JPH0896199A - Detecting part for surface state of coin in coin discriminating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To accurately and speedily detect the array state of the uneven pattern that a cob has by irradiating the coin with the light of a light source from the external ends of respective optical fibers, reflecting the light by respective corresponding parts on the top surface of the coin and making the reflected light incident from the external ends of the optical fibers of respective photodetection parts, and photodetecting it with photodetecting elements arranged at the respective internal ends. CONSTITUTION: The top surface of a coin on a sensor disk 1 is irradiated with the light through the optical fibers of an irradiation part 3, and its reflected light is made incident on the optical fibers of the photodetection part and photodetected by the photodetecting elements 4. At this time, since the quantities of incident light of the optical fibers of the photodetection part 2 vary owing to the unevenness of the coin surface and others, the variation can be detected as differences in unevenness of the surface of the coin. The respective photodetecting elements 4 of the photodetection part 2 are connected to a counting part 7 through a switch part 6 an the output of the counting part 7 is stored in a detection data storage part 8. The value of the detection data held in the detection data storage part 8 is compared with the value of reference data in a reference data storage part 10 connected to a comparison part 9. A comparison result storage part 11 outputs its held value to a decision part 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention detects a characteristic portion such as an uneven pattern on the surface of a coin, compares it with that of a genuine coin, and judges whether or not a certain degree of similarity is recognized. The present invention relates to a surface state detection unit of a coin in a coin identification device that determines whether or not the identification target coin is a genuine coin.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In this type of technique, the unevenness of the surface of the coin is measured by measuring the electrostatic capacitance between two electrodes or the electrostatic capacitance between the electrode and the coin when a coin is present. Other,
Detects the change in the index that causes the capacitance value to be determined,
There is a technology for discriminating between genuine coins and non-genuine coins.

One of such prior arts comprises an electrode having a predetermined large area facing the surface of a coin and a needle-shaped electrode having an extremely small area facing the coin. A coin discriminating apparatus provided with a detection circuit configured to cause a change in electrostatic capacitance between electrodes and detecting irregularities on the surface of a coin or jagged edges of a coin based on the change in electrostatic capacitance (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 53-82397). issue)
There is.

Other such prior art techniques include:
In a device for discriminating the thickness of coins, each of which is composed of a sensor electrode and a guard ring electrode for preventing diffusion of lines of electric force generated from the sensor electrode, and is arranged so as to face a coin passage in a coin passage. A pair of electrodes, an oscillation circuit that outputs an oscillation signal of a predetermined frequency, a resonance circuit that resonates with the oscillation signal of this oscillation circuit and applies the resonance output to each sensor electrode of the pair of electrodes, and the passage of coins. A coin discriminating apparatus provided with a detection circuit for comparing the output signal voltage of the resonance circuit with a predetermined reference voltage at a certain time to detect whether or not the thickness of the coin is within a predetermined range (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI-1)
-298489) and the like.

Of the above conventional techniques, the former allows a coin to pass through a position facing an electrode having a predetermined large area and a needle-shaped electrode having an extremely small area, and electrostatic charges generated between the electrodes at this time. It is to judge whether the coin has unevenness in the thickness direction and whether the peripheral edge is notched from the change of the capacity, and it can only perform a very rough discriminating action. Even coins having completely different modes give very similar changes in capacitance as a whole, and there is a problem that the ratio of misidentifying many non-genuine coins as genuine coins is too large.

Of the above-mentioned prior art, the latter is also the same,
A coin is passed between a pair of sensor electrodes, and it is intended to determine the presence or absence of an uneven pattern on the coin based on the change in capacitance that occurs at this time. It is not possible to determine if they are arranged. Therefore, similar to the former conventional technique, there is a problem that the ratio of misidentifying many non-genuine coins as genuine coins is too large.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and detects the presence or absence of irregularities such as the irregular pattern of coins, simply detecting the presence of irregularities that are likely to occur in coins. It is another object of the present invention to provide a coin surface state detection unit in a coin discriminating apparatus capable of detecting the array state in detail.

Further, when it is desired to detect the arrangement state of coins such as uneven patterns in detail, it is necessary to keep the facing state with the detecting section constant at all times, but it is extremely difficult to do so, and it is applied to the detecting section. It is possible to repeat the detection while rotating the coins in the circumferential direction, compare the reference coins with the comparison target data, and find the rotation angle position that obtained it, but this is also difficult to perform speedily. is there.

However, the present invention has another object to solve the above problems and to obtain the same effect speedily and accurately without rotating a coin. .

