JPH0782559B2 - Identification pattern switching device for coin identification machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a coin discriminating machine including a coin processing machine such as a coin counter, a coin sorter, or a coin wrapping machine having a sensor for discriminating coins. The present invention relates to an identification pattern switching device capable of switching the identification pattern of the means.

(Prior Art) Generally, in a coin discriminator, a plurality of discrimination sensors for discriminating coins with respect to discrimination factors such as coin material, diameter, thickness, presence / absence of holes, presence / absence of knurls, and color (contamination) are provided in a coin identification passage. There is a machine provided, and discriminates denominations of coins transported on the coin discriminating passage, reject coins such as dirty coins and deformed coins, and counterfeit coins from these discrimination factors.

By the way, financial institution branch offices, centralized processing at financial institutions,
There is a fact that the identification level of coins of the coin identification machine required by each department such as a distribution organization is different, and there is a demand to easily adapt the identification level to each department.

Also, if there are many rejected coins during the deposit process, the user's trust will be lost.Therefore, you may want to change the identification level so as to expand the allowable deposit range and reduce the rejected coins, and consciously pass through certain excluded coins. In some cases, you may want to do it.

Conventionally, in order to meet these demands, a method of newly adjusting the discrimination level of a coin discriminating machine or replacing a storage element (ROM) storing the discrimination level has been carried out, but both of them are troublesome.

There is also a device that allows the operator to change the discrimination level.For example, in a dirty coin discriminator, light is incident on a coin and the reflected light is received to detect the reflectance and the wavelength of the reflected light. The operator had to change the identification level.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the method of adjusting the discrimination level of the coin discriminating machine and the method of exchanging the storage element (ROM), the change is troublesome, and once the change is made, it is necessary to restore the original. Have difficulty.

In addition, in the method that allows the operator to change the identification level, it is difficult to determine which level should be set specifically when there are a plurality of identification factors for identifying coins, and setting errors are likely to occur. There's a problem.

Further, when a plurality of discrimination sensors for discriminating different discrimination factors are provided and one of the discrimination factors cannot be discriminated due to the failure of the discrimination sensor, the coin discrimination machine can be operated even if the other discrimination factors can be discriminated. Disappear.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an operator can easily change the identification level and can easily and appropriately determine the quality of the identification level setting, and an identification pattern of an appropriate identification level. It is an object of the present invention to enable automatic setting of coins and to enable continuous coin identification without deteriorating identification quality even when an identification factor cannot be identified.

(Means for Solving the Problem) The identification pattern switching device of the coin identification machine according to claim 1,
In a coin discriminator equipped with a sensor means comprising a plurality of discrimination sensors for discriminating a plurality of discrimination factors of coins and outputting discrimination data for each discrimination factor, a discrimination level for discriminating an identified coin as a true coin. Then, one of a plurality of identification levels including the level at which the identification factor is not used is selected and combined for each identification factor, and an identification pattern is stored for each denomination for a plurality of patterns. Storage means, manual selection means for manually selecting one identification pattern for each denomination from the plurality of identification patterns stored in the storage means, and each identification factor of the identification pattern selected by the manual selection means. A discriminating unit for discriminating between a genuine coin and a rejected coin is provided based on the discrimination data output from the sensor unit with each discrimination level as a reference.

The identification pattern switching device of the coin identification machine according to claim 2,
In the identification pattern switching device of the coin discriminating machine according to claim 1, reject ratio setting means for inputting a reject ratio set value, reject ratio calculating means for calculating a reject ratio from the number of reject coins discriminated by the discriminating means, When the reject ratio calculated by the reject ratio calculating unit determines whether or not the reject ratio exceeds the reject ratio setting value, and when the determining unit determines that the reject ratio exceeds the reject ratio setting value, it is set at the present time. The present invention further comprises an automatic selection means for automatically selecting from the storage means an update pattern for which the reject ratio is one step smaller than that of the existing identification pattern and updating and setting it.

(Operation) In the identification pattern switching device of the coin identification machine according to claim 1, in the storage means, an identification pattern in which one of a plurality of identification levels is selected and combined for each identification factor is a denomination. A plurality of patterns are stored for each. One of a plurality of identification patterns stored in this storage means
One is selected by the manual selection means. Then, the discriminating means discriminates between genuine coins and reject coins based on the discriminating level of each discriminating factor of the discriminating pattern selected by the manual selecting means, based on the discriminating data outputted from the sensor means.

