Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PAPER IDENTIFICATION COUNTER AND PAPER
IDENTIFICATION AND COUNTING METHOD
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a paper
identification counter for identifying and counting papers
and to a paper identification counting method, and, more
particularly, relates to a desktop type currency note
identification counter and paper identification and
counting method, capable of performing currency note
denomination judgment or discrimination and counting
processing at a high speed.
Such a paper identification counter has a form of,
for example, a desktop type currency note identification
counter for performing discrimination or judgement of
currency note denomination or counting processing.
The conventional desktop type currency note
identification counter has a hopper which is disposed at
a top portion of a counter body on a front side thereof and
into which are fed and stacked currency notes to be
identified. When this identification counter is operated, a
stack of currency notes stored in the hopper are delivered
one by one by a delivery roller. The thus delivered
currency notes are transported one by one along a
conveyance passage within the counter body in the
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short-side (width) direction of currency notes. An
identification unit is disposed on the way of the
conveyance passage to effect the currency note denomination
judgment (discrimination) or true-counterfeit judgment
(discrimination) processing, to thereby count the number of
currency notes or the sum thereof.
After the denomination discrimination and counting
by the identification unit, the currency notes are directed
through the downstream conveyance passage to a stacker,
from which the currency notes are retrieved.
The conventional currency note identification
counter is arranged such that the currency notes delivered
from the hopper are reversed largely by the delivery
roller, after which they are led to the stacker through a
substantially rectilinear conveyance passage. In this case,
the identification unit is disposed on the way of the
rectilinear conveyance passage (US Patent Nos. 5,912,982
and 5, 692,067).
Due to the substantially rectilinear configuration
of the note conveyance passage, it would be difficult for
the conventional currency note identification counter to
secure a sufficient conveyance passage length. In the event
that the currency note identification counter is of a
small-sized, compact desktop type in particular, it is
inevitable, because of its short conveyance passage length,
to perform the currency note identification and counting
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processing at a low speed of the order of 700 to 800 sheets
per minute, making the high-speed processing difficult.
In the currency note identification counter, any
counterfeit bills or damaged notes need to be excluded or
rejected from objects to be identified and counted. For
this purpose, it is necessary after the identification of
the currency notes by the identification unit to operate a
reject mechanism while making a check of the passage timing
of the currency notes to be rejected, which will
necessitate a conveyance passage length corresponding to
the time between the start of the check and the start of
the operation. A predetermined time will also be needed for
the processing of identification signals from the
identification unit or for the operation of the reject
mechanism. A further speedup will need a greater distance
through which the currency notes must be conveyed along the
conveyance passage within a predetermined time.
In the case of the small-sized desktop currency
note identification counter, it would not be practical to
enhance the currency note counting processing speed due to
the difficulty to secure the sufficient length of the
downstream conveyance passage of the identification unit.
For this reason, the identification counter could process
only 700 to 800 notes per minute, or at most about 1,000
notes per minute.
The currency notes, typical papers, may include
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various notes such as notes liable to fold or notes with
folded corners. In the event that the currency notes in
various conditions are brought into the conveyance
passage, they may gossibly jam on the way of the
conveyance passage. For this reason, the currency note
identification counter has to prevent the occurrence of any
jamming or take any measures against the possible jamming,
such as rapidly stopping the feed of the currency notes to
simply reject the jammed notes.
However, the conventional currency note
identification counter allows for by no means the
sufficient measures against the jamming, and, once the
currency notes jam on the way of the conveyance passage,
makes it difficult to simply remove the jammed notes.
Furthermore, the identification of the currency
notes by the identification unit is merely effected by
partially sensing the features of the currency notes, with
the result that only the currency notes of a specific
country can be identified. It would thus be difficult to
enhance the currency note identification abilities and to
impart the versatility to the identification unit. For
this reason, the conventional currency note identification
counter can handle only the currency notes of a specific
country. If it is desired to identify and count the
currency notes of the other countries, then additional
identification units for identifying the features of the
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currency notes of the other countries must separately be
prepared to replace one identification unit with another
depending upon circumstances.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was conceived in view of the
above circumstances.
It is therefore an object of the present invention
to provide a small-sized, compact desktop type paper
identification counter and its identification and counting
method, ensuring rapid identification and counting
processing of papers such as currency notes.
Another object of the present invention is to
provide a small-sized, compact desktop type paper
identification counter and its identification and counting
method, capable of effectively utilizing an interior space
of a counter body, securing a sufficient conveyance passage
length, and performing high-speed identification and
counting processing.
Further object of the present invention is to
provide a paper identification counter having a counter
body whose front portion is provided with one stacker~ and
one pocket and also provide its identification and counting
method capable of discharging out-of-identification/
counting papers rejected on the way of the conveyance
passage into the pocket for storing the same.
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A still further object of the present invention is
to provide a paper identification counter and its
identification and counting method, capable of effecting
identification and counting processing at a conveyance
speed of 1,200 sheets per minute or more and ensuring
simple and easy opening of the conveyance passage upon
occurrence of the paper jamming.
A still further object of the present invention is
to provide a paper identification counter ensuring simple
and easy retrieval and reject of the jammed papers upon the
occurrence of paper jamming on the way of the conveyance
passage.
A still further object of the present invention is
to provide a paper identification counter capable of
ensuring an easy retrieval of papers being stacked within
the stacker or the pocket.
A still further object of the present invention is
to provide a paper identification counter having a control
CPU and an arithmetic CPU mounted on a circuit board to
relieve the processing load imposed on the control CPU to
thereby achieve an enhanced identification and counting
processing speed.
A still further object of the present invention is
to provide a paper identification counter having an
autonomous rotation control circuit to provide an automatic
control of motor rotational speeds of a delivery drive
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motor and a conveyance drive motor, thereby relieving the
burden processing to be effected by the control CPU.
A still further object of the present invention is
to provide a paper identification counter by using a bus
emulator circuit to perform a drive operation of the
general-purpose display panel such as an LCD through the
control CPU, to thereby relieve the burden processing to be
effected by the control CPU, allowing for the speedup of the
processing.
The above and other objects can be achieved
according to the present invention by providing, in one
aspect, a paper identification counter comprising: a
counter body; a hopper which is formed to the counter body
and to which papers to be identified and counted are fed; a
paper conveyance unit including a conveyance passage along
which the papers from the hopper is conveyed one by one in a
direction of a short width side of the papers, said paper
conveyance unit including a delivery roller and a reverse
feed roller; a paper identification unit disposed on a way
of the conveyance passage for identifying and counting the
papers; a stacker for stacking the papers which are
delivered from the conveyance passage and then identified
and counted; and a pocket for collecting papers to be
rejected, which are not identified and counted, said
conveyance passage including a first U-shaped conveyance
region along an outer periphery of the delivery roller and a
second U-shaped conveyance region along an outer periphery
of the reverse feed roller on a way between the hopper and
the stacker.
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' In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
hopper is disposed at a top portion of the counter body and
the starker is disposed on a front surface portion of the
counter body at the lower portion thereof in an installed
state of the counter, the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance
region is formed on a back side portion of the counter body
at a lower portion thereof, and the conveyance passage
includes, in combination, a rectilinear conveyance
identification region extending from the hopper to the
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance region and a downstream
conveyance region extending from the U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance region to the starker.
The U-shaped curvilinear conveyance region
provides a paper identification/judgement region and the
downstream conveyance region provides a paper reject
discrimination conveyance region. The paper identification
unit is disposed in the rectilinear conveyance region of
the conveyance passage, the paper identification unit
including at least a kind identification sensor for
identifying and discriminating the kind of the papers and a
true-counterfeit identification unit for judging whether
the papers are true or counterfeit, the kind identification
sensor and the true-counterfeit identification unit being
spaced apart from each other with an interval in the
longitudinal direction of the conveyance passage.
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The U-shaped curvilinear conveyance region
comprises a reverse feed drive roller having a diameter of
two-thirds or more of the paper feed width, a curved guide
plate confronting an outer periphery of the reverse feed
drive roller, and a pair of driven rollers disposed on an
inflow side and an outflow side of the curvilinear
conveyance region. The downstream conveyance region is
angled and forms the reject discrimination conveyance
region for rejecting the papers out of identification and
damaged papers and a reject conveyance region diverges from
the downstream of the reject discrimination conveyance
region.
The downstream conveyance region, a gate timing
sensor is disposed at an inlet side of the reject
discrimination conveyance region for detecting presence or
absence of the papers being conveyed, the downstream
conveyance region including a switching gate disposed at a
downstream side of the timing sensor to allow a changeover
operation to a reject conveyance region in response to a
detection signal from the gate timing sensor.
