JPH10134162A - Card counter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate operation noise and vibration completely by irradiating flanks of more than one cards which are adjusted and stacked closely with a light beam, enlarging its reflected light by a lens and guiding it to a charge- coupled device, converting the light into an electric signal and performing a digital process, and displaying the total quantity. SOLUTION: When the cards C to be counted which are adjusted and stacked closely are counted, a card pusher 4 is moved back, and the card group is put in order and inserted into the gap formed with a stopper 3 and loaded by releasing a knob 5. Then a count switch is pushed to turn on respective LEDs 12 by a power source 12, the flanks of the cards C are irradiated through a slit 9, and its reflected light is enlarged by the lens 8 and guided to the charge-coupled device; and an electric signal from the charge-coupled device 7 is digitally processed by an arithmetic circuit to digitally display the total number at a count display part instantaneously. Consequently, the counter can be made small-sized and lightweight to actualize no noise and no vibration.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a card counter,
More particularly, the present invention relates to a card counter mainly used for counting currency-related distribution cards and the like, and further to a card counter which can be used for counting thin paper cards such as business cards and postcards.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, for example, various cash cards,
Credit card or telephone card, JR,
Prepaid cards such as subways and currency-related circulation cards such as pachinko cards have become extremely popular.

Accordingly, in each management department handling a large number of cards of this type, accurate management of the number of cards is of primary importance, and therefore, a known card counter is used.

A conventional card counter of this type is publicly known and is not shown in the drawings. However, the side surfaces of the stacked card bundle are mechanically driven a predetermined number of times (for example, 2 times) by driving a sensor such as a photodiode by a motor or the like. ~ 3 times)
The number of times of detecting the thickness of each card is totaled and displayed.

However, in this type of photosensor, the thickness of a single card is, for example, 0.7 due to the limitation of the resolution.
If the thickness is not more than 0.8 mm, accurate detection is impossible, so that it is impossible to count thin cards similar to a paper sheet, for example. It was limited to about sheets.

Furthermore, the scanning of the photosensor is mechanical, and a plurality of scans are required to confirm the counting accuracy. Therefore, the counting time is 3 to 4 seconds, and the apparatus configuration is mechanically driven. Therefore, the cost was relatively high, and attention was required for maintenance.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and is applicable to a wide variety of thin paper cards of this kind which are currently distributed. By adopting an opto-electronic means that does not require a mechanical mechanism as in the conventional device, it is possible to reduce the size, weight, and cost as compared with the conventional example, and there is no operation noise or vibration. An object of the present invention is to provide a card counter of this kind which does not require maintenance and has high durability.

[0008]

For this reason, in the present invention, the side surfaces of a plurality of cards closely packed and aligned are irradiated with a light beam, and the reflected light is enlarged by a lens and guided to a charge-coupled device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a card counter characterized by displaying the total number on a display unit by converting into an electric signal and performing digital processing.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
This will be described in detail based on one embodiment.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an embodiment of a card counter according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the internal structure of the card counter with its case cover removed.

(Structure) In FIGS. 1 and 2, the card counter is disposed in a case bottom plate 1 and a case cover 2, and a card C to be counted is provided outside the case cover 2.
And a counting display / operation unit.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a card stopper fixed to one end of the opening, and reference numeral 4 denotes a movable card pusher disposed at the other end of the opening, and a card pusher (not shown) disposed therein. The plurality of card bundles C to be counted, which are urged in the direction of arrow A along the guide rails by the compression coil springs along the guide rails, are pressed against the stopper 3 by pressing. 5 is
This is a manual knob for retreating the card pusher 4 fixed to the card side end of the card pusher 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, the card counting mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a row of charge-coupled devices (elements) (C) disposed on a main chassis 6 disposed on the case bottom plate 1.
A plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) 12 arranged in a row on a swash plate 11 of a vertical partition plate 10 having an array of CDs 7, a magnifying lens 8 and a slit 9, and a power supply arranged on the case bottom plate 1. Battery (example is single 2 × 4) 1
2, a printed circuit board (PCB) 13 disposed on the back surface of the case cover 2 shown in FIG. 1, and a liquid crystal (LCD) count display unit 14, a count switch 15, and a reset of the count display operation unit on the case cover 2. A switch 16 and a total changeover switch 17 are provided.

