting position of the width adjustment mechanism 13 can only be adjusted in a factory where automatic teller machines and the like are shipped, and furthermore, the adjustment is extremely difficult and requires skill.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a system that allows easy adjustment of the mounting position of the width shifting mechanism, and allows adjustment to be made even after installation without being restricted by the location where the adjustment work is performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper sheet conveying device.

In summary, this invention involves drawing a diagonal line in advance on a square (rectangular) test sheet, and detecting the leading edge of the test sheet when the test sheet passes through the position of the width adjusting mechanism. Length data corresponding to the period until the portion is detected is obtained and the length data is displayed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to notify the staff of the length by which the test sheet is deviated in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and the staff can easily and quickly adjust the width adjustment mechanism. . Moreover,
There are no restrictions on the location of the adjustment work, and adjustments can be made even after installation, so adjustments can be made under optimal conditions.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are illustrative views of the mechanism of a paper sheet conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure A is a plan view of the width adjustment mechanism, conveyance path, and detection means, and Figure 2B is a detailed view of the width adjustment rotation member included in the width adjustment mechanism. In the figure, there are guides 2 on both sides of the conveyance path 21 along the conveyance direction.
2a and 22b are provided. Note that the transport route 21
Although not shown, a transport mechanism is provided. The distance between the guides 22a and 22b is selected to be slightly longer than the longest side of the banknote, which is an example of paper sheets that are transported on the transport path 21. and,
The conveyance path 21 is provided with a width adjustment mechanism 23 .

The width adjustment mechanism 23 includes width adjustment rotating members 23a and 23b on both sides of the conveyance path 21, and at least one of them (for example, 23b) is configured to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyance path 21 (that is, in the width direction). be done. This width adjustment rotating member 23a,
23b is an impeller 232 on the rotating shaft of the motor 231;
It is constructed by fixing. The impeller 232 is a disc 2
A plurality of blades 234 are formed radially around the circumference of the blade 33. The blades 234 are made of a flexible or elastic material (for example, an elastic film sheet), and preferably have protruding pieces 235 formed at the upper and lower ends of the radial tips. The portion sandwiched by the upper and lower protruding pieces 235 is selected to be approximately at the same height as the banknote conveyance surface of the conveyance path 21. Two width adjustment rotating members 23a, 23
The spacing between the blades 234 (in the case where the protruding piece 235 is formed, the part without the protruding piece 235 which is the tip of the blade 234) of b is selected to be approximately the same length as the banknote with the shortest long side. It can be done. And feather 23
The length of No. 4 in the radial direction is selected to be approximately 1/2 the difference between the banknote with the longest long side and the banknote with the shortest long side.

A detection means 24 is provided ahead of the mounting position of the width adjustment mechanism 23 in the conveyance direction (on the right side in FIG. 2A). The detection means 24 includes a sensor 24a, which is an example of a first detection means, and a sensor 24b, which is an example of a second detection means. The sensor 24a is provided approximately on the center line 25a of the conveyance path 21 in the width direction. The sensor 24b is provided on the line 25b at a position shifted in the width direction from the sensor 24a. This sensor 24a is used to detect the leading edge of a test sheet 30 (described in detail in FIG. 3 below) in the conveying direction. The sensor 24b is used to detect a part of the hatched area 31 drawn on the test sheet 30.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the test sheet 30. The test sheet 30 is chosen to be the same size as a banknote. That is, test paper sheets 30 are prepared in three sizes: a 1,000 yen bill, a 5,000 yen bill, and a 10,000 yen bill. In addition, if a slight decrease in width adjustment accuracy is acceptable, only one type of banknote (for example, 1,000 yen bill)
You can simply prepare a test sheet of size equivalent to . On this test sheet 30, a diagonal line portion 31 as shown is drawn on one side of 1/2 of the long side.
The method of drawing this diagonal line part 31 is such that the line thickness is tmm, the angle with respect to the conveyance direction is selected as θ, and the diagonal line part 31 is drawn at a position half the length of the short piece of the test paper sheet 30. The intersection is determined so that the intersection passes over the line 25b where the sensor 24b is arranged.
That is, when the center of the long side of the test paper sheet 30 passes through the center line 25a of the conveyance path 21 (that is, the position of the sensor 24a), the sensor 24b passes the length 1/2 of the short side of the test paper sheet 30. 2, a part of the shaded area 31 is detected.