In the identification pattern switching device of the coin identification machine according to claim 2, in addition to the operation of the identification pattern switching device of the coin identification device according to claim 1, when the reject ratio setting value is input in advance from the reject ratio setting means, the determination means The reject ratio is calculated from the number of rejected coins determined in
It is determined whether or not the reject ratio calculated by the reject ratio calculating means exceeds the reject ratio set value. Then, when the reject ratio exceeds the reject ratio set value, the automatic selecting means automatically selects from the storage means an identification pattern in which the reject ratio is smaller by one step than the currently set identification pattern, and is updated and set.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a control unit for controlling the entire coin discriminating machine, which drives and controls the deposit processing means 2 and the conveying means 3 and inputs discrimination data from the discriminating means, that is, the sensor means 4.

The input processing means 2 separates the coins deposited in the coin discriminating machine one by one and sends them out to the coin discriminating passage.

The conveying means 3 conveys the coins fed one by one into the coin identifying passage by the deposit processing means 2.

The sensor means 4 is provided on the coin identification passage and is made of a material of coins which is conveyed through the coin identification passage by the conveying means 3.
It has a plurality of identification sensors such as magnetic sensors and image sensors for identifying different identification factors such as diameter, thickness, presence / absence of holes, presence / absence of knurls, and color (contamination degree).

An identification device 11 is connected to the control unit 1, and the identification device 11 includes the sensor means 4 and an identification pattern switching device 12. Then, the identification pattern switching device 12 is
It has a storage means 13, a manual selection means 14, an automatic selection means 15, and a discrimination means 16.

The storage unit 13 stores a plurality of types of identification patterns based on combinations of different identification factors. That is, the second
FIG. 3, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show an example in which an identification pattern is set by the combination of the identification factors used among the identification factors (in the figure, the identification determination is performed, and the x is not performed). The discrimination pattern shown in FIG. 2 is such that discrimination judgment is performed for all discrimination factors in mode 1, and discrimination discrimination is performed for other discrimination factors except for the color discrimination factor in mode 2. Multiple types are set up to mode n by combining factors. Mode 1 is selected for centralized processing of financial institutions, mode 2 is selected for branch offices of financial institutions, and mode 3 is used for distribution institutions.
The selection pattern is set according to the actual use of the coin discriminator in each department. Further, the identification pattern of FIG. 3 is provided with one normal mode for a distribution organization, for example, and a plurality of setting modes 1, 2, ... N are set according to the use situation at the use place. Further, the identification pattern of FIG. 4 has a plurality of normal modes 1, 2 ... m set for each department such as a financial institution or a distribution institution, and a plurality of set modes depending on the usage situation at the use place. Modes 1, 2 ... n are set.

Further, in the discrimination pattern of FIG.
An example is shown in which the discrimination levels are set in stages (10 stages of 0, 1 ... 9), the discrimination level becomes stricter as the number of discrimination levels is larger, and the discrimination judgment is not made at 0. , 2, ... M are set, and a plurality of setting modes 1, 2, ... N are set.

Further, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the identification pattern of FIG. 4 or 5 is set for each denomination, and a plurality of coin individual modes 1, 2, ... N are set.

In addition, FIG. 7 shows an example in which a reject coin passage mode of 10 steps is set for each discrimination factor in the same manner as described above, and reject coins discriminated as dirty coins or the like are discriminated as coins in each mode of the discrimination pattern as described above. It sets the level of whether to reject from the identification passage or pass it as it is. Multiple reject coin passage modes 1, 2 ... n are set, the smaller the number of modes is, the level is stricter and reject coins pass. It is difficult and the higher the number is, the easier it is for reject coins to pass.

Further, as will be described in detail later, FIG. 8 shows an example of a fail-safe discrimination pattern in which 10 discrimination levels are set for each discrimination factor in the same manner as described above and a fault of the discrimination factor is set. Safe mode 1,2 ... n is set.

The manual selection means 14 is an operation panel as shown in FIG.
The operation panel 21 has a keyboard 2
2, level meter 23 for each denomination and level meter 24 for overall identification level, buttons 25, 26 for changing the identification level up / down corresponding to each level meter 23, 24, remote changeover switch 27, communication monitor 28, a plurality of indicators 29 are provided. Then, the identification pattern is selected by directly inputting the mode of the identification pattern to the keyboard 22 or by selecting with the buttons 25 and 26 while checking the level meters 23 and 24.