[0010]

The gist of the structure of the present invention is that a sensor section is provided in a face-to-face relationship with at least one surface of a coin to be identified, in which a light receiving element is arranged at an inner end and an outer end is arranged. A ring-like structure is formed by alternately arranging N light-receiving portions formed of optical fibers arranged toward the coin and light-emitting portions arranged on the inner end of which light sources are arranged and whose outer ends are arranged toward the coin. Sensor unit, a light receiving element of the N light receiving units of the sensor unit, and a counting unit that counts the received light output and a detection data storage unit that holds the N detection data counted by the counting unit. And a reference data storage unit that holds N reference data, which are standard detection data for genuine coins, in a predetermined order, N detection data sequentially read from the detection data storage unit, and the reference data storage unit. Read sequentially With respect to the N reference data that are output, a comparison unit that compares them in a corresponding reading order, a comparison result storage unit that holds the data of the comparison result of the comparison unit, and a comparison that is read from the comparison result storage unit A determination unit that evaluates the result data and determines whether the comparison result data is within the range of the coin to be identified if it is a genuine coin, and is read by the determination unit, and based on this When a judgment criterion storage unit that holds a judgment criterion for evaluating the data of the comparison result and the identification target coin move immediately in front of the sensor unit, the counting unit displays N pieces of the sensor unit. Among the light receiving elements of the light receiving section, the light receiving outputs are read from the light receiving elements of the constant light receiving section to the light receiving elements of the light receiving section adjacent to the constant light receiving section according to the arrangement order in the constant rotation direction. The obtained N detection data are stored in the detection data storage unit in the order of reading, and then the detection data group consisting of N data stored in the detection data storage unit is detected. The reading is repeated until the judgment evaluation in the judgment unit described later becomes “in the range” or the number of times of reading reaches N, and the reading order of the detected data group is changed from the first reading. It is assumed that the N pieces of detection data of the detection data group are arranged in a ring shape until the N-th reading, and that the order of the detection data at the beginning of reading is set backward one by one at each reading. Each time the data is read, the comparison unit compares the detected data with the reference data in the corresponding order read out from the reference data storage unit in the predetermined order. The comparison result data is held in the comparison result storage unit, and the comparison result data held in the comparison result storage unit is evaluated by the judgment unit based on the judgment standard read from the judgment standard storage unit, The data of the comparison result is caused to perform an evaluation determination operation for determining whether or not the identification target coin is within the range of the genuine coin, and if the determination evaluation is “in the range”, it is as it is. While outputting a signal indicating that it is a genuine coin, the subsequent read operation of the detection data group from the detection data storage unit is stopped, and if not, after the subsequent read operation of the detection data group from the detection data storage unit Continue the operation of N
If the judgment evaluation based on the comparison result performed after the second reading is that the coin to be identified is not within the range when the coin is a genuine coin, the coin to be identified is a non-authentic coin. And a control unit that outputs a signal indicating that the coin is a coin, and a surface state detection unit of the coin in the coin identification device configured by the above. By this, the above problems can be solved.

The sensor section is constituted by, for example, a disc-shaped support, and is arranged so that the outer end of the optical fiber is exposed from the back side to the front side. The ring-shaped sensor part, in which the light receiving part by the optical fiber with the light receiving element at the inner end and the irradiating part by the optical fiber with the light source at the inner end are alternately arranged, has a plurality of concentric arcs with different diameters. Is also good. Further, in this way, the identification accuracy is improved. Furthermore, in order to detect the front and back surface states of the coins to be identified, two disc-shaped supports are arranged face-to-face, and as described above, a single or more ring-shaped sensor unit is configured. Can be It goes without saying that with such a configuration, the accuracy can be further improved. Needless to say, the diameter of the ring-shaped sensor portion should be smaller than the diameter of the coin to be identified.

As the light receiving element used in the light receiving section, a suitable element capable of receiving light emitted from a light source such as a laser oscillator, an incandescent lamp, or a light emitting diode may be used. Further, the light sources do not need to be separately provided at the inner ends of the optical fibers forming the irradiation unit, and it is configured to introduce light from one light source to the inner ends of all the optical fibers forming the irradiation unit. Appropriate.

Further, in order for the sensor unit to detect the surface condition of the coin to be identified, it is necessary to suspend the coin immediately before that, though it is an extremely short time. The holding means for temporarily holding such a coin does not need to have a special configuration, and any means that can obtain such an action can be adopted.

