JP3201184B2 - 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.

Conventionally, a coin discriminating apparatus of this type has a coin insertion slot, a coin passage connected to the coin insertion slot, an identification sensor disposed on a side wall of the coin passage, and a coin inserted by an output of the identification sensor. Detection means for detecting the characteristics of the coins, a storage circuit for storing in advance the data as a reference for authenticity and type of the coin, and a comparison circuit for comparing the output of the detection means with reference data of the storage circuit And a judgment circuit for judging the true / false and the type of the coin based on the comparison result of the comparison circuit. A pot-type core (hereinafter referred to as a pot core) is used as the identification sensor and the detection means.
And a means for detecting the material, thickness, outer diameter, and the degree of a convex portion (hereinafter referred to as coining) formed on the outer periphery from the output of each sensor and the material, thickness, and outer diameter sensors formed by winding coils. I was

[0004] As a similar technique, there is, for example, JP-A-5-54229 or JP-A-4-31294.

[0005]

However, in the conventional configuration, a counterfeit coin such as a foreign coin having similar material, thickness, and outer diameter, which is almost the same in coining degree, as a regular coin may be illegally used.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a coin identification device capable of preventing such illegal use of counterfeit coins.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The coin discrimination apparatus of the present invention in order to achieve this object, Bei identification sensor configured by winding a coil core (hereinafter referred to as E-type core) of the E-shaped
For example, the outer diameter of the coin whose core length is to be identified is 3
0% or more and 65% or less, and the width is 30% or less of the outer diameter of the coin
The opening of this core faces the coin passage and
Position the sensor so that the direction is parallel to the coin passing direction
It was done.

[0008]

With this configuration, the magnetic field generated by the sensor has a wide direction in the longitudinal direction, and has directivity specific to the E-shaped core. For this reason, the degree of coining of coins can be detected accurately and accurately, so that it is possible to identify counterfeit coins having similar coining degrees to genuine coins, such as similar foreign coins, and to prevent unauthorized use.

[0009]

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

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a coin identification device according to the present invention. In FIG. 5, 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 coin insertion slot 2. A thickness / material combined 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. 1 is a sectional view showing the vicinity of the sensor 4 for both thickness and material. A part related to the outer diameter sensor 5 is omitted from the description. The passage 3 for the coin 7 is composed of a substrate 8 forming one side wall and a substrate 9 forming the other side wall. Substrate 8
And the substrate 9 have E-shaped cores 10, 1 of ferrite material, respectively.
One opening is attached to oppose. E type core 1
The coins 0 and 11 have a length smaller than the outer diameter of the smallest coin 7 to be identified, and are arranged at positions where the center of the coin 7 having the smallest outer diameter passes near the center of the E-shaped cores 10 and 11. are doing. The thickness / material combined sensor 4 includes an E-shaped core 10 and two coils 12 and 13 wound therein, and an E-shaped core 11 and two coils 14 and 15 wound therein.
It is composed of

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit. The thickness sensor 16 includes E-shaped cores 10 and 11 arranged opposite to the coin passage 3 and these E-shaped cores 10 and 11.
, An oscillation circuit formed by these coils, and a half-wave rectifier circuit for converting an oscillation waveform from a sine wave to a signal indicating an oscillation level. The coils 12 and 14 wound around the opposing E-shaped cores 10 and 11 are connected in series and anti-phase so that the mutual inductance becomes negative, and the output thereof enters the thickness detecting means 18 and the coining detecting means 20. The material sensor 17 has the same configuration as the thickness sensor 16, but the E-shaped core 10,
The coils 13 and 15 wound around 11 are connected in series and in-phase so that mutual inductance becomes positive, and the output thereof enters a material detecting means 19 and a coining detecting means 20. In the present embodiment, the thickness sensor 16 and the material sensor 17 also serve as the E-shaped cores 10 and 11, and are shown as the thickness / material combined sensor 4 in FIGS. The outer diameter sensor 5 has the same configuration as the material sensor 17, and the coils are connected in series and in-phase.
The output enters the outer diameter detecting means 21.