Further, the mode of the selected identification pattern is displayed on the display means 31 as shown in FIG. This display means 31 has a display panel 32 having a display device 33 corresponding to each mode of the identification pattern, and the display device 33 of the selected mode is turned on.

The automatic selection means 15 is to automatically select and update and set a mode from the identification pattern, and this automatic selection method will be described later with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, but by the display means 31. You can check the mode selection status.

The discrimination means 16 is a manual selection means 14 or an automatic selection means.
Based on the identification pattern mode selected in 15, the identification data output from the sensor unit 4 is used to determine the denomination of coins (genuine coin), rejected coin, or false coin.

Although details will be described later, when performing the automatic selection operation by the automatic selection means 15, the manual selection means 14 is configured as a reject ratio setting means for inputting a reject ratio set value, and further, the identification pattern switching device 12 has Although not shown, the function of the reject ratio calculating means for calculating the reject ratio from the number of reject coins determined by the determining means 16, whether the reject ratio calculated by this reject ratio calculating means exceeds the reject ratio setting value A function of a judgment means for judging whether or not is provided. Then, when the judging means judges that the reject ratio setting value has been exceeded, the automatic selecting means 15 automatically selects from the storage means 13 an identification pattern having a reject ratio one step smaller than the identification pattern currently set. Update settings.

Next, the discrimination operation of the coin discriminator will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 11 to 15.

FIG. 11 shows a flow chart in the case where the identification pattern is associated with each department such as centralized processing of a financial institution and sales and distribution institutions. In this case, a plurality of normal modes are provided, for example, FIG. 2 and FIG. Further, any one of the identification patterns shown in FIG. 4 or a combination of a plurality of types is stored in the storage means 13.

Then, when the identification is started, a predetermined mode selected by the manual selection means 14 from the identification pattern of the storage means 13, for example, mode 1 in the case of centralized processing of a financial institution is set (step 1), and the deposit is made. The processing means 2 deposits the coins inserted into the coin discriminating machine (step 2), and the conveying means 3 conveys the coins one by one through the coin discriminating passage (step 3) and conveys the coin discriminating passage. The coins are identified by the plurality of identification sensors of the sensor means 4 (step 4).

Then, the discriminating means 16 discriminates the denomination of coins, reject coins such as deformed coins and dirty coins, and counterfeit coins based on the discrimination data output from the sensor means 4 with reference to a predetermined mode selected from the discrimination pattern. (Step 5). Although the flow ends here, the coin discriminated as a reject coin is removed from the coin discriminating passage.

Next, FIG. 12 shows a flowchart in the case where the identification pattern is associated with the usage situation at each usage place such as for centralized processing of a financial institution and for sales and distribution institutions. In this case, a plurality of setting modes are provided. Any one or a plurality of combinations of the identification patterns shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are stored in the storage means 13. In addition to the identification pattern, the memory unit 13 may store the coin individual mode shown in FIG. 6 together.

Then, normally, the normal mode is first set from the identification pattern of the storage means 13 (step 6), and after judging whether or not there is a mode change (step 7), the above-mentioned steps 2 to 5 are executed.
The discrimination operation is performed in the same manner as the above, and the coin is discriminated based on the mode (steps 8 to 11).

If you want to prevent a specific coin (for example, a dirty coin) that is determined as a reject coin in the normal mode from being determined as a reject coin, select an identification pattern setting mode that does not determine that specific coin as a reject coin. To do. That is, when a predetermined setting mode is selected by the manual selection means 14, the discrimination criterion is changed and set to the setting mode in which the identification pattern is selected (step 12), and the discrimination means 16 discriminates the coin based on this setting mode. Therefore, a specific coin (for example, a dirty coin) is not discriminated as a reject coin.

As described above, the manual selection means 14 selects the identification pattern corresponding to the place of use of the coin identification machine from the stored contents of the storage means 13, and the sensor means 4 outputs the selected identification pattern as a reference. Since the coin can be discriminated by the discrimination data, the discrimination pattern can be easily changed, and further, the discrimination pattern setting can be judged easily and appropriately.