As the detected data storage section, for example, it is suitable to use a RAM which can access data at high speed and read / write freely. Needless to say, when the sensor section is constituted by a single ring. It suffices to have a storage capacity capable of holding at least that much data in the order of detection.
Needless to say, if there are more than two ring-shaped sensor units, it is necessary to have a capacity that can hold the data of each sensor unit, and separate the area for each data of each sensor unit for detection. It is appropriate to keep them in order.

It is appropriate that the reference data storage section is constituted by using a ROM having a high read speed. The reference data held in this is data for genuine coins detected using the same sensor unit, and corresponding data is prepared corresponding to single or double of the sensor unit. If it is double or more, it is divided into two or more areas correspondingly and held in the order of detection. In the reference data, a certain portion of the surface of the genuine coin, that is, a portion corresponding to the N light receiving portions starting from a portion of the sensor portion facing the certain light receiving portion is detected and held in that order. It should be. This is the same for each reference data obtained by each sensor unit even when two or more sensor units are configured.

By the way, it is almost impossible to expect that the coins to be discriminated to be thrown into the discriminating device will be in the same facing state as when the reference data was obtained, at the time of facing the sensor section, simply by being thrown in. That is, when the inserted coin to be identified is temporarily held by the temporary holding means, it is almost possible that the rotation angle of the circumference holds the rotation angle of the circumference when the reference data is obtained. Therefore, the positional relationship between the surface of the coins to be discriminated and held in such a manner and the individual light receiving portions in the sensor portion is such that the mutual relations when the reference data are obtained during the discriminating operation. It is unlikely that they are in agreement with the relationship.

Therefore, for example, the angular interval between two adjacent light receiving parts in the N light receiving parts arranged in a ring shape is defined as one unit angular interval, and the coin to be identified is surrounded by the one unit angular interval. Rotate (rotate) around, each time,
The detection result is compared with the reference data by performing the detection operation in the sensor unit, and it is determined whether or not the comparison result is within the range recognized as a genuine coin, the comparison result is “ It is within the range that can be recognized as a genuine coin. "Or the above procedure is repeated N times without the conclusion, and the procedure is finished, and the reference data is obtained. It is also possible to adopt the concept of determining the authenticity of the coin to be identified while searching for a positional relationship that matches the positional relationship between the respective parts on the surface of the coin at the time of acquisition and the individual light receiving parts in the sensor part.

However, this technique has a problem that it is not easy to rotate the coins to be identified speedily with a simple mechanism. In the present invention, the N light receiving portions arranged in a ring shape receive light. The N pieces of detection data obtained from the device are treated as if they were arranged in a closed ring shape in the same manner, and the maximum number of times of reading is performed N times. The same operation is speedily obtained by sequentially rearranging the reference data in the reading order and comparing with the reference data sequentially read in a predetermined order.

The comparison unit may be configured, for example, as a subtracter that subtracts the value of the detected data from the value of the reference data and outputs the value of the difference, or divides the value of the detected data by the value of the reference data. Then, any structure can be freely adopted as long as it can make an appropriate comparison, such as a divider for outputting the value of the quotient. Then, for the N pieces of detection data, the data strings of the values of differences, quotients, and the like, which are the output of the comparison result, are held in the comparison result storage unit in the comparison order (the same as the reading order) as described above. It As the comparison result storage unit, it is suitable to use a RAM having a high write / read speed.

In the above, not only the data of the characteristic portion is prepared as the reference data, but the entire circumference of the ring-shaped portion facing the ring-shaped sensor portion is prepared and obtained in the same range as these reference data. The detection data is compared by checking the order of comparison to see if there is a match.However, as reference data, only the data of the characteristic site is prepared, and the detection data has a certain tolerance. It goes without saying that it is possible to adopt a method of checking whether or not there is matching data in the range.

Further, as described above, the judging section reads out the data of the comparison result held in the comparison result storage section, and the data of the comparison result indicates that the coin to be identified is a genuine coin. Whether or not it is within the range is evaluated and determined, and the determination result is input to the control unit.
If the content of the determination is "in the range of genuine coins", the determination unit receives the control of the control unit,
Output to that effect to the coin receiving section. When the content of the determination is “not within the range of genuine coins”, the determination unit receives the control of the control unit only when the determination operation is the Nth time, An output to that effect is output, and the operation of returning the coins to be identified is performed.

Further, as described above, the judgment reference storage section is a storage means for holding the judgment reference to be read by the judgment section, and the judgment reference is empirically determined corresponding to each judgment technique. It should be done.

For example, when the comparison unit is configured as a subtractor, it goes without saying that the obtained comparison result data is the difference data between the reference data and the detection data read in the corresponding order. . Therefore, in this case, N difference values can be obtained. For example, if the number of difference values that are larger than a certain value is less than a certain ratio, it is determined as a genuine coin, and it must be so. For example, it is judged as an unauthentic coin. As a criterion, for example, the above-mentioned fixed ratio is determined and held.