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In another aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a paper identification counter comprising: a
counter body; a hopper which is formed to the counter body
and to which papers to be identified and counted are fed; a
delivery mechanism for delivering the papers fed to the
hopper to a conveyance passage; a paper conveyance unit for
conveying the delivered papers one by one along said
conveyance passage in a direction of short width side of the
papers at a conveyance speed of 1,200 sheets or more per
minute; a paper identification unit disposed on a way of the
conveyance passage for identifying and counting the papers;
and a stacker in which the identified and counted papers,
delivered through a first U-shaped region along an outer
periphery of a delivery roller and a second U-shaped region
along an outer periphery of a reverse feed roller on a way
between the hopper and the stacker, are stacked; a pocket
for collecting papers to be rejected, which are not
identified and counted; said paper conveyance unit including
a paper delivery drive system for delivering and conveying
the papers from the hopper up to the second U-shaped region
and a paper conveyance drive system for conveying the papers
from the second U-shaped region to the stacker, said paper
delivery drive system and said paper conveyance drive system
being driven by driving sources, respectively.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
paper conveyance drive system conveys, to a pocket, the
papers lying within a reject conveyance region diverging
from the U-shaped curved region at a downstream side
thereof.
In a further aspect of the present invention,
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there is provided a paper identification counter comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
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body;
a stacker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
a conveyance passage formed in the counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the stacker; and
a pocket disposed above the stacker and adapted to
store therein papers rejected from the conveyance passage,
said pocket including a pocket bearer and a support member
covering the pocket bearer from a front side thereof.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
pocket includes a pocket bearer disposed at a free end of a
guide arm of a reject conveyance passage opening mechanism,
a forward extending pocket arm securely fastened to the
counter body and a support member interposed between the
free end of the pocket arm and the fore-end of the pocket
bearer, the support member being supported by one of the
free end of the pocket arm and the fore-end of the pocket
bearer and being releasably fixed to another one thereof.
The pocket is opened at both sides thereof, a front
side portion of the pocket being covered with a pair of
side members which are supported by one of the free end of
the pocket arm and the fore-end of the pocket bearer, the
pair of side members being releasably fixed to another one
thereof by one-touch fastening means such as magnet means.
The support member is provided with a shock
absorbing resilient member such as sponge adhering to an
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inside portion of the pocket and the support bearer is
notched centrally at the front portion thereof so as to
form a retrieval opening.
In a still further aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a paper identification counter comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
body;
a starker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
a conveyance passage formed in the counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the starker, the
conveyance passage including a rectilinear conveyance
passage descending from the hopper through a delivery
mechanism along a back side of the counter body, a
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage continuous with
the rectilinear conveyance passage, disposed at the lower
portion on the back side of the counter body, and a
downstream conveyance passage extending from the
curvilinear conveyance passage to the starker; and
a back side conveyance passage opening mechanism
disposed on a back side of the rectilinear conveyance
passage so as to be pivotal about a pivot at a lower
portion of the counter body in an installed state thereof.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the back
side conveyance opening mechanism includes a rear opening
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guide arm mechanism which is pivotal about a pivot disposed
at a lower front portion of said U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage, the opening guide arm mechanism
including guide plates constituting the rectilinear
conveyance passage and the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance
passage. The rear opening guide arm mechanism includes a
two-foldable frame structure comprising a lower guide arm,
an upper guide arm and lock means for fixing through
one-touch operation a top portion of the upper guide arm to
a back side upper portion of the counter body to be
detachably.
In a still further aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a paper identification counter
comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
body;
a stacker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
a conveyance passage formed in the counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the stacker, the
conveyance passage including a rectilinear conveyance
passage descending from the hopper through a delivery
mechanism along a back side of the counter body, a
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage continuous with the
rectilinear conveyance passage, disposed at a lower portion
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on the back side of the counter body, and an angled
conveyance passage extending from the curvilinear
conveyance passage to the stacker; and
an angled conveyance passage opening mechanism
disposed below the angled conveyance passage to be pivotal
about a pivot at a lower portion of the counter body in an
installed state thereof.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
angled conveyance passage opening mechanism includes a
front opening guide arm mechanism to be pivotal about a
pivot disposed at a lower front portion of the U-shaped
curvilinear conveyance passage, the opening guide arm
mechanism including a guide plate constituting the angled
conveyance passage. The front opening guide arm is
displaced between a set position and an opening position
around a pivot common to the rear opening guide arm
mechanism, the front opening guide arm mechanism being
always biased towards the set position.
In a still further aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a paper identification counter
comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
body;
a stacker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
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a conveyance passage formed in said counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the stacker, the
conveyance passage including a rectilinear conveyance
passage descending from the hopper through a delivery
mechanism along a back side of the counter body, a
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage continuous with
the rectilinear conveyance passage, disposed at the lower
portion on the back side of the counter body, an angled
conveyance passage extending from the curvilinear
conveyance passage to the stacker, and a reject conveyance
passage diverging from the angled conveyance passage at a
top portion thereof; and
a reject conveyance passage opening mechanism
disposed below the reject conveyance passage to open the
reject conveyance passage.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
reject conveyance passage opening mechanism includes an
opening guide arm mechanism to be pivotal about a pivot
disposed centrally at a lower portion of the counter body,
the opening guide arm mechanism including a guide plate
constituting the reject conveyance passage. The opening
guide arm mechanism is releasably attached, at a free end
side thereof, to the counter body by locking means, the
locking means being released through an operative force
transmission mechanism to thereby open the opening guide
arm mechanism by its own weight. The opening guide arm
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mechanism includes a guide arm which is pivotable about a
pivot, the guide arm being formed at a free end thereof
with a pocket bearer for a pocket.
In a still further aspect of the present invention,
there is also provided a paper identification counter
comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
body;
a starker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
a conveyance passage formed in the counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the starker, the
conveyance passage including a rectilinear conveyance
passage descending from the hopper through a delivery
mechanism along a back side of the counter body, a
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage continuous with
the rectilinear conveyance passage, disposed at the lower
portion on the back side of the counter body, and a
downstream conveyance passage extending from the
curvilinear conveyance passage to the starker; and
a paper identification unit disposed along the
rectilinear conveyance passage and adapted to perform a
paper identification/counting and true-counterfeit
discrimination, the paper identification unit having a
line sensor arranged so as to traverse said conveyance
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passage.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the line
sensor is a light transmission sensor comprising a light
emission side sensor member and a light reception side
sensor member which are splittable in assembly, the line
sensor iterating a line scanning to scan the overall
surfaces of papers conveyed along the conveyance passage
for identification. The line sensor has a sensor body
including a light emission side sensor member and a light
reception side sensor member which are splittable in
assembly, the line sensor being formed with a guide passage
for guiding papers at a portion defined between the two
sensor members. The guide passage includes a tapered guide
path having a dimension gradually reduced towards an inlet
side thereof and a parallel slit-like guide path that
follows the tapered guide path, the slit-like guide path
having a gap of several millimeters therein.
The light emission side sensor member of the line
sensor includes a plurality of light emission elements
arrayed in line, the light reception side sensor member of
the line sensor including a plurality of light reception
elements arrayed in a line so as to correspondingly
confront the light emission elements.
The light emission side sensor member of the line
sensor includes a plurality of light emission elements
arrayed in a line at a predetermined pitch and a lens
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member for collimating diffused rays from the plurality of
light emission elements, the light reception side sensor
member of the line sensor including a plurality of light
reception elements correspondingly confronting the
plurality of light emission elements and a lens member for
focusing parallel rays from the plurality of light
emission elements to the plurality of light reception
elements.
The light emission side sensor member of the line
sensor includes several tens of light emission elements
arrayed at 5 mm pitch and includes several tens of light
reception elements correspondingly confronting the light
emission elements.
The paper identification unit comprises a couple
of light reflection front-reverse identification sensors
disposed on both sides of the conveyance passage for
discriminating front or reverse of the papers, the couple
of identification sensors being spaced apart from each
other in a width direction of the conveyance passage. The
paper identification unit comprises a true-counterfeit
identification sensor for judging the true or counterfeit
of papers, the true-counterfeit identification sensor being
composed of at least one of a magnet sensor and an UV
sensor.