Next, if you want to pass a certain rejected coin without rejecting it because there are many rejected coins that are rejected from the coin identification passage, specify a rejected coin transit mode in advance and then select an appropriate rejected coin transit mode. FIG. 13 shows a flow chart in the case of automatic selection to, and in this case, in addition to the combination of any one or plural kinds of the identification patterns of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the reject of FIG. The currency passage pattern is stored in the storage means 13.

Then, with the normal mode set (step 1
3) If there is no mode change (step 14), the identifying operation is performed in steps 15 to 18 as described above. If it is determined in step 18 that the coin has passed, the process returns to step 15 through steps 19 and 20 to repeat the identifying operation. On the other hand, if it is determined that the coin is rejected, reject coin elimination processing is performed (step 19).

Further, when the reject coin passage mode is manually selected and the automatic selection means 15 is set in order to pass a certain reject coin as described above, first, the manually selected reject coin passage mode 1 is set ( Step two
1) The passage of rejected coins is determined based on this rejected coin passage mode 1. And step
When rejected coins are discriminated in 18, rejected coin removal processing is performed.While this rejected processing is being performed, deposit processing and coin transportation are temporarily performed to remove rejected coins from the coin identification passage. It is stopped and in a standby state.

If it is judged to be waiting in step 20, the reject rate of rejected coins per unit time or unit number of sheets, that is,
It is judged whether or not the reject coin number A per unit time or the number of coins exceeds the preset reject ratio setting value k (step 23). If A ≦ k is not exceeded, the standby is continued as it is ( Step 24), the identification operation is restarted after the exclusion process is completed. On the other hand, if A> K is exceeded, the automatic selection means 15 causes the reject coin passage mode 1
Select the reject coin passage mode 2 which has a lower 1 rank identification level and is easier to pass through (step 25), and in the identification operation restarted after the elimination process is completed, the reject coin passage mode 2 is used as a reference to determine the passage of reject coins. To do.

Note that the reject ratio setting value k that determines the reject ratio
May be a value set together with the identification pattern in advance, but the reject coin passage mode is selected and the automatic selection means 15
It can be set arbitrarily when setting.

In this manner, the automatic selection means 15 automatically determines the identification level of the reject coin passage mode one rank at a time until the reject coin passage mode in which the reject coin number A per unit time or unit number becomes equal to or less than the predetermined reject ratio set value k. The desired identification result is obtained by sequentially lowering the value. It should be noted that the same means can be adopted when passing through a specific rejected coin or counterfeit coin.

Next, FIG. 14 shows a flowchart for automatically selecting an appropriate reject coin passage mode when it is rare to identify reject coins, and in this case also, FIG.
In addition to any one of the identification patterns shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 or a combination of a plurality of types, the reject currency passage pattern shown in FIG. 7 is stored in the storage means 13.

Steps 25 to 34 are the same as steps 13 to 21 described above.

Then, for example, if the reject coin passage mode 3 is selected and the automatic selection means 15 is set (step 34), the reject coins are discriminated and the reject coins per unit time or the number of coins are rejected while waiting for the rejection process. It is determined whether or not the number A exceeds a preset reject ratio setting value k (step 35). If A ≧ K, then it is determined that the mode selection is appropriate and the standby is continued ( Step 36), the identification operation is restarted after the exclusion process is completed. On the other hand, if A <k is not exceeded, the automatic selection means 15 selects the reject coin passage mode 2 in which the one-rank identification level is stricter than the reject coin passage mode 3 and the passage becomes difficult (step 37). In the restarting identification operation, the rejection coin passage mode 2 is used as a reference for determination.

In this way, the automatic selecting means 15 automatically determines the identification level of the reject coin passage mode one rank at a time until the reject coin passage mode in which the reject coin number A per unit time or the number of sheets exceeds the predetermined reject ratio set value k. By gradually tightening, a desired identification result can be obtained. It should be noted that the same means can be adopted when passing through a specific rejected coin or counterfeit coin.

As described above, since the identification pattern can be automatically selected by the automatic selection means 15, a desired identification result can be automatically obtained.

Next, FIG. 15 shows a flowchart for enabling the coin discriminator to operate even if the sensor means 4 fails, and in this case, one of the discrimination modes shown in FIGS. 2 to 7 is used. Alternatively, the fail-safe identification pattern of FIG. 8 is stored in the storage means 13 in a combination of a plurality of types.