Further, for example, when the comparison unit is configured as a divider, the data of the obtained comparison result is the data of the quotient obtained by dividing the detection data read in the corresponding order with each reference data. Needless to say. Therefore, in this case, N pieces of quotient data are obtained. For example, if the number of pieces of quotient data, which is a value within a certain range with 1 as the center value, occupies a certain ratio or more, it is a genuine coin. If not, it is determined to be a non-genuine coin. In this case as well, the criterion is, for example, to determine and hold the above-mentioned fixed ratio.

Furthermore, the control unit, as described above,
It controls the operation from the counting unit to the determination unit.

[0026]

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, it operates and acts as follows. First, the coin to be identified is
When the coin is inserted from the insertion slot or the like and sent to the holding means facing the sensor portion, the coin is held by the holding means. When the coin is held on the front surface of the sensor unit, the N light-emitting units arranged in a ring shape together with the N light-receiving units that are alternately arranged from the outer ends of the respective optical fibers forming the coin to the light source of the light source. Light is irradiated, and this is reflected at the corresponding portions on the surface of the coin, and the reflected light is incident from the outer end of the optical fiber of each light receiving section alternately arranged with the irradiation section, and this is inside each. The light is received by a light receiving element arranged at the end.

In this way, when the coin to be identified is held immediately before the sensor section and the detecting operation is performed by the sensor section,
The operation of the counting unit is started, and from the light receiving element of a constant light receiving section (for example, the 0th light receiving element) among the light receiving elements of the N light receiving sections of the sensor section, a constant rotation direction (for example, clockwise rotation). Direction), the light receiving element (N−) of the light receiving portion adjacent to the fixed light receiving portion (0th light receiving element) is arranged.
The light receiving outputs up to the first light receiving element) are read and counted, and the obtained N pieces of detection data are stored in the detection data storage unit from the 0th address to the N-1th address in the reading order.

After that, with respect to the detection data group consisting of N pieces of data held in the detection data storage section, the detection data group becomes "within range" or read out by the determination section described later. The reading is repeated until the number of times reaches N times. Then, when the judgment evaluation is “in range”, a signal indicating that the identification target coin is authentic is output from the judgment unit, and the judgment evaluation “in range” does not occur, When the number of times the detected data group is read out is N, the determination unit outputs a signal indicating that the coin to be identified is not genuine.

By the way, the order of reading the detected data group from the detected data storage unit is N from the first reading.
It is assumed that the N pieces of detection data of the detection data group are arranged in a ring shape until the second reading, and the order of the detection data at the beginning of reading is set backward one by one for each successive reading. Also, for each read,
In the comparison section, the detected data is compared in the reading order with the reference data in the corresponding order read out in a predetermined order from the reference data storage section, and the comparison result data is stored in the comparison result storage section. Hold it.

Further, the comparison result data held in the comparison result storage unit is evaluated by the judgment unit based on the judgment standard read from the judgment standard storage unit, and the comparison result data is
When the coin to be identified is an authentic coin, an evaluation determination operation is performed to determine whether the coin is “in range”, and as described above, if the determination evaluation is “in range”, The determination unit outputs a signal indicating that the identification target coin is a genuine coin, and stops the subsequent read operation of the detection data group from the detection data storage unit. If not, the operation subsequent to the read operation of the subsequent detection data group from the detection data storage unit is continued, and the judgment evaluation based on the comparison result performed subsequent to the Nth read operation indicates that the identification target coin is authentic. If the coin is "not within the range" of the coin, the determination unit outputs a signal indicating that the identification target coin is a non-genuine coin.

Therefore, in the present invention, the coins to be identified are not rotated, and the obtained N detection data are compared with N reference data by the number of data.
The order of comparison is such that the former is arranged first and the rear is arranged for each comparison so that the comparison can be performed speedily.

[0032]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, N optical fibers of the light receiving portions 2, 2 ... Exposed on the sensor disk 1 from the back to the front side, and N irradiations similarly arranged alternately. The outer ends of the optical fibers of the parts 3, 3, ... Are arranged. The optical fibers are arranged in a ring shape, as shown in FIG. Needless to say, the diameter of this ring-shaped array is set so that the circular arc passes through the surface where the features of the coin to be identified are most often exhibited. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, light receiving elements 4 such as phototransistors are arranged at the inner ends of the optical fibers forming the respective light receiving portions 2, 2, ...
One light source 5 is arranged at the inner end of the optical fibers forming the ... An electric lamp or the like can be used as the light source 5.

