JP2023018564A - coin handling equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a coin processor with improved security by having a sorting hole closed at the end of coin counting or at an abnormal stop.SOLUTION: A coin processor 1 includes: an identifying/counting unit 45 that identifies and counts coins fed into the coin processor; sorting holes 71a and 71b for separating the coins into at least two types by the identifying/counting unit 45 and dropping the coins of one type; opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b provided in the sorting holes 71a and 71b to open and close the sorting holes 71a and 71b; and a control unit 14 for performing control to open the sorting holes 71a and 71b by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b at the start of counting and to close the sorting holes 71a and 71b by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b at the end of counting.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a coin processing device.

At present, a general ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) is capable of depositing and withdrawing small amounts (decimal number of coins). On the other hand, some users may deposit a large amount of coins, and a coin processing device is installed alongside the ATM to enable the deposit of a large amount of coins.

Coin processors come in many varieties. For example, the coin processing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 sorts coins by denomination in ascending order of diameter, counts them, temporarily stores them, and then stores the temporarily stored coins in storage boxes by denomination below. is.

The coin processing device disclosed in Patent Literature 2 includes a large number of sorting mechanisms capable of sorting coins according to arbitrary types. Then, the coin of the largest denomination among the coins discriminated and counted until the first coin reaches the first sorting mechanism is automatically set as the first denomination. Then, the coins are sorted by the first sorting mechanism, and then the coins of the second denomination are sorted by the second sorting mechanism.

The coin processing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 3 divides coins into two types of acceptable coins and unacceptable coins, and further sorts the acceptable coins into one of a plurality of sorting units in a mixed denomination state. It is arranged to distribute them one by one in order.

JP-A-55-092989 JP-A-04-293188 Japanese Patent No. 4732121

However, in the coin processing apparatuses disclosed in any of the patent documents, the coins fall downward through the sorting hole of the sorting mechanism and are stored in the temporary storage section or the storage section. The sorting hole at the end of the coin passage (the most downstream in the direction in which coins are conveyed) is simply a hole (hole). Therefore, for example, when the conveyor belt stretched above the coin passage is retracted, the temporary storage section or storage section is exposed to the outside through the sorting hole.

Generally, in a coin processing apparatus, a coin counting mechanism provided with a coin passage is provided with an upper cover that can be opened and closed so as to easily deal with a transport jam or the like. Therefore, the upper cover is opened to retract the conveyor belt. Therefore, in this operation, when the temporary storage portion or the storage portion is exposed to the outside through the sorting hole, a third person can take out the coins stored in the temporary storage portion or the storage portion through the sorting hole. Become. In addition, uncounted coins may fall and be stored in the temporary storage section or the storage section through the sorting holes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a coin processing apparatus capable of closing a sorting hole when the counting of coins is completed or when an abnormal stop occurs.

A first aspect of the present invention is a coin processing apparatus, comprising: a discriminating counting section for discriminating and counting inserted coins; a sorting hole for dropping, an opening/closing mechanism provided in the sorting hole that opens and closes the sorting hole, and a control unit that controls the sorting hole to be opened by the opening/closing mechanism at the start of counting and to close the sorting hole by the opening/closing mechanism at the end of counting. The gist is that it has

Since the sorting hole is closed at the end of counting, the reliability of the counting result for the stored coins can be maintained.

1 is an external perspective view of a coin processing apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. It is the figure which looked at the inside of the coin processing apparatus of this Embodiment from right above. It is a block diagram which looked at the coin processing apparatus of this Embodiment from the right direction. 2 is a cross section AA of the coin processing apparatus of FIG. 1 of the present embodiment. It is an explanatory view for explaining the composition which stores the coin of the coin processor of form of this execution. It is a flow chart explaining operation of a coin processor of this embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The embodiment described below exemplifies an apparatus and method for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea (structure, arrangement) of the present invention is as follows It is not specific. Various modifications can be made to the technical idea of the present invention within the technical scope described in the claims. The drawings are schematic, and the configurations of devices and systems are different from the actual ones. Further, the description of already known techniques is omitted. The front, rear, left, and right are the front side of the coin processing device 1 (the front side when viewed from the operator's place), the rear side of the coin processing device 1 (the back side when viewed from the operator), and the left and right sides of the coin processing device 1 (from the operator). left and right). Moreover, up and down refer to directions perpendicular to the front, back, left and right directions, and the directions are indicated by coordinates in each drawing.