Each of the detecting means 18 to 21 is composed of an A / D conversion circuit and a detecting circuit.
Enter 2-25. The comparison circuits 22 to 25 are also connected to the storage circuit 26. The outputs of the comparison circuits 22 to 25 enter a judgment circuit 27, and the judgment circuit 27 outputs a judgment signal 28.

The operation of the coin identification device configured as described above will be described below. When the coin 7 inserted from the coin insertion slot 2 approaches the sensors 4 and 5, the coil 12
The impedance of the oscillation circuit changes as the impedance of the oscillation circuit changes. The amount of change is formed so as to differ mainly depending on the thickness of the coin 7 in the thickness sensor 16, mainly depending on the material of the coin 7 in the material sensor 17, and mainly depending on the outer diameter of the coin 7 in the outer diameter sensor 5. The thickness detecting means 18, the material detecting means 19, and the outer diameter detecting means 21 detect the maximum change amount of the oscillation level at the time of passing the coin and output it to the corresponding comparison circuits 22, 23, 25, respectively.

Next, the operation of the coining detecting means 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows output waveforms 30 and 40 of the thickness sensor 16 when the coin passes, and FIG. 3 shows an output waveform 50 of the material sensor 17. 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. 2 is the waveform 30 of a Japanese 500 yen coin, and the dashed line is the waveform 40 of a similar foreign coin having almost the same material, thickness, and outer diameter as the 500 yen coin and a close degree of coining. The portion where the output of the thickness sensor 16 differs between the 500 yen coin and the foreign coin coincides with the timing when the outer peripheral portion of the coin 7 passes near the thickness sensor 16, and the output at this time indicates the degree of coining of the coin 7. It is thought to show. The present invention uses the output of the thickness sensor 16 at this time to
It is intended to detect the degree of coining of coins. The output waveform 50 of the material sensor 17 is substantially the same for a 500 yen coin and a foreign coin as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, a value obtained by subtracting a constant value 33 from the maximum value 31 of the output of the thickness sensor 16 is used as a threshold value 32.
The coining degree is detected based on the time 300 of a 500 yen coin in which the output of the thickness sensor 16 is equal to or larger than the threshold value 32 and the time 400 of a foreign coin. If the threshold value 32 is fixed, the threshold value 32 is likely to be affected by fluctuations of the temperature and the power supply voltage. Therefore, the fixed value 33 is subtracted from the maximum value 31. It can also be a product. The output of the thickness sensor 16 is a threshold value 32
For the above times 300 and 400, the output is the threshold 32.
310, 410 below and 320, 42 below
It is calculated by taking the difference from zero. In the present embodiment, the coining detection means 20 outputs the output of the thickness sensor 16 every predetermined time.
When the output of the thickness sensor 16 is equal to the threshold value 32, the time at this time is
Otherwise, the time obtained by performing interpolation with a straight line from two input values sandwiching the threshold value 32 is used.

The times 300 and 400 during which the output of the thickness sensor 16 obtained in this way is equal to or greater than the threshold value 32 are obviously affected by the passing speed of the coin 7, so that it is necessary to correct the passing speed. In this embodiment, the output of the material sensor 17 which is considered to be proportional to the passing speed of the coin 7 is 2
Although the time 500 between the two maximums is used, the correction is possible without being limited to this, if a value indicating the passing speed of the coin 7 is used. This time 500 is obtained by taking the difference between the time 510 when the output of the material sensor 17 takes the first maximum and the time 520 when the output takes the second maximum. In order to more accurately obtain the time at which the local maximum was taken, taking the first local maximum as an example, a value obtained by subtracting a constant value 53 from the local maximum value 51 is set as a threshold value 52, and the value falls below a time 511 exceeding the threshold value 52. An intermediate time of the time 512 is a time 510 when the first maximum is taken. The coining detecting means 20 calculates a value obtained by dividing the times 300 and 400 during which the output of the thickness sensor 16 obtained as described above is equal to or greater than the threshold value 32 by the time 500 between two local maximums of the output of the material sensor 17. Is output to the comparison circuit 24.