When a coin is set at a predetermined position immediately before the sensor disk 1, the surface of the coin is irradiated with light through the optical fibers of the irradiation units 3, 3 ... And the reflected light is received by the light receiving unit 2. The light enters the optical fibers 2 ... and is received by the light receiving elements 4, 4. At this time, the amount of light incident on the optical fibers of the light receiving portions 2, 2, ... Therefore, the amount of light received by the light receiving elements 4 of the light receiving units 2, 2, ... Can be grasped as the difference in the unevenness of the coin surface.

Each of the light receiving elements 4 of the light receiving sections 2, 2, ... Is connected to the counting section 7 via the switch section 6. It should be noted that each of the light receiving units 2, 2, ...
Numbers up to the number will be attached so that they can be distinguished from each other. The switch unit 6 includes N light receiving units 2,
Each of the light-receiving elements 4 of No. 2 is selected in order from No. 0 to No. N-1, and can be connected to the counting unit 7. Here, the counting unit 7 is configured as an A / D converter that performs A / D conversion on the light reception output photoelectrically converted by the light receiving elements 4, 4, ....

The counting unit 7 is connected to the detection data storage unit 8 and stores the former output in the latter. The detection data storage unit 8 is connected to the comparison unit 9, and the value of the detection data held by the former is used as the reference data storage unit 10 connected to the comparison unit 9.
It can be compared with the value of the reference data. In this example, the comparison unit 9 is configured as a divider, divides the value of the detection data by the value of the reference data in the reading order, and sequentially obtains the obtained quotient value from 0 to 0 in the comparison result storage unit 11. N-1
It is connected to this to hold it at the address. Further, the comparison result storage unit 11 determines the value of the quotient held by the determination unit 1
It is connected to output to 2.

The determination unit 12 is the comparison result storage unit 1
The value of the quotient held by 1 is sequentially read, and the value of each quotient is 1
It is judged whether it is within the tolerance ± R with the center value as the center value, and the tolerance value with the center value as 1 in the data of all quotients ±
The ratio P of the number of data in R is calculated, and on the other hand, the ratio Q which is the judgment standard is read from the judgment standard storage unit 13 connected to the judgment unit 12, and whether the ratio P is equal to or higher than the ratio Q of the standard. It is to determine whether or not.

Further, each of the above-mentioned elements, that is, the not-shown detection means, switch section 6, counting section 7, detected data storage section 8, comparison section 9, reference data storage section 10, comparison result storage section 11, and determination section 12 are shown. The determination criterion storage unit 13 is controlled by the control unit 14 as described later.

The respective constituent elements of this embodiment have the above-described configuration, and will be described in detail below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

First, the coin to be identified is inserted from a coin insertion slot or the like and is sent to a holding means (not shown) facing the sensor disc 1, and is temporarily held by this. The detection means (not shown) detects whether or not a coin has arrived in front of the sensor disk 1 (step S1). As described above, the coin is sent in front of the sensor disk 1 and held by the holding means. When it is held, it is detected by the detection means (not shown), 0 is assigned to the variable A in the control unit 14 (step S2), and then the switch unit 6 sets 0 to 0.
Of the light receiving units 2, 2, ... Up to N-1, the light receiving unit 2 of A, that is, the value of the variable A is 0 at this time, so the light receiving output of the light receiving element 4 of the 0 light receiving unit 2 is It is selected (step S3).

The light receiving output of the light receiving element 4 of the selected 0th light receiving section 2 is input to the counting section 7 where it is A / D converted (step S4), and the value of the obtained detection data is stored in the detection data. Since the value of the variable A is 0 at the address A of the section 8, that is, at this time, the variable A is saved at the address 0 (step S5).

Next, in the control unit 14, 1 is added to the variable A (step S6), and it is determined whether or not the variable A matches the constant N, that is, the total number of the light receiving units 2. Whether or not it is determined (step S7), and if not, the operations of steps S3 to S6 are repeated. Of course, since the value of the variable A is 1 in the above process performed the second time, the light receiving output of the light receiving element 4 of the first light receiving unit 2 is selected, A / D converted,
The value of the detection data will be stored in the address 1 of the detection data storage unit 8. The variable A has a value of 2 in the third and subsequent processes, and the variable A has a value of 3 in the fourth and subsequent processes. Address A of the storage unit 8,
That is, the A / D converted detection data values are stored at addresses 2 and 3.