In a still further aspect of the present invention,
there is also provided a paper identification counter
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' comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
body;
a stacker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
a conveyance passage formed in the counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the stacker;
a feed mechanism for feeding papers stacked on a
bottom of said hopper to the conveyance passage; and
a delivery mechanism for delivering the papers from
the feed mechanism to the conveyance passage;
the feed mechanism and the delivery mechanism
having a feed roller and a delivery roller, respectively,
which are rotationally driven in synchronism with each
other, the feed roller and the delivery roller each being
formed, at a portion in a circumferential direction
thereof, a friction member for providing a paper feed
frictional force, the feed roller and the delivery roller
being each provided with a balancer weight at a location
diametrically opposing to the friction members.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
delivery mechanism includes a stop member coming into press
contact with the delivery roller, the stop member
preventing papers from being fed in an overlapped manner.
In a still further aspect of the present invention,
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there is also provided a paper identification counter
comprising:
a counter body;
a hopper disposed at a top portion of the counter
body;
a stacker disposed at a front portion of the
counter body;
a conveyance passage formed in the counter body so
as to extend from the hopper to the stacker, the
conveyance passage comprising a rectilinear conveyance
passage descending from the hopper through a delivery
mechanism along a back side of the counter body, the
rectilinear conveyance passage including a paper
identification unit provided with a line sensor, the line
sensor being a light transmission detector including a
plurality of light emission elements which are arrayed in
a width direction of the conveyance passage and including a
plurality of light reception elements which confront .the
plurality of light emission elements in a one-to-one
corresponding manner;
a scanning processing circuit arranged so as to
serially scan, in a line, a train of the light reception
elements of the line sensor; and
an arithmetic CPU arranged so as to process serial
scanning data from the scanning processing circuits.
In this aspect, the scanning processing circuit may
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comprise:
a sensor scanning circuit for serially scanning
the train of the light reception elements of the line
sensor in response to a drive signal from the control CPU
and to an encoder drive signal from an encoder detecting
a rotational speed of a delivery roller of a delivery
mechanism;
a signal processing circuit for processing test
data signals as a result of serial scanning of the train
of the light reception elements; and
an AD converter for converting an analog signal to
a digital signal so as to input a test data digital signal
from the AD converter to the arithmetic CPU.
In a preferred embodiment of the above aspect, the
control CPU and the arithmetic CPU are mounted on a circuit
board accommodated in a side space inside the counter body,
the control CPU performing a control of a delivery drive
motor, a conveyance drive motor, a brake for stopping said
delivery drive motor and various sensors, the arithmetic
CPU being an arithmetic only processor processing a
scanning data from the line sensor.
The control CPU issues start/stop and brake signals
for a delivery drive motor and a conveyance drive motor to
a motor driver, the control CPU providing a rotation
control of the drive motors by way of an autonomous
rotation control circuit which receives a reference clock
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signal from the control CPU and a signal from an encoder
detecting the rotational speed of the delivery drive motor
and the conveyance drive motor. The control CPU includes a
bus emulator circuit intervening between the control CPU
and a display panel such as an LCD, the bus emulator
circuit achieving matching with an interface of the display
panel to partially share a processing to be effected by
the control CPU.
The objects of the present invention can also be
achieved in a still further aspect, by providing a method
of identifying and counting papers comprising the steps of:
delivering papers stacked in a hopper to a
conveyance passage at a delivery speed of 1200 sheets per
minute or more by means of a delivery mechanism;
guiding the delivered papers to a rectilinear
conveyance passage descending along a back side of a
counter body;
making paper identification, counting and
true-counterfeit judgment by a paper identification unit
in a process of passing the rectilinear conveyance passage;
leading the papers identified and counted by the
paper identification unit, through a U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage at a lower portion on a back side of the
'counter body, to a downstream conveyance passage; and
delivering the papers through the downstream
conveyance passage to a stacker for stacking the papers.
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In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the
downstream conveyance passage is an angled conveyance
passage having a top from which a reject conveyance passage
diverges, and out-of-identification/counting papers, among
said papers identified and counted by the paper
identification unit, are led to the reject conveyance
passage and then to a pocket for stacking the
out-of-identification/counting papers.
The paper identifying unit includes a light
transmission type line sensor, a train of light reception
elements arrayed in the width direction of the conveyance
passage are serially scanned by the line sensor to effect a
line scanning to the papers in a longitudinal direction
thereof, and the line scanning to scan the overall surfaces
of the papers is iterated for identification and counting
thereof.
In the paper identification counter and the paper
identification counting method according to the present
invention mentioned above, any space formed in the counter
body is utilized effectively and positively as the
conveyance passage to ensure a sufficient length of the
conveyance passage and to achieve a size reduction and
compactness of the paper identification counter, while
simultaneously the papers can be identified and counted at
a high speed in spite of the small-size and compactness of
the paper identification counter.
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Furthermore, in the paper identification counter
and the paper identification counting method of the present
invention, within the counter body, there are arranged the
rectilinear conveyance passage extending along the back
side of counter body, the U-shaped curved conveyance
passage continuous with the rectilinear conveyance passage
and positioned at the lower portion on the back side of the
counter body, and the downstream conveyance passage
extending from the curved conveyance passage up to the
stacker, whereby a sufficient conveyance passage length is
assured within the counter body so that the papers can be
identified and counted at a high speed.
In the present invention, there is arranged such
that the reject conveyance passage diverges from the
downstream conveyance passage region and leads to the
pocket, and due to the provision of one stacker and one
pocket, currency notes out of identification and counting
can be directed into the pocket for separate collection.
The paper identification counter in accordance
with the present invention is arranged such that it is
provided with the paper identification unit disposed on the
rectilinear conveyance passage so as not to impede the
conveyance of the papers, that the radius of curvature of
the U-shaped curved conveyance passage is increased to
effectively and efficiently prevent the paper jamming, and
that it is provided with the back side conveyance passage
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opening mechanism, the angled conveyance passage opening
mechanism and the reject conveyance passage opening
mechanism. so as to allow the rectilinear conveyance
passage, U-shaped curved conveyance passage, the
downstream angled conveyance passage and the reject
conveyance passage to be opened to a large extent, whereby
the jammed papers or the residing papers can simply and
readily be retrieved and removed.
The paper identification counter in accordance
with the present invention is arranged such that the light
transmission type line sensor constituting the paper
identification unit is provided in the rectilinear
conveyance passage so as to traverse the conveyance
passage, that a train of light reception elements of the
line sensor are serially scanned by the scanning
processing circuit, and that this serial scanning is
iterated so that prompt and high accuracy scanning is
effected over the entire surface of the papers, thereby
making it possible to perform with high accuracy and
promptly the identification and counting of the papers, and
thus the judgment of denominations and counting of the
currency notes, as well as the normal-damaged judgment and
folded note detection.
At that time, the check data from the line sensor
are allocated to the arithmetic CPU provided separately
from the control CPU so that the arithmetic dedicated CPU
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can compute the check data to achieve high-speed processing
and to relieve the burden of the control CPU, thereby
providing for the speedup of the paper identification
counting processing.
Still furthermore, in the paper identification
counter of the present invention, the control CPU and the
arithmetic CPU are mounted on the circuit board, so that
the processing load of the control CPU is relieved with the
enhanced identification and counting processing speed, and
simultaneously, due to the provision of the autonomous
rotation control circuit for providing the rotational speed
control of the delivery drive motor and the conveyance
drive motor, the motor rotational speeds of the delivery
drive motor and the conveyance drive motor are
automatically controlled by the autonomous rotation control
circuit so that the processing executed by the control CPU
is further relieved to achieve a further speedup of the
paper identification processing.
The paper identification counter of the present
invention is provided with the bus emulator circuit acting
as an interface circuit between the control CPU and the
display panel such as an LCD, so that the bus emulator
circuit allows use of a general-purpose product as the
display panel, whereby it is possible, upon the drive
operation of the general-purpose display panel such as the
LCD, to relieve the load processing of the control CPU,
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allowing the high-speed processing.
In the paper identification counter in accordance
with the present invention, synchronous rotations are
imparted to the feed drive roller and the delivery drive
roller of the feed mechanism and the delivery mechanism,
respectively, while simultaneously assuring a rotational
balance due to the provision of the balancer weight
diametrically opposite to the friction members disposed
partially circumferentially of the feed drive roller and
the delivery drive roller, thereby suppressing the
occurrence of rattling or vibrations irrespective of the
high-speed rotations of the feed drive roller and the
delivery roller to ensure a stable and smooth rotational
driving .
Still furthermore, the paper identification counter
of the present invention is characterized by the open type
pocket comprising the pocket arm by which the pocket is
securely fastened to the counter body, the pocket bearer
disposed at the free end of the guide arm of the reject
conveyance passage opening mechanism, and the support
member interposed between the free end of the pocket arm
and the forefront end of the pocket bearer, with the
support member being supported by one of the free end of
the pocket arm and the fore-end of the pocket bearer, with
the support member being fixed releasably with one touch to
the other, thereby enabling the papers accommodated in the
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open type pocket to simply and readily be retrieved.
