JP2985402B2 - Coin identification device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coin discriminating apparatus for electrically discriminating the authenticity and type of coins.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, vending machines have become widespread, and a coin discriminating apparatus used therein has been required to have high discrimination performance.

The conventional coin discriminating apparatus is provided with a material, thickness, outer diameter sensor and means for detecting the maximum change amount of the output of each sensor, and detects the maximum change amount of the output of each sensor when passing the coin. Identification was performed by detecting the material, thickness, and outer diameter.

[0004]

However, in the conventional structure, a false coin having substantially the same thickness and outer diameter with a material close to a genuine coin, such as a flat metal formed by simply punching a metal plate, is used illegally. There was something.

An object of the present invention is to provide a coin identification device capable of preventing such illegal use of counterfeit coins.

[0006]

In order to solve this problem, a coin discriminating apparatus according to the present invention comprises a coin insertion slot and a coin insertion slot.
A coin passage connected to the entrance and arranged in this coin passage
Sensor and the detection means connected to this sensor
In the coin identification device having the coin, the sensor is the coin
Core placed in the passage and coil wound around this core
And detects the thickness of the coin passing through the coin passage.
And the detection means is a coin thickness sensor.
When the outer peripheral portion passes near the thickness sensor, a convex portion formed on the outer peripheral portion of the coin ( hereinafter coining and
) Is detected.

[0007]

[Function] With this configuration, the thickness of the coin is measured by the thickness sensor.
In addition to the detection, it is possible to detect the degree of coining of coins, so that it is possible to identify counterfeit coins having different degrees of coining from genuine coins, such as flat metal, and prevent unauthorized use.

[0008]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a coin identification device according to the present invention. A coin insertion slot 2 is provided at an upper portion of the coin identification device main body 1, and a coin passage 3 is connected downward from the insertion slot 2. A material / thickness sensor 4 and an outer diameter sensor 5 are arranged on the side wall of the coin passage 3. The coin passage 3 is connected to a coin outlet 6 located at the lower part of the coin discriminating apparatus main body 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit. The material sensor 7 includes a pot type core made of a ferrite material disposed to face the coin passage 3, a coil wound inside the core, an oscillation circuit formed by the coil, and an oscillation waveform from a sine wave to an oscillation level. And a half-wave rectifier circuit for converting the signal into The coils wound around the opposing cores are connected in series and in-phase so that the mutual inductance becomes positive, and the output thereof enters the material detecting means 9 and the coining detecting means 11. The thickness sensor 8 has the same configuration as the material sensor 7, but the coils wound around the opposing cores are connected in series and anti-phase so that the mutual inductance becomes negative, and the outputs thereof are the thickness detecting means 10 and the coining detecting means. Enter 11. In this embodiment, the material sensor 7 and the thickness sensor 8 also serve as the core, and FIG.
It is shown as a sensor 4 for both thickness and thickness. Outer diameter sensor 5
The coil has the same configuration as the material sensor 7, and the coils are connected in series and in-phase to enter the outer diameter detecting means 12.

Each of the detection means 9 to 12 is constituted by an A / D conversion circuit and a detection circuit.
Enter ~ 16. The comparison circuits 13 to 16 are also connected to the storage circuit 17. The outputs of the comparison circuits 13 to 16 enter a judgment circuit 18, and the judgment circuit 18 outputs a judgment signal 19.

The operation of the coin discriminating apparatus configured as described above will be described. When a coin inserted from the coin insertion slot 2 approaches the sensor, the impedance of the coil changes, and the oscillation level of the oscillation circuit changes accordingly. The amount of change is formed so as to differ mainly depending on the material of the coin in the material sensor 7, mainly according to the thickness of the coin in the thickness sensor 8, and mainly according to the outer diameter of the coin in the outer diameter sensor 5. The material detecting means 9, the thickness detecting means 10, and the outer diameter detecting means 12 detect the maximum change amount of the oscillation level at the time of passing the coin and output it to the corresponding comparing circuits 13, 14, 16 respectively.

