JPH07249143A - Coin selection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely select the authenticity of a coin even if the coin gets dirty. CONSTITUTION:An upper transportation device 9 and a lower transportation device 10 are provided on an inclined board 3, and the coin 2 is sandwiched with the inclined board 3 so as to transmit it. An opening part for coin edge detection 4 is provided between the transportation devices 9 and 10, and an optical darkness part 5 is provided at the lower side of the part 4. A ring strobe 7 and a solid-state image pickup device 8 are arranged at the upper part of the opening part for coin edge detection 4. The coin 2 passing on the opening part for coin edge detection 4 is image-picked up by the solid-state image pickup device 8. Then, the opening part for coin edge detection 4 is viewed black by the optical darkness part 5 and therefore the edge of the coin can clearly be learnt even if the coin 2 gets dirty.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coin sorter used in a banking machine, a vending machine or the like, and more particularly to a coin sorter capable of efficiently determining the authenticity of coins.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, to determine the authenticity of a coin,
There are a mechanical type that measures and sorts properties such as the diameter and weight of coins and a type that measures and sorts electronic properties such as magnetic properties of coins, but in either case, A method of selecting the authenticity of coins while rolling or dropping in the passage is adopted.

[0003]

In any of the above-mentioned conventional coin selecting devices, the coins are selected while the coins are moving, and therefore, if dirt or dust adheres to the coins, There is a risk that the coins will be jammed at some parts and normal sorting work may be hindered.

Further, even if the coins are not jammed, if the passing speed of the coins in the sorting section for inspecting and sorting the coins is changed, the sorting accuracy is lowered and there is a risk of erroneous sorting.

From the above, there is a need for a device which does not change the rolling or dropping speed of coins due to moisture or dirt in the coin passage, and which can judge the authenticity of a plurality of coins. However, there is a problem that such a device is complicated and expensive.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is possible to always stably and consistently select the authenticity of coins even when the coins are dirty or have dust attached thereto. An object is to provide a sorting device.

Another object of the present invention is to select a coin which does not apply a load to a coin passing over the coin edge detecting opening and which can optically accurately detect the edge of the passing coin. To provide the equipment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a coin sorter capable of keeping the speed of coins passing over the coin end detecting opening constant.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a coin sorter capable of reliably feeding and passing coins one by one onto the coin end detecting opening.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes an image of a coin to be inspected by an image pickup device, and at the same time, obtains a signal value and a reference signal value obtained by the image pickup device. In a coin sorting device for checking the authenticity of coins by comparing the above with a discriminating device, an inclined plate on which the coin slides on the upper surface from the upstream side to the downstream side; A coin end detecting opening for optically detecting a plurality of positions of the end of the coin sliding above; an optical dark portion provided on the back side of this coin end detecting opening; When the coin to be inspected passes over the coin end detecting opening, the imaging device is operated to detect the position of the end of the coin.

Further, according to the present invention, the coin end detecting opening is composed of four square holes which are equally spaced from the center on the Cartesian coordinates and are equally spaced in the circumferential direction, and each square hole is formed. , Has two sides parallel to the rectangular coordinate axis and has the same area.

Further, according to the present invention, there are provided an upper conveying device and a lower conveying device for sandwiching and forcibly conveying the coin between the inclined plate and each position on the upstream side and the downstream side of the coin end detecting opening. The feature is that it is provided.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the coin carrying speed of the lower carrying device is set to be equal to or higher than the coin carrying speed of the upper carrying device.

[0014]

In the coin sorter according to the present invention, the coin slides on the inclined plate, and the coin end detection opening is formed in the middle of the inclined plate, and the optical disc is provided on the back side thereof. A dark area is provided. Therefore, when the coin passes over the coin end detection opening, even if dirt or dust adheres to the coin, the end can be clearly detected. Then, the position of the coin in the image is determined by the edge detection, and the authenticity of the coin can be easily determined by the pattern matching method of the circular object according to the known technique.

Further, according to the present invention, since the upper carrying device and the lower carrying device are provided at respective positions on the upstream side and the downstream side of the coin end detecting opening, the interval between the coins on the inclined plate is set. Can be expanded to separate the coins, and the coin to be inspected can be passed over the coin end detection opening at a constant speed.

Further, in the present invention, since the coin carrying speed of the lower carrying device is set to be equal to or higher than the coin carrying speed of the upper carrying device, a plurality of coins stay on the coin end detecting opening. There is no defect.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show an example of a coin sorting device according to the present invention. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 is a coin hopper which sequentially ejects inserted coins 2 from an outlet through centrifugal force. An upstream end of an inclined plate 3 having a downward slope is connected to the discharge port. Then, the coin 2 discharged from the discharge port of the coin hopper 1 slides on the inclined plate 3 toward the downstream end.