Thus, in the Nth step, the variable A is set to 1 in step S6 of the immediately preceding step (N-1th step).
Is added, the value becomes N−1, the light receiving output of the light receiving element 4 of the N−1th light receiving unit 2 is selected by the switch unit 6 (step S3), and the light receiving output is A /
The D-converted value is obtained (step S4), and the value of the obtained detection data is stored in the address N-1 of the detection data storage unit 8 (step S5). Next, the control unit 14 adds 1 to the variable A (step S6), and then determines whether or not the variable A matches the constant N (step S7). At this point, the value of the variable A is N. Therefore, the above repeating process is terminated and the process proceeds to the next step S8.

Next, in the control unit 14, 0 is assigned to the variable C (step S8), and the value of the variable C is further assigned to the variable A,
That is, since the value of C is 0 at this point, 0 is substituted,
0 is substituted for the variable B (step S9).

After that, since the value of the variable A is 0 in the detection data storage unit 8, that is, the value of the variable A is 0 at this time, the value of the detection data of the address 0 is read into the comparison unit 9 (step S
10). Further, since the value of the variable B is 0 at the address B of the reference data storage unit 10, that is, at this time, the value of the reference data at the address 0 is read into the comparison unit 9 (step S
11). Next, in the comparison section 9, the value of the detected data at address 0 in the detected data storage section 8 is divided by the value of the read reference data at address 0 in the reference data storage section 10 (step S12). In this way, the value of the quotient obtained by the comparison unit 9 is stored in the address A of the comparison result storage unit 11, that is, since the value of the variable A is 0 at this time, it is stored in the address 0 (step S1).
3).

Next, in the control unit 14, variable A and variable B
Is incremented by 1 (step S14), and then it is determined whether the value of the variable A matches the constant N (step S15). At this point, the value of A is 1, so
When the value of the variable A matches the value of the constant N, 0 is substituted for the variable A (step S16), and after that, the process proceeds to the next step S17.
We will proceed to 17. In the next step S17, it is determined whether or not the value of the variable B matches the constant N. At this point in time, the value of the variable B is 1, so the steps S10 to S17 are repeated.

After each substantial operation, step S14
Since 1 is added to the variables A and B, the read addresses of the detection data storage unit 8 and the reference data storage unit 10 advance every time, and when this is repeated N times, the values of all data are The division and the saving of the value of the quotient obtained thereby in the comparison result storage unit 11 are completed. Thus, in the process of the last round, 1 is added to the variables A and B in step S14, and the respective values become N. In the following step S15, it is determined whether or not the value of the variable A matches N. At this time, since A = N, the variable A is set to 0 (step S1).
6) (This process is meaningless at this point),
Next, it is determined whether the value of the variable B matches N (step S17). At this time, since it matches B = N, the process proceeds to the next step S18. Thus, when the value of the variable C is 0, the above step S10 is performed.
~ The process of repeating step S13 N times is sequentially 0 ~ N
This is a group of processes in which the value of the detection data of the same address is divided by the value of the reference data of address -1, and the obtained quotient values are sequentially stored in addresses 0 to N-1 of the comparison result storage unit 11.

After that, the quotient values held at addresses 0 to N-1 of the comparison result storage unit 11 are sequentially read into the judgment unit 12, and each quotient value is allowed to have a center value of 1. It is determined whether or not the value is within the range of ± R, and the ratio P of the number of values of the quotient within the allowable value ± R centered at 1 to the total number of data is calculated (step S18). The allowable value ± R with the center value of 1 should be determined empirically, but it seems that the value of R should be about 0.3.

Then, the ratio Q, which is the judgment criterion, is read from the judgment criterion storage unit 13 into the judgment unit 12 (step S
19) In the judgment unit 12, it is judged whether or not the ratio P is equal to or higher than the ratio Q which is a judgment criterion (step S2).
0) If the ratio P is equal to or higher than the ratio Q, the determination unit 12 outputs that the coin to be identified is a genuine coin (step S24). On the other hand, if it is below the threshold, the control unit 14 adds 1 to the variable C, and then determines whether or not the value of the variable C matches the constant N (step S22). At this point, the value of C is
Since 1 was added to C which was 0 in 21, it is 1 and the process returns to the step S9 and the subsequent steps are repeated. When the step S24 is executed, the coin identification process is completed, and the step S24 is executed.
It goes without saying that it will return to 1.