Next, the operation of the coining detecting means 11 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows output waveforms 20 and 30 of the thickness sensor 8 when the coin passes, and FIG. 2 shows an output waveform 40 of the material sensor 7. In each case, the vertical axis represents the amount of change in the oscillation level, and the horizontal axis represents time. The solid line in FIG. 1 is the waveform 20 of a Japanese 500 yen coin, and the broken line is the waveform 30 of a flat metal plate whose material, thickness and outer diameter are almost equal to those of the 500 yen coin. The portion where the output of the thickness sensor 8 differs between the 500 yen coin and the flat metal coincides with the timing when the outer periphery of the coin passes near the thickness sensor, and the output at this time is considered to indicate the degree of coining of the coin. Can be The present invention is intended to detect the degree of coining of coins based on the output of the thickness sensor 8 at this time. The output waveform 40 of the material sensor 7 is substantially the same for a 500 yen coin and a flat metal as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, a value obtained by subtracting a constant value 23 from the maximum value 21 of the output of the thickness sensor 8 is set as a threshold value 22,
Time 2 during which the output of thickness sensor 8 is greater than or equal to threshold value 22
The degree of coining is detected by 00 and 300. If the threshold value 22 is fixed, it is easily affected by fluctuations in temperature and power supply voltage.
Although the value is obtained by subtracting 3, 3 may be a product of the maximum value 21 and a constant value (for example, 0.9). Time 200, 300 during which the output of thickness sensor 8 is greater than or equal to threshold value 22
Is obtained by taking the difference between times 210 and 310 at which the output exceeds the threshold value 22 and times 220 and 320 at which the output falls below the threshold value 22.
In the present embodiment, the coining detecting means 11 is the thickness sensor 8
Of the thickness sensor 8 is equal to the threshold 22, and the time at this time is set when the output of the thickness sensor 8 is equal to the threshold 22, and the threshold 2 is set otherwise.
The time obtained by performing interpolation with a straight line from two input values sandwiching 2 is used.

Since the times 200 and 300 during which the output of the thickness sensor 8 thus determined is equal to or more than the threshold value 22 are obviously affected by the passing speed of coins, it is necessary to correct the passing speed. In this embodiment, the time 400 between the two maxima of the output of the material sensor 7 which is considered to be proportional to the passing speed of the coin is used. Correction is possible without limitation. This time 400 is a time 410 when the output of the material sensor 7 takes the first maximum and a time 420 when the output takes the second maximum.
And take the difference. To more accurately determine the time at which the local maximum was taken, the first local maximum will be described as an example.
A value obtained by subtracting the constant value 43 from 1 is set as the threshold value 42, and a time point between the time point 411 above and below the threshold value 412 and the time point 412 below the threshold value 42 is a time point 410 when the first maximum is taken.
The coining detecting means 11 determines the time 20 during which the output of the thickness sensor 8 obtained as described above is equal to or greater than the threshold value 22.
A signal indicating a value obtained by dividing 0,300 by the time 400 between two maxima of the output of the material sensor 7 is output to the comparison circuit 15.

The storage circuit 17 stores a reference value for each type of genuine coin. The comparison circuits 13 to 16 compare the input from each of the detection means 9 to 12 with the reference of the storage circuit 17, and if they match within the allowable error range, a signal indicating the type of the genuine coin is used as a reference value of any type. If they do not match, a signal indicating that the coin is a counterfeit is output. The judgment circuit 18 outputs a signal indicating the type of a genuine coin only when the signals from the comparison circuits 13 to 16 all indicate the same type of a genuine coin, and a signal indicating a false coin otherwise. Output as

As described above, according to this embodiment, the thickness sensor
The thickness of the coin can be detected by the circulator 8 and the degree of coining of the coin can be detected from the output when the outer peripheral portion of the coin passes near the thickness sensor 8.

In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the times 200 and 300 during which the output of the thickness sensor 8 is equal to or greater than the threshold value 22 are used. If the output of the sensor 8 is used, it is possible to detect the degree of coining of the coin without being limited to the method of the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, an example in which the change in the oscillation level at the time of passing a coin is used for discrimination is shown. However, if the change in the impedance of the coil due to the coin is used, the change in inductance, frequency, phase, etc. is used. You can also.

The reason why the material sensor 7 and the thickness sensor 8 are used in combination is to reduce the influence of a change in the passing speed of coins. However, separate sensors may be used.