A coin end detecting opening 4 for optically detecting a plurality of end portions of the coin 2 sliding on the inclined plate 3 is provided at the center of the inclined plate 3 in the longitudinal direction. There is.

As shown in FIG. 4, the coin end detecting openings 4 are arranged at equal intervals with respect to the center on the rectangular coordinate system in which the sliding direction of the coin 2 is the vertical axis and the direction orthogonal thereto is the horizontal axis. , And four rectangular holes 4a, 4b at equal intervals in the circumferential direction,
4c, 4d, each of these rectangular holes 4a,
4b, 4c and 4d have two sides parallel to the rectangular coordinate axis and have the same area. And this
An optimal shape for optically detecting the end of the coin 2 is obtained, and no load is applied to the passing coin 2.

On the back side of the coin end detecting opening 4,
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, each rectangular hole 4a, 4b,
An optical dark portion 5 of a size that covers all 4c and 4d
And a coin 2 is placed in the rectangular hole 4b.
A photo sensor 6 for detecting the end portion of is arranged.

At the position above the coin end detecting opening 4, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, all rectangular holes 4 are provided.
A ring strobe 7 and a solid-state imaging device 8 such as a CCD camera are concentrically arranged on a geometrical center of a, 4b, 4c, and 4d and at a predetermined position on a line perpendicular to the inclined plate 3. The ring strobe 7 and the solid-state imaging device 8
Are operated by a coin detection signal from the photo sensor 6.

At the upstream side position and the downstream side position of the coin end detecting opening 4, an upper conveying device 9 and a lower conveying device which are constituted by suspending endless belts between a driving wheel and a driven wheel are provided. 10 are provided respectively, and these transfer devices 9 and 10 are driven by mutually independent drive motors (not shown), and the coin 2 is sandwiched between the inclined plate 3 and forcibly transferred. It is supposed to do.

Further, each of the transport devices 9 and 10 has photosensors 11 and 12 for detecting the peripheral speed of each drive wheel.
Are provided respectively, and each of these photosensors 1
The detection signals from 1 and 12 are input to the image processing device 13 together with the signal from the solid-state imaging device 8. Then, both transfer devices 9 and 10 are controlled by the control signal from the image processing device 13 so that the coin transfer speed of the lower transfer device 10 is equal to or slightly higher than the coin transfer speed of the upper transfer device 9. It has become.
As shown in FIG. 2, coin guides 14 and 15 each having an upstream side expanding in a V shape are installed at positions on both sides of each of the transfer devices 9 and 10, respectively.

On the other hand, on the downstream side of the lower transfer device 10, FIG.
And as shown in FIG. 2, the lockout solenoid 16
Of the reflector 17 whose upper end projects above the inclined plate 3 by the excitation of
When the lockout solenoid 16 is demagnetized, the reflecting plate 17 is set below the inclined plate 3 by the urging force of the spring 18. The lockout solenoid 16 is controlled by a signal from the image processing device 13.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a true coin outlet 19 and a counterfeit coin outlet 20 are provided at the downstream end of the inclined plate 3, respectively.
0 is a true coin storage box 21 and a fake coin storage box 22.
Are installed in series. Then, the image processing device 13
When it is determined that the coin 2 for authenticity selection is true, the reflection plate 17 is retracted below the inclined plate 3, and the coin 2 sent from the lower transfer device 10 remains the true coin storage box 21. When it is determined to be fake, the reflecting plate 17 projects above the inclined plate 3, and the lower conveying device 1
The coin 2 sent from 0 collides with the reflection plate 17 and is stored in the counterfeit coin storage box 22. As shown in FIG. 2, each of these coins 2 has a respective outlet 19, 20.
The photosensors 23 and 24 arranged in the vicinity of are respectively detected, and processing is performed when the authenticity is erroneously determined for some reason. That is, for example, when the coin 2 determined to be true passes over the counterfeit photo sensor 24, or vice versa, the operation of the entire apparatus is immediately stopped, or an alarm is issued, or an erroneous determination is made. Processing such as re-inspecting the coin 2 via a return mechanism (not shown) is performed.

As shown in FIG. 3, an operation display section 25 is provided on the front surface of the apparatus, and the operation display section 25 includes
As shown in FIG. 5, the coin count display unit 26, OK /
NG display LED 27, count reset switch 28,
Learning process display LED 29, learning / inspection switch 3
0 and an inspection coin changeover switch 31 are provided.