Note that depending on how the hatched portion 31 is drawn, it is possible to detect the leading edge of the test paper sheet 30 and the hatched portion using only one sensor. In this case, a diagonal line can be drawn diagonally across the test sheet. At this time, one sensor derives a pulse corresponding to the period of the short side of the test sheet being conveyed, but when it detects the shaded area during that period, the output level changes significantly, so both outputs It can be detected using .

FIG. 4 shows the sensor 2 according to the state in which the test sheet 30 is shifted in the width direction for explaining the principle of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the output states of 4a and 24b. The output of the sensor 24a is a pulse signal with a period corresponding to the length of the short side of the test sheet 30.
The sensor 24b derives a signal with a very short pulse width approximately at the center of the output pulse period of the sensor 24a when the center of the long side of the test sheet 30 passes over the center line 25a. On the other hand, the test paper sheet 30 is
When the timing is shifted downward as shown in the figure (as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 4), the timing is earlier than the pulse output timing of the sensor 24b in the normal case. On the contrary, when the test sheet 30 is shifted upward from the center of the conveyance path (as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4), the output timing of the sensor 24b is delayed compared to the normal case. . Therefore, whether the output pulse of the sensor 24b is ahead or behind the normal output pulse phase,
Based on the deviation, it is possible to know how much the width adjusting rotating member 23b should be shifted in the direction towards the center in the width direction or in the direction towards the outside.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a banknote identification control circuit 40, which is an example of a calculation means, includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) 41,
It includes an AND gate 42 for deriving an interrupt signal, an input/output port 43, a counter 44, and a transmission control circuit 45. A customer service CRT display 46 of the automatic teller machine is connected to the transmission control circuit 45 . In addition, if necessary, the transmission control circuit 45 may include a display 47 provided on the test operation panel.
is connected, as well as an external test CRT.
A display 48 is connected. These CRTs
The display 46 or the display 47 or the test CRT display 48 is the test sheet 30.
It is used to display length data when adjusting the width adjusting mechanism 23 using the .

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the CPU 41.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2A to 6.

Under normal conditions, clock pulses are sent to the counter 44 from a clock pulse generation circuit (not shown).
given to. This counter 44 is the sensor 24a
The clock pulses are counted during the period when the output of the sensor 24a is given as a gate signal, but the counting operation is not performed unless there is an output from the sensor 24a.
By the way, the person in charge of adjusting the width adjustment mechanism 23 switches to the test mode when adjusting the position of the width adjustment mechanism 23. This test mode switching signal (TEST) is applied to input/output port 43 and bus line.
It is input to the CPU 41 via BL.

By the way, the CPU 41 receives the signal TEST representing the test mode at step (S in the figure) 1.
It is determined whether or not the has been input. Then, when the signal TEST is input, the CPU 41 performs a test mode operation for adjusting the width adjustment mechanism 23. That is, in step 2, the CPU 41 determines whether or not there is an output from the sensor 24a, and repeats this determination operation until there is an output from the sensor 24a. At this time, the staff member places the test sheet 30 on the conveyance path 21 in front of the mounting position of the width adjustment mechanism 23 and transports the test sheet 30. test paper leaf 3
When the sheet 0 passes the position of the width adjustment mechanism 23, it is conveyed at a position in the width direction determined by the position of the width adjustment rotation member 23b at that time. Then, when the leading edge of the test sheet 30 is conveyed to the position of the sensor 24a, the sensor 24a derives a high level.
The output of this sensor 24a is given to the counter 44 as a gate signal, and the input/output port 4
3 and pass line BL to the CPU 41. In response, the counter 44 starts counting clock pulses and provides an ever-changing count value to the CPU 41 via the pass line BL. CPU41
In step 3, it waits for the interrupt signal INT to be applied from the AND gate 42 in response to the output of the sensor 24a. At this time, the input/output port 43 provides a high level signal to one input terminal of the AND gate 42 based on the fact that the input/output port 43 is in the test mode. When the sensor 24b detects the shaded area 31, its output is given as the other input of the AND gate 42. In response, the AND gate 42 provides a high level interrupt signal INT to the CPU 41.