The storage circuit 26 stores a reference value for each type of genuine coin. The comparison circuits 22 to 25 compare the input from each of the detection means 18 to 21 with the reference of the storage circuit 26, and if they match within an allowable range, a signal indicating the type of the genuine coin is compared with the reference value of any type. If they do not match, a signal indicating that the coin is a counterfeit is output. The determination circuit 27 outputs a signal indicating the type of genuine coin only when the signals from the comparison circuits 22 to 25 all indicate the same type of genuine coin, and a signal indicating a false coin otherwise. Output as

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the degree of coining of the coin 7 can be detected from the output when the outer peripheral portion of the coin 7 passes near the thickness sensor 16.

According to experiments, it was effective to arrange the core so that the longitudinal direction was parallel to the coin passing direction. Also, for Japanese 500 yen coin (outer diameter 26.5mm),
When the core length is 12.5 mm, the accuracy is the highest, and 8 to 1
Good results were obtained in the range of 7 mm (30 to 65% of the outer diameter of the coin). The smaller the width, the better, and the accuracy can be maintained at 8 mm or less (30% or less of the outer diameter of the coin). When an E-shaped core of this size is used, the difference in coining between a 500-yen coin and a similar foreign coin is detected 1.6 times more sensitively than when a pot core is used. It was reduced to 7 times. The overall accuracy has improved about 2.3 times.

In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the time 300 of a 500 yen coin in which the output of the thickness sensor 16 is not less than the threshold value 32 and the time 400 of a foreign coin are used. If the output of the thickness sensor 16 when passing through the vicinity of the thickness sensor 16 is used, the degree of coining of the coin 7 can be detected without being limited to the method of the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, a value obtained by subtracting a constant value 33 from the maximum value 31 of the output of the thickness sensor 16 is set as a threshold value 32, and times 310 and 410 at which the output exceeds the threshold value 32 and times 320 and 420 at which the output falls below the threshold value 32. And the time when the output of the thickness sensor 16 is equal to or greater than the threshold value 32, 300, 40
Seeking 0. However, a value obtained by subtracting a constant value from the first maximum value of the output of the thickness sensor 16 is set as the first threshold value, and a value obtained by subtracting a constant value from the last maximum value is set as the second threshold value. Can be obtained by taking the difference between the time when the value exceeds the threshold value and the time when the value exceeds the second time, and stable coining can be detected even when the output of the thickness sensor 16 is unstable.

Further, 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 thickness sensor 16 and the material sensor 17 are also used is to reduce the influence of a change in the passing speed of coins. At the same time, miniaturization and cost reduction are possible, but separate sensors may be used.

[0025]

As described above, the coin identification device of the present invention
An identification sensor constructed by winding a coil around an E-shaped core
Equipped with the outer diameter of the coin whose length is to be identified.
30% or more and 65% or less, and the width is 30% or less of the outer diameter of the coin
The opening of this core faces the coin passage and
Position the sensor so that the direction is parallel to the coin passing direction
As such, it is possible to detect the degree of coining of coins with high sensitivity and accuracy, so that it is possible to identify counterfeit coins with similar coining degrees to genuine coins, such as similar foreign coins, and prevent unauthorized use. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the vicinity of a sensor for both thickness and material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