However, the count of PCB 13 in FIG.
The circuit for total accumulation / display and the lead wires for connecting each part in FIG. 2 are based on a well-known conventional technology, and are not shown.

(Operation) Next, the operation and operation of the present apparatus will be described. When counting a group of aligned cards C to be counted, first, the urging spring (not shown) abuts the stopper 3 to contact the stopper 3. The card pusher 4 is retracted by pushing the knob 5 of the card pusher 4 against the spring force with a fingertip, and the card group is properly aligned and inserted into a gap formed between the card pusher 4 and the stopper 3, and then the knob 5 is released and loaded. I do.

Next, when the counting switch 15 is pressed, the power supply 1
When the LED 2 is turned on, each LED 12 emits light, illuminates the side of each card C from the slit 9, and the reflected light is expanded by the lens 8 and reaches the CCD array 7, and the electric signal from the CCD 7 is digitally processed by the arithmetic circuit of the PCB 13. Then, the total number is immediately digitally displayed on the counting display unit 14.

When the number of cards to be counted exceeds one loaded capacity, the counting of the group is repeated successively, and the cumulative total can be displayed by pressing the cumulative changeover switch 17. In addition, since the counting is performed instantaneously, in this embodiment, the power supply is automatically turned off, for example, 30 seconds after each operation switch is pressed.

(Action / Effect) As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following features are obtained: (1) The light of the LED 12 is applied to each card C, and the reflected light is enlarged by the lens 8. By converting this into an electric signal using the CCD element 7, the counting can be performed in a much shorter time and more accurately than in the conventional example.

(2) By using the CCD element 7 as the sensor, it can be fixed, and the structure can be simplified, smaller, lighter, and lower in cost as compared with a conventional motor-driven mechanical system. There is no noise and vibration, no maintenance is required, the durability is high, and it can be used semi-permanently.

(3) By digitally processing the signal from the CCD element 7, several types of counting can be performed with one input, so that counting can be performed more accurately. Also, by digital processing, the card 1
If the thickness data of a sheet is input to the circuit memory, it is difficult to count using the conventional optical sensor type. For example, it is possible to count cards such as postcards and business cards with a thin paper quality.

(Other Embodiments) (1) In the above embodiment, the power supply is an example of a dry battery. However, it is a matter of course that an adapter for 100 V AC may be provided.

(2) In the above embodiment, the LED
CCD through illumination lens 8 for each card C from 12
Although the optical path directly leading to the array 7 is used, the lengthwise space between the LED 12 / CCD 7 is shortened by adopting a path for refracting the light by using, for example, a plurality of reflection mirrors and the like. Can be shortened to reduce the size.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
This type of card counter irradiates the side of a densely stacked card with a light emitting diode or the like, magnifies the reflected light with a lens, guides it to a CCD element, converts it into an electric signal, and digitally controls the signal. A small, lightweight, low-noise / vibration-free, low-cost card counter with a relatively simple configuration that enables accurate counting in a short time even when the card is thin because it is configured to count the total number of cards. Could be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an internal configuration in a state where a case cover of FIG. 1 is removed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C card 1 case bottom plate 2 case cover 3 stopper 4 card pusher 5 knob 6 main chassis 7 charge-coupled device (element) (CCD) 8 lens 9 slit 10 partition plate 11 swash plate 12 battery 13 printed circuit board (PCB) 14 liquid crystal ( LCD) Count display section 15 Count switch 16 Reset switch 17 Cumulative changeover switch

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of irradiating a side face of a plurality of cards closely packed and stacked with light rays, expanding the reflected light by a lens, guiding the reflected light to a charge-coupled device, converting the reflected light into an electric signal, and digitally processing the converted signal. A card counter for displaying the total number on a display unit.