The CPU 41 performs interrupt processing in response to receiving the interrupt signal INT. In other words, CPU41
In step 4, the counter 44 reads the counted value (ie, length data) during the period from when the sensor 24a derives the gate signal until the output from the sensor 24b. Step 5
At this time, this count value is displayed on the CRT display 46 or 48 or the display 47 via the transmission control circuit 45.

In this way, from the output of the sensor 24a, the sensor 2
If the count value (i.e., length data) corresponding to the period up to the output of 4b is displayed on a display, etc., the staff member can perform It is possible to easily know how much the test paper sheet 30 is deviated from the center line 25a of the conveyance path 21, and therefore, the amount of adjustment of the width adjusting rotation member 23b can be easily known. Note that the data displayed on the CRT display or display is not only the actually measured count value of the counter 44, but also the count value in the normal case, or the difference between the count value in the normal case and the actual count value. The deviation may also be displayed.

Thereafter, the CPU 41 finishes the interrupt processing based on the output of the sensor 24b, returns to the original operation, and performs other test processing in step 6. If it is determined that the mode is not the test mode, the CPU 41 performs a normal deposit processing operation in step 7.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case of banknotes was explained as an example of paper sheets, but the technical idea of the present invention is not limited to a device for conveying banknotes, but can also be applied to width-aligning other paper sheets. Various types of paper sheets that need to be accurately positioned in the width direction with respect to the transport direction, such as postcard transport devices used to read postal codes, and checks in devices that read check record data. It should be pointed out that this can also be applied to things that are transported.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a state in which banknotes are conveyed in an automatic teller machine, which is an example of the background of the present invention and to which the paper sheet conveyance device of the present invention is applied. 2nd A
2B and 2B are illustrative views of the mechanism of a paper sheet conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the test sheet. FIG. 4 shows a test sheet 30, a sensor 24a, and a sensor 24a for explaining the principle of this invention.
24b is a diagram showing the relationship with the output state of 24b. Fifth
The figure is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the CPU 41. In the figure, 21 is a conveyance path, 22a, 22b
23 is a guide, 23 is a width adjustment mechanism, 23a, 23b are width adjustment rotation members, 24a, 24b are sensors, 30
40 is a test paper sheet, 40 is a banknote identification control circuit, 46,
48 is a CRT display, and 47 is a display device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A device that includes a conveyance mechanism that conveys paper sheets, and adjusts the width of the paper sheets using test paper sheets so that the paper sheets pass through approximately the center of the width of the conveyance mechanism along a conveyance path. , The test paper sheet is selected to have a rectangular planar shape, a diagonal line forming a certain angle with respect to one side is drawn, and the sheet is rotatably provided on both sides of the width direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the transport path. a width adjustment mechanism including a width adjustment rotating member, at least one width adjustment rotation member being movable in the width direction; when the test sheet passes through a position where the width adjustment mechanism is arranged, Detection means for detecting the leading edge in the conveying direction and also detecting a part of the diagonal line, and calculation means for calculating length data corresponding to a period from when the detection means detects the leading edge of the test sheet until it detects the diagonal line. , and a paper sheet conveying device comprising a display means for displaying the length data. 2. The detection means includes a first detection means that detects the leading edge of the test sheet in the conveying direction, and a second detection means that detects the diagonal line, and the first detection means includes the width adjusting mechanism. The second detection means is provided on one side in the width direction of the conveyance path than the first detection means, and the second detection means is provided on one side in the width direction of the conveyance path than the first detection means. A paper sheet conveying device according to claim 1. 3. The first detection means and the second detection means are optical detection means. A paper sheet conveying device according to claim 2. 4. The paper sheet conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the width adjustment rotating member included in the width adjustment mechanism is configured by forming a plurality of blades around its circumference.