The coin processing apparatus 1 enables a large amount of coins to be deposited separately from an ATM in a system of a financial institution including an ATM. The coin processing apparatus 1 includes a discriminating counting section 45 for discriminating and counting the inserted coins, and sorting holes 71a and 71b (see FIG. 1) for separating the coins into at least two types by the discriminating counting section 45 and for dropping the coins divided into one type. 3) and opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b (FIG. 3) provided in the sorting holes 71a and 71b for opening and closing the sorting holes 71a and 71b. The sorting holes 71a and 71b are closed by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b at the end of counting.

<Specific Configuration of Coin Processing Device 1>
A coin processing machine 1 (FIG. 1) is provided with an upper cover 2, and the upper cover 2 is supported so that the front part of the machine can be turned upward about a horizontal axis having an axis in the width direction at the rear of the machine. there is The upper surface of the upper cover 2 is provided with a shutter 2a as an opening/closing device. Note that FIG. 2 shows a visible state when the upper cover 2 is opened. An opening/closing detector (not shown) of the upper cover 2 is configured to detect a part of the upper cover 2 that has turned and descended to the front of the apparatus.

The carriage 3 (FIG. 1) is pulled out to the front side with respect to the coin processing apparatus 1 by rolling casters 31 provided at the bottom. Further, it is detached from the coin handling machine 1 and transported, and is attached to the coin handling machine 1 by being loaded from the front side. As shown in FIG. 3, the truck 3 is provided with safes 12a and 12b arranged side by side in the front-rear direction.

The coin counting section 4 ( FIGS. 3 and 5 ) has a hopper 41 , a rotating disk 42 , a coin separating section 43 , a coin passage 44 and an identification counting section 45 . The hopper 41 is provided directly below the shutter 2a and stores the inserted coins. The rotating disc 42 is a horizontally rotatable disc that is provided below the hopper 41 so as to form its bottom.

The coin separating part 43 has an opening through which only one coin can pass, and feeds the coins one by one into the coin passage 44 by centrifugal force when the rotating disc 42 rotates. The coin passage 44 is a passage for horizontally conveying the coins fed out one by one by the coin separating section 43. As is well known, a conveying belt (not shown) is suspended along the coin passage 44 to convey the coins from above. A conveyor belt is arranged so as to press against the coin passage 44 . The identifying and counting unit 45 (FIGS. 3 and 5) is provided on the upstream side of the coin passage 44, identifies the authenticity and denomination of coins being conveyed in the coin passage 44, and counts the number of coins.

The reject unit 5 stores items other than genuine coins (hereinafter referred to as rejected coins) in the reject box 6 based on the counting result of the identification counting unit 45 of the coin counting unit 4 . The reject part 5 has a reject hole 51 , a reject member 52 for dropping coins into the reject hole 51 , and an upstream coin sensor 53 . The coin sensor 53 is used to control opening/closing timing of the reject member 52 . The reject box 6 is a detachable box that stores the rejected coins that have been rejected from the coin passage 44 by the reject section 5 .

The sorting sections 7a and 7b (FIGS. 3 to 5) are arranged downstream of the reject section 5 in the coin passage 44. As shown in FIG. Sorting units 7a and 7b (hereinafter simply referred to as sorting units 7 when there is no need to distinguish them individually; the same applies to other cases) sort out true coins based on the counting results of the identification counting unit 45. , and has a mechanism for allocating coins identified and counted as acceptable to the temporary storage portion 8a or the temporary storage portion 8b.

Each of the sorting section 7a and the sorting section 7b has a sorting hole 71a and a sorting hole 71b into which the maximum diameter coin to be handled (a 500-yen coin in Japan) can be dropped. The sorting section 7a and the sorting section 7b are provided with an opening/closing mechanism (shutter) 72a and an opening/closing mechanism (shutter) 72b capable of individually opening and closing the sorting holes 71a and 71b (FIG. 3).

The opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b use, for example, solenoids. A solenoid is a cylindrical coil that creates a magnetic field in the coil by passing an electric current through it. A direct-acting actuator related to a solenoid excites a coil with a direct current sent from a power source, and causes a movable iron core to perform minute rectilinear motion with quick response by electromagnetic force. The opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b using solenoids are opened and closed at high speed by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b directly connected to the movable iron cores. The opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b may use solenoid coils or other methods such as cam mechanisms.

The temporary storage portion 8a is a rectangular frame in a plan view, and is provided below the distribution portion 7a. The temporary storage portion 8b is a rectangular frame in a plan view, and is provided below the distribution portion 7b. The sorting hole 71a is opened by the opening/closing mechanism 72a of the sorting section 7a, and the coins reaching the sorting hole 71a drop from the sorting hole 71a into the temporary storage section 8a. When the sorting portion 7a is closed by the opening/closing mechanism 72a of the sorting portion 7a, the coins reach the sorting hole 71b, and when the sorting hole 71b is open, the coins drop from the sorting hole 71b into the temporary storage portion 8b. .

The bottoms of the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b are composed of one horizontal temporary storage bottom plate 81 (FIGS. 3 and 5).

The temporary reservoirs 8a and 8b are integrally supported so as to be horizontally movable in the lateral direction of the apparatus housing. The temporary storage bottom plate 81 is also supported so as to be horizontally movable in the horizontal direction independently of the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b. Coins can be stored in a predetermined place by horizontally moving the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b and the temporary storage bottom plate 81. As shown in FIG.

The guide 11 (FIG. 5) guides the coins stored therein to the safes 12a and 12b when the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b and the temporary storage bottom plate 81 are horizontally moved to the left. be. It is also possible to increase the height of the safes 12a and 12b by the height of the guide 11 without providing the guide 11 so that the coins stored in the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b can be delivered to the safes 12a and 12b. .

The safes 12a and 12b are arranged below the temporary storage sections 8a and 8b provided along the left side of the apparatus housing.

The safes 12a and 12b are placed on a carriage 3 that is detachable from the coin handling machine 1. As shown in FIG. It should be noted that the coin handling machine 1 may be supported by a safe carrier supported by slide rails that can be put in and taken out of the coin handling machine 1 .

The safes 12a and 12b are box bodies having openings at the top thereof, and the top openings are provided with shutter members (not shown) for opening and closing the openings. When the safes 12a and 12b are positioned inside the main body of the device, the shutter member opens the upper opening so that coins can be received from above.

When the safes 12a and 12b are in the coin handling apparatus 1, the shutter members of the safes 12a and 12b are locked by closing their upper openings by receiving a recovery instruction. After that, the safes 12a and 12b with their upper openings closed by the shutter members can be pulled out of the device housing together with the carriage 3 or on the safe carrier supported by the slide rails. It is possible to do so.

When the safes 12a and 12b are outside the coin processing apparatus 1, the shutters or opening lids (not shown) can be opened with a dedicated key to take out the stored coins.

The display/operation unit 13 (FIG. 3) displays information to the user and receives operation inputs from the user. The control unit 14 controls each unit to perform coin deposit processing in the coin processing device 1 .

<Coin Deposit Processing of Coin Handling Device 1>
FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining coin deposit processing. When the user operates the ATM to deposit a large amount of coins and receives an instruction from the ATM that there is a large amount of coins to be deposited, the control unit 14 of the coin processing device 1 opens the shutter 2a in step S1. to accept coins. Even at this time, including before receiving an instruction to deposit a large amount of coins from the ATM, the sorting holes 71a and 71b of the coin passage 44 are on standby with the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b closed.