The coin count display section 26 displays the number of the same kind of coins selected in the upper stage in the inspection mode and the number of different coins in the lower stage, and in the learning mode the number of coins whose surface is sampled in the upper stage. Also, the number of coins sampled on the back side is displayed on the bottom.

Further, the count reset switch 28
Is not used in the learning mode, but is used in resetting the count display of the selected coins in the inspection mode.

Further, the learning process display LED 29 is not used in the inspection mode, but displays the process of the learning currently being performed in the learning mode.

Further, the learning / inspection changeover switch 30 is used when switching between the learning mode and the inspection mode.

Further, the inspection coin changeover switch 31 is
In the inspection mode, it is designed to be used to specify the coin to be selected. At this time, the flashing switch represents the currently selected coin, and the lit switch is selectable and has learning data. Further, the switch that is turned off indicates that learning data is not input. On the other hand, in the learning mode, it is used for specifying a number for recording learning data when starting learning.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation of the coin sorting apparatus according to this embodiment, and the operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to this flow chart.

When selecting coins, first in step S1 of FIG. 6, it is determined whether the learning mode or the inspection mode is selected. This determination is made depending on which of the learning / inspection changeover switches 30 in FIG.
At the time of start-up, the learning / inspection changeover switch 30 is first switched to the learning side, and the image processing device 13 is made to previously store the pattern on the front and the back of the true coin 2 or the pattern feature points.

In this case, first, in step S2, a plurality of true coins 2 are inserted into the coin hopper 1, and in step S3, the true and reverse coins 2 are taught with the plurality of coins. As a result, the reference matching pattern is automatically created and stored in the image processing device 13.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S1 that the mode is the inspection mode, the coins 2 to be sorted are loaded into the coin hopper 1 in step S4, and in step S5, the coins from the coin hopper 1 due to centrifugal force are removed from the coin hopper 1. Eject. The coin 2 discharged from the coin hopper 1 slides on the inclined plate 3 and is held between the inclined plate 3 and the upper conveying device 9. Then, the coin 2 is forcibly conveyed by the upper conveying device 9 and the coin 2 is accelerated (step S6). By this acceleration, the interval between the plurality of coins 2 existing on the inclined plate 3 is expanded, and the coins 2 can be separated and fed into the coin end portion detection opening 4.

Then, in step S7, it is determined whether or not the coin 2 accelerated by the upper transporting device 9 has passed over the coin end detecting opening 4. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the photo sensor 6 shown in FIG. 4 has detected the end of the coin 2.

When the photo sensor 6 detects the end of the coin 2, the ring strobe 7 is caused to emit light in step S8, and a coin image is picked up by the solid-state image pickup device 8 in step S9, and then the image is picked up in step S10. Image processing is performed by the processing device 13.

By the way, since the coin 2 does not pass on the center line of the coin end detecting opening 4 shown in FIG. 4 every time, the position of the coin 2 imaged by the solid-state image pickup device 8 is forward, backward, leftward and rightward. There will be a gap. Therefore, in order to efficiently perform the pattern matching inspection in the next step, it is necessary to accurately know the position of the coin 2.
In addition, when a large number of coins 2 are processed, the ends of the coins 2 may not be accurately determined due to reflection of light due to metal powder, dust, and scratches on the inclined plate 3.

However, in this embodiment, the four rectangular holes 4a, 4b, 4 which are dark portions due to the optical dark portion 5 are formed.
Since c and 4d are provided on the inclined plate 3 directly below the solid-state imaging device 8, when the coin 2 is imaged by the solid-state imaging device 8,
The end of the coin 2 can be accurately determined regardless of the state of the coin 2. Then, once the position of the coin 2 on the screen is determined, the authenticity of the coin 2 can be easily determined by the pattern matching method of the circular object according to the known technique.

Therefore, in step S11, the authenticity of the coin 2 is determined. This authenticity determination is performed by matching the front and back patterns of the true coin 2 with respect to the imaged coin 2. Then, in the case of the true coin 2, it will always match in any one of the patterns.

By the way, in determining the coincidence, the coins 2 do not necessarily coincide with each other with a probability of 100% due to a difference in manufacturing year, etc. If there is a degree of agreement, it is judged as true or fake.