The nature and further characteristic features can
be made more clear from the following descriptions made
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one
embodiment of a paper identification counter in the form of
a currency note identification counter according to the
present invention;
FIG. 2 is a left side elevational view showing a
mechanical chamber, with a left side cover of the currency
note identification counter of FIG. 1 being removed;
FIG. 3 is a right side elevational view showing a
control chamber, with a right side cover of the currency
note identification counter being removed;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conveyance
passage structure formed in the interior of the currency
note identification counter depicted in FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 shows a feed roller disposed in a feed
mechanism of the currency note identification counter of
FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 shows a delivery roller disposed in a
delivery mechanism of the currency note identification
counter of FIG. 1;
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FIG. 7 is a structure diagram showing a rear door
and a back side conveyance passage opening mechanism of the
currency note identification counter;
FIG. 8 illustrates the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism being locked, provided in the currency
note identification counter;
FIG. 9 illustrates the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism being unlocked (opened), provided in the
currency note identification counter;
FIG. 10 shows the state of opening and closing an
angled conveyance passage opening mechanism incorporated in
the paper identification counter;
FIG. 11 shows the state of opening and closing of a
reject conveyance passage opening mechanism incorporated in
the paper identification counter;
FIG. 12 shows the locked state of a pocket release
cam mechanism for releasably locking the reject conveyance
passage opening mechanism;
FIG. 13 shows the unlocked state of the pocket
release cam mechanism;
FIG. 14 shows an engagement hook of the pocket
release cam mechanism;
FIG. 15 shows a conveyance passage structure and a
sensor arrangement structure that are formed in the
interior of the currency note identification counter
depicted in FIG. 1;
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FIG. 16 is a view taken along a line XVI-XVI,
showing a reflection type front-reverse identification
sensor incorporated in the currency note identification
counter;
FIG. 17 is a top plan view of a paper
identification unit in the form of a line sensor,
incorporated in the currency note identification counter;
FIG. 18 is a front elevational view of the line
sensor depicted in FIG. 17;
FIG. 19 is a view taken along a line XIX-XIX of the
line sensor depicted in FIG. 17;
FIG. 20 is a sectional view taken along a line
XX-XX of the line sensor depicted in FIG. 18;
FIG. 21 shows a false-counterfeit identification
sensor in the form of a magnetic sensor (MG sensor) of the
paper identification unit;
FIG. 22 shows a circuit board accommodated in a
side space of the currency note identification counter of
FIG. 1;
FIG. 23 shows an autonomous rotation control
circuit providing a rotation control of a conveyance drive
motor incorporated in the currency note identification
counter of FIG. 1;
FIG. 24 shows a relationship between a timing and
a line scanning effected by a line sensor constituting an
identification unit of the currency note identification
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counter;
FIG. 25 is a function block diagram of serial
scanning of the line sensor;
FIG. 26 shows a timing chart for the serial
scanning of the line sensor;
FIG. 27A shows a modification of the delivery
roller provided in the delivery mechanism of the currency
note identification counter; and
FIG. 27H is a sectional view of the modification,
taken along a line XXVIIH-XXVIIH of FTG. 2?A.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
One embodiment of the present invention will be
described hereunder with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
FIG. 1 is a general perspective view showing an
example of a paper identification counter according to the
present invention. The paper identification counter is a
desktop type currency note identification counter for
identifying and counting papers in the form of, e.g.,
currency notes at a high-speed of 1200 or more sheets per
minute.
A currency note identification counter 10 is
generally in the shape of a deformed or modified box and
comprises a counter body 11 having top and sides covered
with a top cover 12 and side covers 13, respectively, which
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are both made of resin. The top cover 12 is shaped into an
arcuate curved surface that tilts smoothly downward from
the back side, with the side covers 13 being continuous
with the front end of the top cover 12. The front edges of
the side covers 13 are fashioned into an arcuately concave
smooth curved surface so that the currency note
identification counter 10 can have S-shaped contour
extending from the top toward the front surface.
The currency note identification counter 10 has at
its top front side a hopper 15 for feeding currency notes
14 to be counted as sheets. The counter 10 further has at
its top cover 12 a console panel 16 thereof and a display
panel 17 in the form of LCDs allowing a full-graphic
representation to provide a currency note identification)
counting conditions, the console panel 16 and the display
panel 17 being integrally formed therewith. The console
panel 16 has a plurality of, e.g., twelve operation buttons
or operation keys 18 arrayed thereon so that identification
and counting can be effected depending on the various
counter modes through the operations thereof.
The front side of the currency note identification
counter 10 is provided at its upper portion with a pocket
20 in which is stored sheets such as currency notes
discharged after the identification and counting, and at
its lower portion with a stacker 21 in which is stored a
stack of currency notes that have been identified and
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counted.
The pocket 20 protrudes forward from the front
surface of the currency note identification counter 10 and
is of a simple open type ensuring an easy retrieval of the
sheets stacked. The pocket 20 is supported by a plate-like
pocket bearer 22 for stacking the sheets and by a support
member 23 for removably supporting the pocket bearer 22 at
the extremity thereof. A resilient member 23a is adhered
to the support member 23 at the inside thereof for
preventing noise or injuries of the sheets. The support
member 23 is pivotally supported at a free end of a
cantilever pocket arm 24 which protrudes from the counter
body 1l so that the cantilever pocket arm 24 can be mounted
at a single operation on the front end of the 'pocket bearer
22 from the lower end of the support member 23 by fixing
means 25 such as magnets. The pocket bearer 22 is, at its
center, notched to be opened forward so that the notched
opening 26 and the release of the support member 23 ensure
easy retrieval of the sheets stacked in the pocket 20. The
support member 23 may be supported at the front end of the
pocket bearer 22 so that the upper end of the support
member 23 can removably be attached to the pocket art 24.
The counter body 11 of the currency note
identification counter 10 is provided with right and left
body plates 27 and 28 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The
currency' note identification counter l0 is partitioned at
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its interior into a central main space 30 and right and
left side spaces 31 and 32 by the right and left body
plates 27 and 28. The side spaces 31 and 32 are defined
between the body plates 27 and 28 and the side covers 13.
One of the side spaces 31 serves as a mechanical chamber
for power transmission and the other thereof serves as a
control chamber for mainly providing the operation control
of the currency note identification counter 10.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, the left side space 31
providing the mechanical chamber accommodates, for example,
a delivery power transmission mechanism 36 for driving a
sheet delivery drive system 35 and a conveyance power
transmission mechanism 38 for driving a sheet conveyance
drive system 37. The right-hand side space 32 providing the
control chamber accommodates a part of the conveyance
system power transmission mechanism 38 and three-
dimensionally accommodates a circuit board (see FIG. 22)
for providing a drive control of the currency note
identification counter 10.
The currency note identification counter 10 has two
drive sources centrally disposed on the bottom of the
counter body 11. The drive sources are provided in the
form of a delivery motor 39 and a conveyance drive motor
40. The drive motors 39 and 40 need not be driven in
synchronism but are of the same type of motors having
substantially equal motor rotational speeds. The
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rotational speeds of the drive motors 39 and 40 are
measured by encoders 43 and 44, whilst the delivery drive
motor 39 is provided with a braking device 45 such as
electromagnets c brake or a mechanical brake for rapidly
stopping the rotation of the motor.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, on the other hand,
the counter body 11 of the paper identification counter 10
is provided with a reflection type hopper sensor 47
provided at the bottom of the hopper 15, the hopper sensor
47 monitoring whether a stack of sheets are present or not
in the hopper 15. The currency notes stacked in the hopper
15 are fed one by one by a feed mechanism into a conveyance
passage 48. The feed mechanism may be a pair of rollers 50
provided at the bottom of the hopper 15. A part of the
outer peripheral surface of the feed roller 50 is replaced
by a friction member 51 made of urethane rubber or the like
so that one rotation of the feed roller 50 can feed the
bottommost no to towards the passage 48 provided at the back
side.
The currency notes fed from the feed roller 50
along the short length thereof is delivered from the roller
or a drum 53 serving as a delivering mechanism. The
delivery roll er 53 and the feed roller 50 are for example a
drive roller of 50 mm in diameter that is rotationally
driven in unison by a timing belt 54 (see FIG. 2). To
assure a secure feeding of the currency notes, a part of
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the outer peripheral surface of the delivery roller 54 is
replaced with a friction member 55. The peripheral length
of the' friction member 55 is longer than that of the
friction member 51 (e. g., 7 to 15 mm) formed in the feed
roller 50. The delivery roller 53 and the feed roller 50
are provided with balancer weights 52 and 56 at locations
confronting diametrically the friction members 51 and 55
to thereby provide a rotational balance.