Also, when the user performs an operation for starting counting on the ATM, in step S2, the control unit 14 closes the shutter 2a and executes identification counting processing. At this point, that is, at the start of counting, the sorting holes 71a and 71b of the coin passage 44 are controlled to be changed from the closed state to the open state (the shutter opens) by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b. Both the sorting holes 71a and 71b may be opened at the same time, or only one of them may be opened. Here, when the identification counting process is executed, the coins on the rotating rotary disk 42 are separated one by one and sent to a conveyor belt (not shown) arranged above the coin passage 44 . The conveying belt conveys the coin downstream in the coin passage 44 while pressing the coin against the surface of the coin passage 44 . Identification and counting of coins inserted from the shutter 2a are started.

At this time, as described above, the control section 14 controls the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b to open and close the sorting holes 71a and 71b, and based on the counting result of the identification counting section 45, the coin is a true coin and can be accepted. The identified and counted coins are distributed to the temporary storage section 8a or the temporary storage section 8b. When sorting coins to the temporary storage portion 8a, the sorting hole 71a is controlled to open, and the coins drop from the sorting hole 71a into the temporary storage portion 8a. When sorting coins to the temporary storage portion 8b, the sorting hole 71a is closed and the sorting hole 71b is controlled to open, and the coins drop from the sorting hole 71b into the temporary storage portion 8b. Note that even if the sorting hole 71b is open, if the sorting hole 71a on the upstream side is open, coins will drop from there. be opened.

When the coin sensor 53 of the rejecting unit 5 detects a coin (rejected coin) that cannot be discriminated from a true coin by the identification counting unit 45 , the control unit 14 performs control to open the rejecting member 52 . As a result, the rejected coin detected by the coin sensor 53 passes through the reject hole 51 and is received in the reject box 6 . Note that even commemorative coins and foreign genuine coins that are not subject to handling are stored in the reject box 6 as counterfeit coins. When a counterfeit coin or the like is removed from the reject box 6, the ATM displays a message to that effect, and an LED (not shown) on the front face of the coin processing device 1 lights up or flashes, so that it can be used. The person can reliably collect the excluded items such as counterfeit goods.

In step S3, the control unit 14 determines whether or not an error has occurred. For example, when the upper cover 2 is opened, when a counting stop button (not shown) is operated to request counting stop, or when an abnormality in the power system (for example, sudden power failure) occurs, an error occurs. is determined to have occurred.

If it is determined in step S3 that no error has occurred, the control unit 14 determines in step S4 whether or not the payment has been completed. A sensor (not shown) detects that there are no coins on the rotating disk 42, and the coins that are finally correctly identified by the identification and counting unit 45 are guided to at least the most downstream sorting hole 72b. When the time has passed, it is determined that the deposit has been completed. If it is determined in step S4 that the payment has not been completed, the control unit 14 returns to step S3 and similarly executes the subsequent processes.

When it is determined in step S4 that the deposit has been completed, the control unit 14 temporarily stops the identification counting process (finishes counting) in step S5. The driving is stopped, and the sorting holes 71a and 71b of the coin passage 44 are closed by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b (the shutter is closed). After that, in step S6, the control unit 14 determines whether or not there are coins to be recounted. Here, recounting includes coins such as rejected coins that could not be guided to the sorting holes 71a and 71b. If it is determined that there are coins to be recounted, the process returns to step S1 and the subsequent processes are executed. When it is determined in step S6 that there are no coins to be recounted, the control unit 14 ends the coin deposit process while keeping the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b closed. Here, when determining whether or not to recount in step S6, the user is inquired as to whether or not he/she desires recounting. The shutter 2a is opened to allow the insertion of coins (step S1). On the other hand, if no request for recounting is indicated within a certain period of time, the coin receiving process is terminated or the recount is sent to the user. Instead of inquiring about the desired count, the shutter 2a is opened to allow re-insertion or additional insertion of coins, and presence or absence of insertion of coins into the shutter 2a, the hopper 41, and the rotating disk 42 within a certain period of time. If a coin has been inserted, the process returns to step 2 assuming that the coin should be recounted. If no coin has been inserted, the shutter 2a is closed and the coin receiving process is terminated. You can do it.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3 that an error has occurred, the control unit 14 advances to step S7, temporarily stops the identification counting process (ends counting), and stops the coin conveyance provided immediately before the identification counting unit 45. (not shown) to prevent coins from being conveyed upstream of the coin passage 44 before an error occurs, and guide only coins correctly identified by the identifying and counting unit 45 to the sorting holes 71a and 71b. After that, the control unit 14 also controls the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b to close the sorting holes 71a and 71b (close the shutters).