In the fail-safe mode shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of types of modes corresponding to patterns for failure are set in advance by predicting a failure. Reliability is secured by setting the identification level strictly.

Then, during normal mode or setting mode (step 3
8), it is judged whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the sensor means 4 (step 39), and if not, the deposit process is performed (step 40), and if an abnormality has occurred, a notification not shown is given. By means of means (step 41), the depositing process and the coin transportation are temporarily stopped to wait or stop (step 43).

Then, the fail-safe mode in which a failure is set as the identification factor that makes the sensor means 4 indistinguishable is selected by the manual selection means 14 or the automatic selection means 15 (steps 42, 44), and thereafter, the selected fail-safe mode is used as a reference. As a coin discrimination.

As described above, when a part of the sensor unit 4 related to at least one identification factor becomes indistinguishable, the fail-safe identification pattern is selected, and the identification factor in which the abnormality has occurred is excluded from the determination. At the same time, since the identification levels of other normal identification factors are not tightened and the identification quality is not deteriorated, the device is not immediately disabled and the coin can be identified continuously.

Further, in the above embodiment, the identification device 11 is controlled by the control unit 1 for controlling the entire coin identification machine as shown in FIG. 1, but as shown in FIG. 16, the identification device 11 is provided separately from the control unit 1 on the main body side. It is also possible to provide a control unit 41 for use and control the deposit processing means 2, the conveying means 3, the sensor means 4 and the identification pattern switching device 12 with this control section 41. In this case, the control section 1 of the main body side The identification pattern can be switched from the operation unit 42 as well.

(Effect of the Invention) According to the identification pattern switching device of the coin identification machine of claim 1, one of a plurality of identification levels is selected for each identification factor and an identification pattern is combined for each denomination. It is possible to discriminate between genuine coins and reject coins based on the discrimination level for each discrimination factor of the selected discrimination pattern by storing one for each of plural discrimination patterns in the The operator can easily change the discrimination level and can easily and properly judge the quality of the discrimination level setting.

According to the identification pattern switching device of the coin discriminator of claim 2, in addition to the coins of the identification pattern switching device of the coin discriminator of claim 1, a desired reject ratio set value is input in advance. The reject ratio is calculated from the number of reject coins, and it is determined whether or not this reject ratio exceeds the reject ratio setting value.When the reject ratio exceeds the reject ratio setting value, the identification pattern currently set Since the identification pattern in which the reject ratio is reduced by one step is automatically selected and updated and set, the reject ratio desired by the operator can be obtained, and a device with good usability can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 8 are identification pattern tables, FIG. 9 is a front view of an operation panel, and FIG. 10 is a front view of a display panel. 11 to 15 are flowcharts, and FIG. 16 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. 4 ... Sensor means, 12 ... identification pattern switching device (having functions of reject ratio calculating means and judging means),
13 ... storage means, 14 ... manual selection means (rejection ratio setting means), 15 ... automatic selection means, 16 ... discrimination means.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A coin discriminating machine equipped with a sensor means comprising a plurality of discriminating sensors for discriminating a plurality of discriminating factors of coins and outputting discrimination data for each discriminating factor. For each denomination, there are a plurality of identification patterns in which one of a plurality of identification levels, which includes the level of identification that is used to identify and that the identification factor is not used, is selected and combined for each identification factor. A storage unit that stores each pattern, a manual selection unit that manually selects one identification pattern for each denomination from a plurality of identification patterns stored in the storage unit, and an identification selected by the manual selection unit. A discriminating means for discriminating between a genuine coin and a rejected coin based on the discrimination data outputted from the sensor means on the basis of the discrimination level for each discrimination factor of the pattern. Identification pattern switching device for coin discriminator. 2. A reject ratio setting means for inputting a reject ratio setting value, a reject ratio calculating means for calculating a reject ratio from the number of reject coins discriminated by the discriminating means, and a reject ratio calculated by the reject ratio calculating means. A judging means for judging whether or not the ratio exceeds the reject ratio setting value; and when the judging means judges that the ratio exceeds the reject ratio setting value, the reject ratio is one step smaller than the identification pattern set at the present time. 2. The identification pattern switching device for a coin identification machine according to claim 1, further comprising: an automatic selection means for automatically selecting and updating the identification pattern from the storage means.