The delivery roller 53 is provided sequentially
with an auxiliary roller 57 acting as the friction roller,
a stop roller 58 acting as the overlapped feed prevention
stop member, and a pinch roller 59 acting as a pressing
roller. Among these rollers, the stop roller 58 is a
non-rotational roller made of, e.g., urethane rubber having
a large frictional force.
The currency notes delivered to the conveyance
passage 48 by the delivery roller 53 is prevented from
being doubly fed by the stop roller 58 and is given a
conveyance force by the pinch roller 59 so as to be guided
to a downwardly extending rectilinear conveyance passage
formed at the rear portion of the counter body 11. The
pinch roller 58 is pressed against the delivery roller 53
by a resilient member such as a spring or the like in
order to impart a conveyance force to the currency notes.
A descending rectilinear conveyance passage 48
from the delivery roller 53 extends along the rear surface
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side of the counter body 1l up to the vicinity of the body
lower portion and then leads to a U-shaped curvilinear
transmission passage 48b. Provided along the rectilinear
conveyance passage 48a are a plurality of conveyance drive
rollers 60 and a conveyance driven roller 61 being in
contact with the conveyance drive roller 60 in a
confronting manner. The conveyance driven roller 61 is in
the form of a pinch roller resiliently pressed against the
conveyance drive roller 60 by a spring biasing force. The
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a is defined by a fixed
guide plate 62a and a movable guide plate 62b, and the
currency notes are pinched and conveyed by the conveyance
drive roller 60 and the conveyance driven roller 61.
At that time, the delivery roller 53 and the
conveyance drive rollers 60 are aligned along the one side
of the conveyance passage 48 and constitutes a sheet
delivery drive system 35 in cooperation with the feed
roller 50. The sheet delivery drive system 35 is driven in
unison by the delivery system power transmission mechanism
36 of FIG. 2. The delivery system power transmission
mechanism 36 is provided with a timing belt 62 or the like
for providing a timing drive of the rollers.
The descending rectilinear conveyance passage 48a
is provided with a paper identification unit 63 for
identifying sheets in the form of the currency notes. The
paper identification unit 63 is comprised of a variety of
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sensors that will be described later. The paper
identification unit 63 comprises in the mentioned order a
front-reverse identification sensor 63 for identifying the
front or rear of the currency notes, a line sensor 65 for
discriminating the denominations or discriminating whether
it is normal or damaged, or detecting the adversely folded
or broken notes, and a true-counterfeit identification
sensor 66 for identifying the true-counterfeit of the
currency notes.
The front-reverse identification sensor 64 is a
reflection type optical sensor for identifying and
discriminating (judging) the currency note front and
reverse patterns. The front and reverse identification
sensor 64 is a sensor that is necessary for the improved
identification function of the currency note identification
'counter 10 but not indispensable.
The line sensor 65 of the paper identification
unit 63 is a light transmission type sensor unit in the
form of a kind identification sensor provided across the
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a constituting the
rectilinear conveyance and identification region, with a
light emission side LEDs or other light sources and the
light receiving side sensors confront each other with
appropriate intervals therebetween of the order of several
millimeters, preferably 2 to 3 mm so as to sandwich the
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a. The line sensor b5
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provides a longitudinal line scanning of the currency notes
being conveyed and detects the overall surface of the notes.
The true-counterfeit identification sensor 66 is
comprised of at least one of a magnetic sensor (MG sensor)
and an ultraviolet ray detection sensor (UV sensor), which
are both disposed along the width of the rectilinear
conveyance passage 48a.
A reverse feed drive roller 70 providing a
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b is disposed at
the lower portion on the back side of the counter body 11
of the currency note identification counter 10. In order
to impart a large radius of curvature to the U-shaped
curvilinear conveyance passage 48b, the reverse feed drive
roller 70 is composed of a large-diameter rubber roller.
The reverse feed drive roller 70 has a diameter exceeding
two third (2/3) the feed width of the sheet in the form of
the currency notes, e.g., a diameter of 50 mm, the roller
70 having a diameter substantially equal to the delivery
roller 53.
The U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b
provides a curvilinear conveyance region and is defined by
the reverse feed drive roller 70 and the U-shaped
curvilinear guide plate 71. The curved guide plate 71 is
provided in such a manner as to be displaceable between the
curvilinear conveyance passage forming a setting position
and an opening position, with conveyance driven rollers 72
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and 73 pressed by the reverse feed drive roller 70 and
disposed upstream and downstream of the curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b. The conveyance driven rollers 72
and 73 are pinch rollers for imparting a conveyance force
to the currency notes.
The U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b has
an increased radius of curvature in order to prevent a
currency note jamming, while simultaneously setting the
conveyance length of the curvilinear conveyance passage 48b
to a length enough to process the detection signals from
the paper identification unit 63 and to fully absorb the
time necessary to identify and judge or discriminate the
currency notes.
An angled conveyance passage 48c is provided
downstream of the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage
48b. The angled conveyance passage 48c has a gate timing
sensor provided on the inlet side thereof. The gate timing
sensor 75 is a light-transmission sensor for detecting a
presence or absence of a currency note entering the angled
passage 48c.
The angled conveyance passage 48c extends forward
from the back side of the counter body 11 of the currency
note identification counter 10 and is disposed at the lower
side of the counter body 11. The angled conveyance passage
48c has a plurality of conveyance drive rollers 77 to 79
that are arranged along the one side thereof, e.g., along
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the upper side thereof. The drive rollers 77 to 79 have the
same roller diameter and are rotationally driven in unison
by a timing belt or the like.
The conveyance drive rollers 77 to 79 are securely
mounted on the counter body 11, while movable conveyance
driven rollers 81 to 83 being arranged so as to oppose to
the conveyance drive rollers 77 to 79. The conveyance
driven rollers 81 to 83 are resiliently brought into press
contact with the conveyance drive rollers 77 to 79,
respectively, so as to follow the conveyance drive rollers
77 to 79.
The angled conveyance passage 48c provides a
reject judgment conveyance region and is defined by the
fixed side guide plate 84 and the movable side guide plate
85. The passage 48c is sandwiched for conveyance by the
conveyance drive rollers 77 to 79 and the conveyance driven
rollers 81 to 83. Downstream of the angled conveyance
passage 48c there lies a detection sensor 86 for detecting
whether the currency note has passed therethrough.
The currency notes guided along the inverted-V
shaped conveyance passage 48c is further guided by a
stacker impeller 90 and is led to a stacker 21 in which
they are stacked. A stacker sensor 91 detects whether any
currency note is present in the stacker 21. The stacker 21
can accommodate approximately 300 to 1500 notes. The
stacker sensor 91 is a transmission type sensor composed of
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a combined light-emission side and the light receiving
side.
On the other hand, a switching gate 93 is provided
at the top of the inverted-V shaped conveyance passage
48c. The switching gate 93 is switched in response to a
sensor signal from the gate timing sensor 75. In case of
discharging the currency notes that have been identified by
the paper identification unit 63, the switching gate 93
detects the passage of the discharged currency notes by
means of a gate timing sensor 75 and performs a switching
to the reject conveyance passage 48d side with timing. For
this purpose, the gate timing sensor 75 are fully spaced
apart from the switching gate 93 in order to ensure that
the discharged currency notes detected by the gate timing
sensor 75 can smoothly be guided to the reject conveyance
passage 48d.
The reject conveyance passage 48d diverging from
the top of the inverted-V shaped conveyance passage 48c
extends towards the pocket 20 and has a plurality of
conveyance drive rollers 94 and 95 provided on one side,
e.g., the upper side of the reject conveyance passage 48d,
with conveyance driven rollers 96 and 97 confronting so as
to resiliently come into press contact with the conveyance
drive rollers 94 and 95.
The reject conveyance passage 48d diverging from
the inverted-V shaped conveyance passage 48c extends
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i
diagonally forward to lead to the pocket 20. The reject
conveyance passage 48d is defined by the fixed side guide
plate 98 and the movable side guide plate 99. The fixed
side guide plate 98 constitutes the fixed side mechanism in
combination with the conveyance driven rollers 94 and 95,
whilst the movable side guide plate 99 constitutes the
movable side mechanism in combination with the conveyance
drive rollers 94 and 95, confronting the fixed side
mechanism.
A detection sensor 100 is provided on the reject
conveyance passage 48d at the midst thereof for detecting
whether the discharged currency notes have passed
therethrough. The detection sensor 100 is comprised of a
reflection type optical sensor. The detection sensor 100
is interposed between the fixed side conveyance drive
rollers 94 and 95.