In step S9, the value of variable C is set to variable A,
That is, at this point, 1 is assigned and 0 is assigned to the variable B. Therefore, in the process from the next step S10 to step S13, the value of the detection data at the address "1" in the detection data storage unit 8 is changed to the reference data at the address "0" in the reference data storage unit 10 in the comparison unit 9. Then, the obtained quotient value is stored in the address 0 of the comparison result storage unit 11. In the next step S14, 1 is added to each of the variables A and B, and their values become 2 and 1, respectively. Since the variable A is not N in step S15, step S1
7, the variable B is not N, so step S1 again.
The process from 0 to step S13 is repeated. In this process, the variable A is 2 and the variable B is 1, so that the data at address 2 is read from the detection data storage unit 8 and the data at address 1 is read from the reference data storage unit 10. In the same manner as described above, division is performed and the obtained quotient value is stored in the comparison result storage unit 11.

After this, variables A and B are calculated in step S14.
Is incremented by 1 and the process from step S10 to step S15 is repeated until the variable B matches N. That is, the data in the reference data storage unit 10 is always
While the addresses 0 to N-1 are sequentially read, the data in the detection data storage unit 8 is shifted backward by the value of the variable C, and the first read address is read backward, and the reading is continued in this state. It is what is done. The data corresponding to the value of the variable C at the beginning is read from the beginning after reading the address N-1. Step S1
At 4, the variable B and the variable A are incremented by 1,
When the value reaches N, step S15
In the judgment process of step S16, the process branches to step S16, 0 is assigned to the variable A, and then the process returns to step S17, where the read address is returned to the leading address 0.

In this way, when the value of the variable C is 1, the process of repeating the above steps S10 to S13 N times is the value of the reference data at addresses 0 to N−1 read from the reference data storage unit 10 , The value of the detection data based on the rear of the first address is divided, and 0 to N of the comparison result storage unit 11 is divided.
-1 is a set of processes sequentially stored in the address 1, and step S10 is performed at each stage of variable C2 to N-1.
Each process of repeating step S13 N times is the value of the reference data of addresses 0 to N-1 read from the reference data storage unit 10, respectively, and is sequentially from address 2 to N-1.
In the process of dividing each of the detection data values read from the addresses which are located behind the address, and saving the obtained quotient value of each group in addresses 0 to N-1 of the comparison result storage unit 11. is there.

As described above, the process of each set is a variable C.
As described above, the value of the variable C is initially set to 0 in step S8, and thereafter, the value of the variable C is set to 0.
If the evaluation determination operation in the determination unit 12 does not determine that the identification target coin is a genuine coin, 1 is added in the subsequent step S21, and as described above, the variable C of the variable C is changed in step S22. It is determined whether or not the value matches N, and if they do not match, the process returns to step S9 as described above, and the above-described set of steps of the value of C is performed.

After each of the processes described above, the evaluation determination operation in the determination unit 12 is performed on the values of the group of quotients stored in the process. This is, as mentioned above,
This is the process of steps S18 to S20. In this process, the value of the variable C is the value group of the quotient obtained in the process of each set of 0 to N−1, that is, the reference data storage unit 1.
It is obtained by dividing the value group of the quotient obtained by dividing the value of the detection data at the same address read from the detection data storage unit 8 by the value of the reference data read from 0, and the value of the detection data at the back of the first address. Value group of quotient, value group of quotient obtained by dividing the value of detection data at the back of the second address, and detection of back of each address obtained by further dividing value of detection data at the back of addresses 3 to N-1 For the quotient value groups corresponding to the data, it is sequentially checked whether or not each of the quotient values of each group is within a permissible value ± R centered on 1 and within the permissible value ± R range. The ratio P of the number of quotient values contained in the data to the total number of quotient values (total number of quotient values) N is calculated, and this is compared with the ratio Q, which is the criterion for judgment. , Is determined to be a genuine coin, and an output to that effect is output (step S24).

As described above, if not, 1 is added to the variable C (step S21), and then it is determined whether the variable C matches the constant N (step S2).
2) In this case, if 1 is added in step S21 and the value of the variable C is N, the process proceeds to step S23, and the determination unit 12 indicates that the coin to be identified is an unauthentic coin. It will be output. That is, in this case,
At each stage from 0 to N-1 of the variable C, the value of the detected data at the addresses 0 to N-1 in the detected data storage unit 8 depends on the value of the reference data at the addresses 0 to N-1 in the reference data storage unit 10. This means that the division is performed in all stages by dividing the latter address by 1 for each stage, and the detected data at each stage is close to the standard data, which is the standard data for genuine coins. The reason for doing so was not recognized.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention, not only the outline of the unevenness on the surface of the coin can be detected as in the prior art, but also the arrangement state thereof can be detected in detail. .