FIG. 3 is an output waveform diagram of a material sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a coin identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Coin slot 3 Coin passage 4 Thickness / material sensor 5 Outer diameter sensor 6 Coin outlet 7 Coin 10 E-shaped core 11 E-shaped core 12 Coil 13 Coil 14 Coil 15 Coil 16 Thickness sensor 17 Material sensor 18 Thickness detecting means 19 Material detection means 20 Coining detection means 21 Outer diameter detection means 22 Comparison circuit 23 Comparison circuit 24 Comparison circuit 25 Comparison circuit 26 Storage circuit 27 Judgment circuit 28 Judgment signal 30 Thickness sensor output waveform (500 yen coin) 31 Maximum thickness sensor output Value 32 Threshold value of thickness sensor output 33 Constant value (thickness sensor) 40 Thickness sensor output waveform (foreign coin) 50 Material sensor output waveform 51 First maximum value of material sensor output 52 First threshold of material sensor output Value 53 Constant value (material sensor) 300 Thickness sensor output is above threshold Between (500 yen coin) 310 Time when thickness sensor output exceeds threshold value (500 yen coin) 320 Time when thickness sensor output falls below threshold value (500 yen coin) 400 Threshold of thickness sensor output Time when the value is not less than the value (foreign coin) 410 Time when the thickness sensor output exceeds the threshold value (foreign coin) 420 Time when the thickness sensor output falls below the threshold value (foreign coin) 500 The two maximum values of the material sensor output Time 510 Time when the material sensor output takes the first maximum 511 Time when the material sensor output exceeds the first threshold 512 Time when the material sensor output falls below the first threshold 520 Material sensor output Took the second maximum

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-54229 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Showa 57-147710 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 43-5051 (JP, Y1) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07D 5/00-5/10

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A coin insertion slot, a coin passage connected to the insertion slot, an identification sensor arranged on a side wall of the coin passage, and a detection for detecting a feature of the inserted coin based on an output of the identification sensor. Means, a storage circuit for storing in advance data serving as a reference for authenticity and type of coins, a comparison circuit for comparing the output of the detection means with reference data of the storage circuit, and a comparison result of the comparison circuit. A coin discriminating device comprising a judgment circuit for judging the authenticity and type of a coin, wherein the discrimination sensor is configured by winding a coil around an E-shaped core, and the length of the core to be discriminated is determined.
Identify the width of the core from 30% to 65% of the outer diameter
30% or less of the outer diameter of the coin to be
The opening faces the coin passage and the coin passage is vertical.
A coin discriminating device , wherein a sensor is arranged so as to be parallel to an excessive direction . 2. A thickness sensor comprising a core wound with coils disposed opposite to two coin passages, and these coils connected in series and anti-phase so that mutual inductance becomes negative. The coin identification device according to claim 1. 3. The coin identification device according to claim 1, further comprising means for detecting a degree of a convex portion formed on the outer periphery of the coin based on an output of the thickness sensor when the outer periphery of the coin passes near the thickness sensor. apparatus. 4. The coin discriminating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a degree of a convex portion formed on an outer peripheral portion of the coin is detected based on a time when an output of the thickness sensor is equal to or more than a threshold value. 5. A coin discriminating apparatus according to claim 4 , 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. 6. The time when the output of the thickness sensor exceeds the threshold value and the time when the output value falls below the threshold value are set to the time when the input value is equal to the threshold value, and when the input value is different, the threshold value is set. 7. The coin discriminating apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the time is obtained by performing interpolation from the two input values sandwiched. 7. The coin discriminating apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the correction is performed based on a passing speed of the coin. 8. The coin discriminating apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the correction is performed based on a time between two local maximums of the output of the material sensor. 9. A value obtained by subtracting a constant value from the maximum value of the output of the material sensor as a threshold value, and an intermediate time between the time when the output exceeds the threshold value and the time when the output value falls below the threshold value is defined as the time when the maximum value is reached. The coin identifying device according to claim 8, wherein 10. The time when the output of the material sensor exceeds the threshold value and the time when the output value falls below the threshold value are set to the time when the input value is equal to the threshold value, and the threshold value is set when the input value is different. The coin identification device according to claim 9 , wherein the time is obtained by performing interpolation from the two input values sandwiched. 11. The coin identification device according to claim 8 , wherein one sensor is used as both the thickness sensor and the material sensor.