Downstream of the reject conveyance passage 48d
there lies a guide member 101 so as to ensure a smooth
guidance onto the pocket bearer 22 of the currency notes to
be guided to the pocket 20. To achieve a smoother guidance
of the currency notes by the pocket 20, the downstream
conveyance driven roller 97 is provided with a tapping
roller that extends in the tangential direction so that the
currency notes can be dropped by the tapping roller into
the pocket 20. The pocket 20 can accommodate approximately
100 sheets of currency notes, for example. The presence .or
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absence of stack of the currency notes within the pocket 20
is detected by a pocket sensor 102 which is a transmission
type optical sensor in combination of light emission side
and the light reception side.
The counter body 11 of the currency notes
identification counter 10 includes therein a currency notes
conveyance passage 48 extending from the hopper 15 to the
stacker 21 as shown in FIG. 4. The conveyance passage 48
consists of a descending rectilinear conveyance passage 48a
directed downward from the delivery roller 53, a U-shaped
curvilinear conveyance passage 48b at the lower portion of
the back side of the counter body 11, the curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b being continuous with the
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a, the angled conveyance
passage 48c forwardly extending from the back side of the
counter body 11 continuous with the curvilinear conveyance
passage 48b, the conveyance passages constituting zigzag
configuration to provide a sufficient conveyance length as
a whole. By forming the conveyance passage 48 in a
zigzag manner to achieve an effective utilization of the
space within the counter body 11, a sufficient conveyance
length can be obtained so as to ensure a high speed
identification and counting processing of the order of 1200
to 1500 currency notes per minute, for example, which will
be described later.
On the other hand, the currency note identification
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counter 10 has a switching gate 93 which is provided at
substantially the center of the interior of the counter
body 11, with the conveyance passage 48 from the hopper 15
to the stacker 21 within the counter body 11 being formed
as an arcuate or U-shaped curvilinear passage with its
zigzag bent portion having a larger radius of curvature in
order to prevent sheets in the form of currency notes from
jamming. This renders the currency note identification
counter 10 small-sized and compact irrespective of the
fully elongated length of the conveyance passage 48. The
currency note identification counter 10 is of a desktop
type of 300 mm (height) x 330 mm (width) x 335 mm (depth).
This currency note identification counter 10 takes
into account to previously prevent jamming from occurring
as a result of currency notes jamming in the conveyance
passage 48. However, the currency notes as the sheets
variously include not only the unused currency notes but
also various currency notes such as the used currency notes
or folded, damaged or broken currency notes. For this
reason, jamming may occur on the way of the conveyance
through the conveyance passage of the currency notes to be
identified or counted, so that further conveyance of the
currency notes may be prevented.
In the case of the paper jamming on the midway of
the conveyance passage, the operation of the currency note
identification counter 10 need to be stopped through the
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scramming actions. In particular, in the case of the
occurrence of the jamming, the currency notes feeding side
need to urgently be stopped.
For this reason, the currency note identification
counter 10 as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 comprises roughly a
sheet delivery drive system 35 and a sheet conveyance drive
system 37 so that the jamming can be detected by various
sensors disposed on the conveyance passage. In the event of
the jamming, the sheet delivery drive system 35 is brought
into an urgent stop so as to prevent the currency notes
from being fed.
The sheet delivery drive system 35 is driven by a
rotational drive force from the drive motor 39 by way of
the delivery system power transmission system 36. When
there arises a paper jamming on the conveyance passage 48,
a brake drive on the circuit board as will be described
later is activated in response to a jamming detection
signal, with the result that a brake device 45 (see FIG. 2)
such as the electromagnetic brake or mechanical brake
mounted on the drive motor 39 or its output is actuated,
causing an urgent stop. This previously prevents the
currency notes from being fed from the hopper 15 into the
conveyance passage 48 at the time of jamming.
On the other hand, the sheet conveyance drive
system 37 is driven by a rotational force from the drive
motor 40 by way of the conveyance system power transmission
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mechanism 38. The conveyance system power transmission
mechanism 38 mainly comprises a first conveyance power
transmission system for driving the conveyance drive
rollers 94 and 95 of the reject conveyance passage 48d, a
second conveyance power transmission system 105 which is
driven by way of the first conveyance power transmission
system 104, and a third transmission power transmission
system 107 that is driven by way of a speed reduction
mechanism 106 from the first conveyance power transmission
system 104. The second conveyance power transmission system
105 is provided for driving the reverse feed drive roller
70 and the conveyance drive rollers 77 and 78 of the
inverted-V shaped conveyance passage 48c. The power
transmission from the first conveyance power transmission
system 104 to the second conveyance power transmission
system 105 is effected via the shaft of the conveyance
drive roller 78 of the inverted-V shaped conveyance
passage 48c.
With reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, the third
conveyance power transmission system 107 also receives the
power by way of the speed reduction mechanism 106 from the
conveyance drive roller 78 of the inverted-V shaped
conveyance passage 48c that is driven in the first
conveyance power transmission system 104. The third
conveyance power transmission system 107 serves to
rotationally drive the outlet side conveyance drive roller
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79 and the stacker impeller 90 on the angled conveyance
passage 48c. The outlet side conveyance drive roller 79 and
the stacker impeller 90 on the angled conveyance passage
48c are rotationally driven in the opposite direction, so
that a double (both-surface) driven timing belt is made
usable. At that time, the stacker impeller 90 driven by the
double driven timing belt is further driven for the speed
reduction by the conveyance drive roller 79. The speed
reduction ratio is appropriately set through the selection
of the gear ratio.
The timing belt 109 is used for the power
transmission of the delivery system power transmission
mechanism 36 and the conveyance system power transmission
mechanism 38. The timing belt may be replaced by the other
power transmission means.
A side space (mechanical chamber) defined by the
counter body 11 and the side cover 13 on one hand
accommodates a part of the delivery power transmission
mechanism 36 and the conveyance power transmission
mechanism 38, the second conveyance power transmission
system 105, the speed reduction mechanism 106 and the third
conveyance power transmission system 107. The first
conveyance power transmission system 104 is accommodated in
the other side space providing a control chamber. These
power transmission mechanisms and the power transmission
systems constitute the sheet conveyance apparatus.
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The paper identification counter 10 as shown in
FIG. 5 is provided with a conveyance passage opening
mechanism for opening the conveyance passage.
FIG. 5 shows the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism 112 for releasing the descending
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a of the conveyance
passage 48.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, the back
side conveyance passage opening mechanism 112 is an
apparatus for releasing the rectilinear conveyance passage
48a formed on the back side of the counter body 11. The
back side conveyance passage opening' mechanism 112 is
provided with a rear opening guide arm mechanism 114
rotatably supported around a pivot 113 provided at the back
side lower portion of the counter body 11. The opening
guide arm mechanism 114 comprises an upper guide arm 115
and a lower guide arm 116 which are formed in a frame
structure in pair and are linked together so as to be
double folded, with a hand-lever 117 being mounted on the
top of the upper guide arm 115.
The upper guide 115 provides a support of the upper
conveyance driven roller 61, a reflection type front-rear
identification sensor 64 on one hand and the movable side
guide plate 62b. The upper guide 115 has a wrist pin 115a
(see FIGs. 8 and 9) that is removably locked with one touch
with a lock means 118 fixedly secured to the body plates 27
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and 28 of the counter body 11.
The wrist pin of the upper guide arm 115 is engaged
with the lock means 118 so that the back side conveyance
passage opening mechanism 112 is held at a set position
indicated by a solid line in FIG. 7. The hand-lever 117 is
gripped and then is pulled towards the operator in such a
manner as to lift up the upper guide arm 1i5 to thereby
simply and easily open the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism 112. The rear opening guide arm mechanism
114 of the thus opened back side conveyance passage opening
mechanism 112 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 5 around the
pivot 113, while rotating the upper guide arm 115 around
the link with the lower guide arm 116 to thereby open or
release the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a to a large
extent.
The lower guide arm 116 of the frame structure is
provided with an inlet side conveyance driven roller 72 and
a U-shaped curvilinear guide plate 7l. The lower guide 116
is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 5 around the pivot 113
so that the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b can
be widely opened. The opening of the U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b enables the currency notes jammed on
the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b to simply
and easily be removed from the back side of the counter
body 11.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 120 denotes a rear
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door covering the back side of the counter body 11. The
rear door 120 is supported in a freely closable and
openable manne r around the hinge at the back side lower
portion of the counter body 11 so that, by releasing the
rear door 120, the back side conveyance passage opening
mechanism 112 is exposed to the back side through the
opening. Then the hand-lever of the back side conveyance
passage opening mechanism 112 is gripped and then is pulled
towards the operator so that the back side conveyance
passage opening mechanism 112 is opened from the lock
position shown in FIG. 8 and then is brought into an
opening position shown in the chain line in FIGS. 7 and 9.