[0021]

As described above, the coin identification device of the present invention
Coin slot and coin passage connected to the coin slot
And a sensor disposed in the coin passage, and the sensor
Coin detecting device having a detecting means connected to the
Wherein the sensor comprises a core disposed in the coin path,
A coil wound around the core, wherein the coin path
Is a thickness sensor that detects the thickness of coins passing through
In both cases, the detecting means is such that the outer periphery of the coin is the thickness sensor.
When passing through the vicinity, the output of the thickness sensor is a threshold
The degree of coining of the coin is detected based on the width of the time that is equal to or greater than the value . Therefore , the thickness of the coin is measured by the thickness sensor.
It is possible to detect the degree of coining
Since it is possible, it is possible to identify counterfeit coins having different degrees of coining from genuine coins and prevent unauthorized use.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an output waveform diagram of a thickness sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an output waveform diagram of a material sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a coin identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coin identification device 2 Coin insertion slot 3 Coin passage 4 Thickness and material combined sensor 5 Outer diameter sensor 6 Coin outlet 7 Thickness sensor 8 Material sensor 9 Thickness detecting means 10 Material detecting means 11 Coining detecting means 12 Outer diameter detecting means 13- Reference Signs List 16 Comparison circuit 17 Storage circuit 18 Judgment circuit 19 Judgment signal 20 Thickness sensor output waveform (500 yen coin) 21 Maximum value of thickness sensor output 22 Threshold value of thickness sensor output 23 Constant value (thickness sensor) 30 Thickness sensor output waveform (Plate metal) 40 Material sensor output waveform 41 First maximum value of material sensor output 42 First threshold value of material sensor output 43 Constant value (Material sensor) 200 Time when thickness sensor output is greater than or equal to threshold ( 210 time when the thickness sensor output exceeds the threshold (500 yen coin) 220 Time when the thickness sensor output falls below the threshold value (500 yen coin) 300 Time when the thickness sensor output is above the threshold value (flat metal) 310 Time when the thickness sensor output exceeds the threshold value (flat plate) Metal) 320 Time when the thickness sensor output falls below the threshold (flat metal) 400 Time between two maxima of the material sensor output 410 Time when the material sensor output takes the first maximum 411 Material sensor output is the first 412 Time when the material sensor output falls below the first threshold 420 Time when the material sensor output takes the second maximum

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G07D 5/02

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] A coin slot and a coin slot connected to the coin slot.
Coin path and sensors located in this coin path
And coins having detecting means connected to the sensor
In the identification device, the sensor is disposed in the coin passage.
And a coil wound around the core.
The thickness of the coin passing through the coin passage.
In addition to being a sensor, the detecting means may
Wherein when passing through the thickness sensor near the the output of the thickness sensor time is greater than or equal to the threshold width, the coin identification device for detecting the degree of the convex portion formed on an outer circumferential portion of the coin. 2. The detecting means according to claim 1, wherein a value obtained by subtracting a fixed value from the maximum value of the output of the thickness sensor is used as the threshold value.
The coin identification device according to the above. 3. A detecting means for inputting an output of a thickness sensor.
In, out of the thickness sensor and a time at which the input from the thickness sensor is below the time exceeds the threshold
The width of the time during which the force is above the threshold is determined, and
In determining the time, is the time of performing the input when the input value is equal to the threshold value, performing a complement from the input time and input values of two sandwiching the threshold when different The coin identification device according to claim 1, wherein the time is obtained by the calculation. 4. A degree of a convex portion formed on an outer peripheral portion of a coin by performing correction based on a passing speed of the coin in a detecting means.
The coin identification device according to claim 1, wherein the coin identification device detects the coin. 5. A second sensor connected to a detecting means.
The detecting means comprises:
5. A coin passing speed is detected by inputting a coin.
Coin identification device. 6. A detecting means, comprising: a second sensor;
The passing speed of coins according to the time between two output maxima
The coin identification device according to claim 5 , wherein the coin identification device detects the coin. 7. A detecting means for inputting an output of a second sensor.
In the step, a value obtained by subtracting a constant value from a maximum value of the input from the second sensor is set as a threshold value, and the second sensor
7. The coin discriminating apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein an intermediate time between the time at which the input from the control unit exceeds the threshold value and the time at which the input value falls below the threshold value is the time at which the maximum value is obtained. 8. A detecting means for inputting an output of a second sensor.
In stage, the passing overspeed of the coin from the time the input from the second sensor is below the time exceeds the threshold
Together determine, when determining the time, is the time of performing the input when the input value is equal to the threshold value, if different from entering an input value of 2 times sandwiching the threshold
8. The coin identification device according to claim 7 , wherein the time is obtained by performing complementation from the force time . 9. claim form and with composing the oscillation circuit and the thickness sensor and the second sensor is independent, the before and <br/> Kiatsumi sensor also serves the same core second sensor 5 The coin identification device according to the above.