If it is determined in step S11 that the coin 2 is true, the coin 2 is sent to the lower transfer device 10,
The lower transfer device 10 accelerates (step S1).
2). Then, the coins are stored in the true coin storage box 21 from the true coin outlet 19 (step S13).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S11 that the image is false, the lockout solenoid 16 is excited by a signal from the image processing device 13, and the reflector 1
7 projects onto the inclined plate 3 (step S14). Then, the counterfeit coin 2 is accelerated by the lower transfer device 10 in this state (step S12), the course of the counter coin is changed by the reflection plate 17, and the counterfeit coin is stored in the counterfeit coin storage box 22 from the counterfeit coin outlet 20 (step S12). S15).

By the way, the coin carrying speed of the lower carrying device 10 is set to be higher than the coin carrying speed of the upper carrying device 9. For this reason, even if the speed of the coin 2 delivered from the upper transporting device 9 becomes slightly slower on the coin edge detecting opening 4, the flow of the coin 2 will not change.
There is no problem of being blocked by the above part and causing traffic jam, and the coin 2 can always be normally transported.

Since the edge of the coin 2 can be clearly known by the combination of the coin edge detecting opening 4 and the optical dark portion 5, the authenticity of the coin 2 can be verified by using a known technique. Can be easily determined.

In the above embodiment, the rectangular holes 4a, 4b, 4c of the coin end detecting openings 4b, 4c,
Although the case of using 4d has been described, four square holes may be used, and four rectangular holes 4 may be used.
The a, 4b, 4c, and 4d may be continuously formed as one cross-shaped hole. Further, the upper and lower conveying devices 9 and 10 may be formed of rollers instead of the endless belts.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, the coin end detecting opening is provided in the middle portion of the inclined plate, and the optical dark portion is provided on the back side thereof. Even when dirt or dust adheres to the coin when the coin passes over the detection opening, the end of the coin can be clearly detected. Therefore, the authenticity of the coin can be easily and accurately determined.

Further, according to the present invention, the coin end detecting opening is composed of four square hole portions, and each square hole portion has two sides parallel to the rectangular coordinate axis and has the same area. Therefore, the end of the coin can be detected more reliably.

Further, according to the present invention, since the upper carrying device and the lower carrying device are provided at respective positions on the upstream side and the downstream side of the coin end detecting opening, the interval between the coins on the inclined plate is enlarged. Then, the coins can be separated, and the coin to be inspected can be passed over the coin end detecting opening at a constant speed.

Further, according to the present invention, since the coin carrying speed of the lower carrying device is set to be equal to or higher than the coin carrying speed of the upper carrying device, there is a problem that a plurality of coins stay on the coin end detecting opening. Absent.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a coin sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view showing a coin sorting device according to an embodiment of the present invention when FIG. 1 is viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is an external view showing an embodiment of a coin sorting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged plan view showing details of a coin end detection opening.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an embodiment of an operation display unit of the coin sorting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the coin sorting device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Coin Hopper 2 Coin 3 Tilt Plate 4 Coin Edge Detection Opening 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d Rectangular Hole 5 Optical Dark Area 6, 11, 12, 23, 24 Photo Sensor 7 Ring Strobe 8 Solid State Imager 9 Top Transport Device 10 Lower transfer device 13 Image processing device 17 Reflector 21 True coin storage box 22 Counterfeit coin storage box 25 Operation display unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A coin sorter for picking up an image of a coin to be inspected by an image pickup device and comparing the value of a signal obtained by this image pickup device with the value of a reference signal by a discriminating device to select the authenticity of coins. In the device, an inclined plate on which the coin slides on the upper surface from the upstream side to the downstream side, and a plurality of positions on the end portion of the coin which slides on the inclined plate are drilled in the middle part of the inclined plate. The coin to be inspected is provided with an opening portion for detecting a coin end portion for detection, and an optical dark portion provided on the back side of the opening portion for detecting a coin end portion, and the coin to be inspected is the opening portion for detecting the coin end portion. Activate the imager as it passes over,
A coin sorter characterized by detecting the position of an end of a coin. 2. The coin end detecting opening is provided with four square hole portions which are equidistant with respect to the center on the Cartesian coordinates and equidistant in the circumferential direction, and each square hole portion is parallel to the Cartesian coordinate axis. Has two sides,
And having the same area.
The coin sorting device described. 3. An upper carrying device and a lower carrying device for sandwiching and forcibly carrying the coin between the inclined plate and the upstream side and the downstream side of the coin end detecting opening are provided. The coin sorting device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. 4. The coin sorting device according to claim 3, wherein the coin transport speed of the lower transport device is set to be equal to or higher than the coin transport speed of the upper transport device.