As a result of opening the back side conveyance
passage opening mechanism 112, the rectilinear conveyance
passage 48a and the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage
48b are opened to the back side of the counter body 11.
The opening sensor enables the currency notes jammed in the
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a or the U-shaped
curvilinear conveyance passage 48b to be simply and easily
removed.
After the removal of the currency notes from the
conveyance passage 48, the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism 112 is set to a setting position shown in
a solid line by performing the inverse operations to the
procedures of the opening actions of the back side
conveyance passage opening mechanism 112, after which it
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can be reset for the identification and counting for the
next currency notes .
At that time, the conveyance passage 4$ from the
hopper 15 is curved at the delivery roller 53 and continues
with the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a. Then the
rectilinear conveyance passage 4$a is led from the upper
side portion towards the lower side portion along the back
side of the counter body 11 and is positioned near the rear
doo r 120. Due to the positioning near the rear door, when
the back side conveyance passage opening mechanism 112 is
opened, the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a and the
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b are caused to
be opened to a large extent. This allows a simple and easy
removal of the currency notes jammed in the rectilinear
conveyance passage 48a and the U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b.
The currency note identification counter 10 as
shown in FIG. 10 comprises an angled conveyance passage
opening mechanism 125 for releasing the angled conveyance
passage 48c that is a downstream conveyance passage within
the counter body 11. The angled conveyance passage 48c
extends from the outlet side of the U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage formed at the back side lower portion of
the counter body 11 in front of the counter body 11 and
then is led to the stacker 21 by way of the stacker
impeller 90.
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The angled conveyance passage 48c is fashioned
into an inverted-V by the combination of the upper fixed
side guide plate 84 and the lower movable side guide plate
85. The movable side guide plate 85 is attached to a front
opening guide arm mechanism 126 pivotally supported on a
pivot 113. The opening guide arm mechanism 126 is provided
with a movable guide arm 127 of an angled frame structure
with a smooth side surface.
The movable guide arm 127 is pivotally supported
an the pivot 113 common to the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism 112 and is held at a setting position
indicated by a solid line, normally by a spring biasing
force, not shown. The movable guide arm 127 of the frame
structure is provided with a wrist pin 130 that extends
through the elongated hole of the body plates 27 and 28 and
that is spring biased upward by the spring 129.
The movable guide arm 127 of the angled conveyance
passage opening mechanism 125 is provided with angled
movable side guide plate 85, conveyance driven rollers 81,
82, 83 in forms of a roller train, a gate timing sensor 75
and an optical reflection type detection sensor 86,
respectively. A hand-lever 128 extends from the free end of
the movable guide arm 127. The hand-lever 128 extends
forward between the stacker impeller pair 90 so that it can
be operated from the front:
In the case of this currency note identification
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t
counter 10, by inserting the operator's hand into the
stacker impeller 90, the hand-lever 128 of the angled
conveyance passage opening mechanism 125 is pressed down
against .the spring force of the spring 129. Hy pressing
down the hand-lever 128, the opening guide arm 126 is
pivoted about the pivot 113 to cause the angled conveyance
passage 48c to open forward to a great extent as shown with
the a chain line in FIG. 10.
With the angled conveyance passage 48c opened
forward to a large extent, the currency notes jammed in the
angled conveyance passage 48c can be removed forward. When
the hand-lever is released, after the forward removal of
the currency notes, the front opening guide arm mechanism
126 can automatically be returned to a set position
indicated by a solid line in FIG. 10 by a spring force of
the spring 129.
The currency note identification counter 10 further
comprises as shown in FIG. 10 (11), a reject conveyance
passage opening mechanism 130 for releasing the reject
conveyance passage 48d.
The reject conveyance passage opening mechanism 130
is provided with an opening guide arm mechanism 132 which
is pivoted about the pivot 131. The pivot 131 is disposed
at the center lower portion of the counter body 11, the
pivot 131 having an L-shaped guide arm 134 that is provided
rotatably between the setting position indicated by the
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sol id line and the opening position indicated by the chain
line in the side elevation of FIG. 10.
The guide arm 134 of the opening guide arm
mechanism 132 has an elongated curved arm length and is
provided with a pocket 20 at the arm free end portion
side. More specifically, the pocket bearer 22 of the
pocket 20 is mounted on the upper portion of the paired
curved guide arms 134. On the other hand, the conveyance
driven rollers 96 and 97 of the reject conveyance passage
48d are rotatably supported on the guide arm 134. At the
free end side of the guide arm 134, is attached a movable
guide plate 99 that confronts the fixed side guide plate 99
positioned above so as to define the reject conveyance
passage 48d between the two guide plates 98 and 99.
The reject opening guide arm mechanism 132
includes a bridge pin 135 which bridges the free ends of
the paired guide arms 134 as shown in FIGs. 12 and 13, the
bridge pin 135 acting as an engagement member. The bridge
pin 135 is lock supported by an engagement hook 141 mounted
on the counter body 11 so that the opening guide arm
mechanism 132 is held at the setting position indicated by
a solid line.
In case of releasing the opening guide arm
mechanism 132, the operation button 138 provided above the
pocket 20 is pressed as shown in FIGs. 1, 12 and 13 so
that the engagement hook 141 is rocked by way of a cam
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mechanism 140 to thereby release the bridge pin 135 from
the engagement hook 141. The release of the bridge pin 135
results in a lock release of the opening guide arm
mechanism 132 which in turn rotates clockwise by its own
weight and is brought into a reject conveyance passage
opening position as indicated by a chain line in FIG. 13.
When the opening guide arm mechanism 132 is opened,
the pocket bearer 22 forming the lower portion of the
pocket 20 moves downward to be opened forward to a large
extent, so that currency note identification counter 10
allows the front side pocket 20 to be opened downward to a
large extent. In this context, the opening guide arm
mechanism 132 serves also as a mechanism for releasing the
reject conveyance passage 48d and simultaneously for
releasing the pocket 20 downward.
The opening operation of the opening guide arm
mechanism 132 allows the reject conveyance passage 48d to
be opened forward to a large extent by way of the thus
opened pocket 20, making it possible for the currency notes
jammed in the reject conveyance passage 48d to be retrieved
and removed through this opening.
At that time, the opened guide arm mechanism 132
of the reject conveyance passage opening mechanism 130 is
provided with a guide arm 134 having an elongated arm
length, and the guide arm 134 can rotate to a large extent
around the pivot at the lower portion of the counter body
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11, whereby the opening action of the opening guide arm
mechanism 132 enables the currency notes jammed in' the
reject conveyance passage 48d to be simply and easily
retrieved and removed.
In the case of recovering the reject conveyance
passage 48d of the reject conveyance passage opening
mechanism 130, the pocket bearer 22 of the pocket 20 may be
pushed up from the opening position indicated by the chain
line and brought into a setting position indicated by the
solid line in FIG. 11. When the pocket bearer reaches the
position indicated by the solid line, the bridge pin 135 at
the end of the guide 134 is brought into engagement with
the engagement hook 141 for being set at the setting
position. The engagement hook 141 is at all times spring
biased by the spring 142 so as to hold the bridge pin 135
in the engaged state.
As seen in FIGs. 7 and 10-12, the currency note
identification counter 10 comprises the back side
conveyance passage opening mechanism 112, the angled
conveyance passage opening mechanism 125 and the reject
conveyance passage opening mechanism 130 which are
independently opened.
The back side conveyance passage opening mechanism
112 can open the rectilinear conveyance passage 48d and the
U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b towards' the
back side to a large extent. The angled conveyance passage
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opening mechanism 125 opens the angled conveyance passage
48c towards the front side to a large extent and the reject
conveyance passage opening mechanism 130 opens the reject
conveyance passage 48d towards the front side to a large
extent, whereby it is possible to simply and easily remove
the currency notes jammed on the way of the conveyance
passage 48.
Incidentally, the reject conveyance passage opening
mechanism 130 serves also as a pocket opening mechanism so
that, by releasing the reject conveyance passage opening
mechanism 130, the pocket bearer 22 under the pocket 20 can
be moved downward and be opened to a large extent. It is
thus possible to retrieve and remove the currency notes
jammed in the reject conveyance passage 48d through the
opening of the pocket 20. In case of the currency note
identification counter 10 shown in FIGs. 3 to 7, one side
of the conveyance passage 48 formed in the counter body 11
is arranged as the drive side, while the other side is
arranged as the driven side.