When an error occurs, if the coins guided into the sorting holes 71a and 71b are found to be abnormal, the sorted coins are returned and counted again. Further, when it is recognized that there is no abnormality in the counting result of the coins guided into the sorting holes 71a and 71b, the sorted coins are left as they are, and only confirmation of the occurrence of abnormality is performed.

Next, in step S8, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the error has been resolved. If it is determined that the error has been resolved, the process returns to step S2 to restart the identification counting process. If it is determined in step S8 that the error has not been resolved, the control unit 14 terminates the coin receiving process.

As described above, in the coin processing device 1, the identification counting section 45 that identifies and counts the inserted coins, and the identification counting section 45 divides the coins into at least two types, and sorts the coins divided into one type to drop. Holes 71a and 71b and opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b for opening and closing the sorting holes 71a and 71b are provided. The sorting holes 71a and 71b are closed by the mechanisms 72a and 72b (steps S5 and S7). Therefore, the sorting holes 71a and 71b are also closed at the end of counting, so that the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b are not exposed to the outside through the sorting holes 71a and 71b. Therefore, at the timing when counting ends, a third party cannot take out the coins stored in the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b through the sorting holes 71a and 71b. In addition, uncounted coins do not drop and are stored in the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b through the sorting holes 71a and 71b. That is, the reliability of counting results can be maintained.

Further, as described above, recounting or additional counting can be started, and when recounting or additional counting is started, the sorting hole is opened by the opening/closing mechanism (step 2 after step S6 YES), and when recounting or additional counting ends, opening/closing mechanism 72a is opened. , 72b to close the sorting holes 71a, 71b (step 5 after step S6 YES or after), even during the period between the initial counting and the recounting or additional counting, the sorting holes Since 71a and 71b are kept closed by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b, the reliability of the counting result can be maintained.

Upon detecting an abnormality, the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b control the sorting holes 71a and 71b to be closed (step S7). can be opened (step S2 after step S8 YES). For example, when a conveying jam occurs, the upper cover is opened and the conveying belt is retracted for processing. At that time, as shown in FIG. 71b) is exposed to the outside, but since the sorting holes 71a and 71b are closed by the opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b, a third party can store them in the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b through the sorting holes 71a and 71b. You can't get the coins that have been played out. In addition, uncounted coins do not drop and are stored in the temporary storage portions 8a and 8b through the sorting holes 71a and 71b. That is, the reliability of counting results can be maintained.
In the present embodiment, two sorting holes 71a and 71b, opening/closing mechanisms 72a and 72b, temporary storage portions 8a and 8b, and safes 12a and 12b are provided. , one at a time, or three or more at a time, are included.

1 coin processing device 2 upper cover 3 cart 4 coin counting unit 5 reject unit 6 reject box 7 sorting unit 8 temporary storage unit 9 chute space frame 11 guide 12 safe 14 control unit

Claims (3)

A coin handling device,
an identification counting unit that identifies and counts inserted coins;
a sorting hole for separating coins into at least two types by the identification and counting unit and dropping the coins divided into one type;
an opening and closing mechanism provided in the sorting hole for opening and closing the sorting hole;
a control unit that controls the opening and closing mechanism to open the sorting hole when counting is started and the opening and closing mechanism to close the sorting hole when counting is finished. When coins are reinserted or additionally inserted, the control unit causes the opening/closing mechanism to open the sorting hole, and controls the opening/closing mechanism to close the sorting hole again at the end of recounting or additional counting. 2. A coin handling machine according to claim 1. The control unit controls the opening/closing mechanism to close the sorting hole when an abnormality is detected, and controls the opening/closing mechanism to open the sorting hole when the normality is detected after the abnormality is detected. 3. The coin processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

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