Further, in the present invention, the N light-receiving portions arranged in a ring shape and the irradiation portion arranged alternately with the light-receiving portions are formed, and the light reflected from the surface of the facing coin which reflects the light emitted from the irradiation portion is reflected by the light-receiving portion. The N detection data obtained by receiving light from the light receiving element are held in the storage means, and similarly, these detection data are treated as being held side by side in a closed ring shape, and the maximum is stored in the storage means. The number of times of reading is N times, and the reading data is compared with the reference data in the reading order while sequentially shifting the leading detection data one by one backward for each reading, without rotating the coin. It realizes the same operation as the above. In this way, the detection part in the coin of the detection data is searched while sequentially comparing it with the reference data, and all of them are sequentially compared. If there is a considerable degree of similarity, in that case, the detection data and the reference data are regarded as the data of the same part. Since it is determined that they match and there is a considerable degree of similarity, it is decided that they are genuine coins. Since there is no point in agreement anywhere, we decided to judge it as a non-genuine coin, which made it possible to make a speedy and accurate judgment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a coin surface state detection unit in a coin identification device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing a sensor disk of a surface state detection unit of a coin and a light receiving unit and an irradiation unit formed on the sensor disk in the coin discriminating apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of a first half of a coin surface state detecting section in the coin discriminating apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the latter half operation of the surface state detection unit of the coin in the coin identification device according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 sensor disk 2 light receiving part 3 irradiation part 4 light receiving element 5 light source 6 switch part 7 counting part 8 detection data storage part 9 comparison part 10 reference data storage part 11 comparison result storage part 12 judgment part 13 judgment reference storage part 14 control part

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sensor unit arranged on at least one surface of a coin to be identified in a face-to-face relationship, wherein N light-receiving units are provided by an optical fiber having a light-receiving element at an inner end and an outer end facing the coin. And a light source arranged on the inner end and an irradiation portion formed by an optical fiber having the outer end directed toward the coin are alternately arranged to form a ring shape, and a sensor portion of the N light receiving portions of the sensor portion. A counting unit that reads out the received light output from the light receiving element and counts it, a detection data storage unit that holds the N detection data counted by the counting unit, and N detection data that is standard detection data for genuine coins. A reference data storage unit that holds reference data in a predetermined order, N pieces of detection data that are sequentially read from the detection data storage unit, and N that are sequentially read from the reference data storage unit.
For each piece of reference data, a comparison unit that compares them in a corresponding reading order, a comparison result storage unit that holds the comparison result data of the comparison unit, and comparison result data that is read from the comparison result storage unit And a determination unit that determines whether or not the data of the comparison result is in the range of the coin to be identified as the true identification coin, and is read by the determination unit, and based on this, the comparison result When a judgment criterion storage unit that holds a judgment criterion for evaluating data, and the identification target coin moves to the position immediately before the sensor unit, the counting unit causes the N light receiving units of the sensor unit to operate. From the light receiving element of a constant light receiving portion of the light receiving element to the light receiving element of the light receiving portion adjacent to the constant light receiving portion according to the arrangement order in the constant rotation direction, the light receiving outputs are read and counted, respectively. The obtained N pieces of detection data are held in the detection data storage unit in the reading order, and thereafter, regarding the detection data group made up of N pieces of data held in the detection data storage unit, the detection data group will be described later. The judgment evaluation in the judgment unit becomes “in range” or the number of times of reading is N
It is assumed that the reading is repeated until the number of times reaches, and the N pieces of detection data of the detection data group are arranged in a ring shape from the first reading to the Nth reading in the reading order of the detection data group. With each sequential read,
The order of the detection data at the beginning of reading is to be shifted backward one by one, and the detection data is read in the predetermined order from the reference data storage unit in the reading order in the comparing section for each reading. The comparison result data is compared with the read reference data in the corresponding order, the comparison result storage unit holds the comparison result data, and the comparison result data held in the comparison result storage unit is read from the determination reference storage unit. Evaluate in the determination unit based on the determination criteria, the data of the comparison result, to perform an evaluation determination operation to determine whether or not the identification target coin is within the range of genuine coins, the determination evaluation is If it is within the range, the signal indicating that it is a genuine coin is output as it is, and the subsequent read operation of the detection data group from the detection data storage unit is stopped. In this case, the operation after the subsequent read operation of the detection data group from the detection data storage unit is continued, and the determination evaluation based on the comparison result performed subsequent to the Nth read is that the identification target coin is a true coin. If it's "out of range" then
The coin to be identified is a control unit that outputs a signal indicating that the coin is a non-genuine coin, and a coin surface state detection unit in the coin identification device configured by.