The drive side of the currency note identification
counter 10 includes a feed roller 50, a delivery roller 53,
conveyance drive rollers 60 of the rectilinear conveyance
passage 48a, the reverse feed drive roller 70, the
conveyance drive rollers 77 and 78 of the angled conveyance
passage 48c, and the conveyance drive rollers 94 and 95 of
the reject conveyance passage 48d, all the above rollers
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a
being provided collectively so as to be positioned at the
center side of the counter body 11 within the inside of the
conveyance passage 48. Thus, effective arrangement can
realize the power transmission system for driving the
rollers on the drive side.
In addition, the driven side structure of the
currency note identification counter 10 includes the
rollers which are arrayed on the outside of the conveyance
passage 48 so as to make easy the handling of the
conveyance passage opening mechanisms 112, 125 and 130.
In this currency note identification counter 10,
the drive side rollers and the driven side rollers are
arrayed in a roller train along conveyance passage 48
extending from the hopper 15 to the stacker 21 or the
pocket 20. The intervals of the roller array of the drive
side rollers and the driven side rollers are set to be
smaller than the length in the shorter-side direction,
i.e., the feed width of the sheet in the form of the
currency notes.
FIG. 8 is a view showing the relationship of the
arrangement of the conveyance passage 48 of the currency
note identification counter 10 and of the various sensors
that are located along the conveyance passage 48.
A hopper sensor 47 is provided on the hopper 15
into which sheets in the form of the currency notes are
fed, the hopper sensor 47 being a reflection type optical
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sensor for detecting whether the currency notes are present
on the bottom or not.
A paper identification unit 63 is provided on the
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a of the conveyance
passage 48. The paper identification sensor 63 includes,
from the upstream side to the downstream side, a front-
reverse identification sensor 64, a line sensor 65 acting
as the kind discrimination sensor for performing the
discrimination (judgment) of the kind of the currency
notes, judgement of the normal or damaged, or judgment of
the folded currency notes, and a true-counterfeit
identification sensor 66 for judging the true-counterfeit
of the currency notes.
The front-reverse sensor 64 is e.g., a reflection
type optical sensor arranged to individually judge or
discriminate the front or reverse of the currency notes on
each side of the conveyance passage. The front-reverse
identification sensor 64 is not necessarily an inevitable
identification sensor, but a sensor necessary for the
judgment of the front or reverse of the currency notes. In
the case of using the reflection type optical sensor as the
front-reverse identification sensor 64, it is desired to
arrange the sensor surfaces so as to be substantially level
with the roller surfaces in order to ensure an improved
sensor sensitivity. .However, the confronting arrangement of
the paired front-reverse identification sensors 64 may
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often result in the occurrence of paper jamming. For this
reason, the optical sensors arranged on both sides of the
conveyance passage 48 are offset relative to and spaced
apart from each other in the shorter-side direction of the
conveyance passage in order to achieve an effective
prevention of the currency notes jamming.
The line sensor 65 is interposed between the
upstream paired drive-driven conveyance rollers 60 and 61
and the downstream paired drive-driven conveyance rollers
60 and 61. A line sensor 65 is arranged so as to cross the
conveyance passage 48 as will be described later, for
scanning the overall surfaces of the currency notes being
fed to the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a.
On the other hand, the true-counterfeit judgment
sensor 66 is comprised of magnet sensors (MG sensors) and
UV sensors for identifying and judging the true-counterfeit
of the currency notes. The magnet sensors and the UV
sensors are arranged along the conveyance passage 48 in the
shorter-side direction thereof, although both the magnet
sensors and the UV sensors need not necessarily be provided
and either one may be provided.
A gate timing sensor 75 is provided downstream of
the reverse feed drive roller 70. The gate timing sensor
75 is a transmission type optical sensor serving to detect
whether the currency notes have passed or not and provide a
gate action instruction as its output to the switching gate
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1
93. The gate timing sensor 75 is disposed as near the
revers a feed drive roller 70 as possible so as to assure a
distance between the gate timing sensor 75 and the
switching gate 93. This is because a time sufficient for
the switching the switching gate 93 must be secured. In
this context, the gate timing sensor 75 is provided at the
inlet side of the angled conveyance passage 48c.
A detection sensor acting as the starker entrance
detection sensor is provided in the outlet side region of
the angled conveyance passage 48c. The starker entrance
detection sensor 86 is e.g., a reflection type optical
senso r disposed at the downstream side of the switching
gate 93.
The currency notes fed through the angled
conveyance passage 48c is guided by the starker impeller 90
and is fed to the starker 21 in which they are stacked.
The starker 21 can accommodate e.g., approximately 300 to
1,500 currency notes. The starker 21 is provided with a
transmission type starker sensor 91 for detecting whether a
stack of sheets are present or not in the starker 21.
A reject conveyance passage 48d diverges from the
top of the angled conveyance passage 48c and is provided
with a detection sensor 100 acting as the pocket entrance
detection sensor. The pocket entrance detection sensor 100
is a reflection type optical sensor provided downstream of
the switching gate 93, for detecting the presence 'or
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CA 02438671 2003-08-28
absence of the currency notes to be ~ed to the pocket 20.
The currency notes to be fed to the pocket is
guided by the guide member 101 and is led to the pocket 20
in which they are stacked. The pocket can accommodate
approximately 100 to 300 sheets of currency notes. The
pocket 20 is provided with a pocket sensor 102 for
detecting the presence or absence of the currency notes to
be stacked. The pocket sensor 102 is a transmission type
optical sensor.
In this manner, the currency note identification
counter 10 includes a sensor group consisting of various
sensors which are arranged, as occasion demands, along the
conveyance passage 48, with a line sensor 65 constituting
the paper identification unit 63 being arranged as shown in
FIGs. 17 to 20. The line sensor 65 has a detection width
allowing a scanning over the overall surface of the
currency notes, taking into consideration easiness of
handling of the currency notes of the worldwide nations
having different patterns or sizes. FIGs. 17 to 19 show the
line sensor 65 which is incorporated in the currency note
identification counter 10 but may be incorporated as an
identification unit for currency notes identification and
judgment or discrimination into ticket machines or
automatic vending machines.
The front-reverse identification sensors 64.
constituting the paper identification unit 63 are arranged
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r
in pair on the both surfaces of the rectilinear conveyance
passage 48a as shown in FIG. 16. The paired front-reverse
identification sensors 64 are offset relative to each other
in the shorter-side direction of the conveyance passage 48a
and are spaced in vicinity of each other with intervals of
the order of e.g., 10 mm. The front-reverse identification
sensor 63 detects the front or reverse of the currency
notes passing through the rectilinear conveyance passage
48a by use of the amount of reflected light and identifies
the front or reverse patterns of the currency notes from
the difference in the amount of reflected light to thereby
judge the front or reverse of the currency notes.
The line sensors 65 constituting the paper
identification unit 63 are arranged on the upstream side
and the downstream side of the conveyance drive rollers 60
and the conveyance driven rollers 61 so as to traverse the
same. The line sensor 65 has an elongated block-like
sensor body 145 as shown in FIGS. 17 to 19. The sensor
body 145 can be split into two halves, i.e., a light
emission side sensor member 146 and a light reception side
sensor member 147. The members 146 and 147 are combined in
a confronting manner and are fastened together by means of
a fastening means 148 so as to be assembled into an
integral part.
The sensor body 145 is formed with a guide passage
149 that is disposed between the two sensor members 146 and
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147 for guiding sheets in the form of currency notes. The
guide passage 149 consists of an upstream side tapered
guide passage 150a and a downstream side parallel slit-like
guide passage 150b as shown in FIG. 20. The tapered guide
passage 150a has a height that is gradually reduced from
the upstream towards the downstream and leads smoothly to
the slit like guide groove 150b. The slit like guide
passage 150b has a gap of the order of several millimeters,
e.g., 2 to 3 mm, preferably of the order of 2 mm.
The light emission side sensor member 146 of the
sensor body 145 has a light emission substrate 152
provided, at its back side, with light emission elements
such as infrared LEDs or the source of laser lights
disposed on the light emission substrate 152. A number of,
for example, 38 light emission elements 153 are arrayed in
the longitudinal direction at a predetermined pitch of
e.g., 5 mm. The light emission element 153 is a spot like
light source. Further, it is not always necessary for the
light emission side sensor member 153 to have a spot like
configuration and, not a line-like configuration.
The light emission side sensor member 146 is
provided with a plate-like lens member 154 that collimates
a light from the spot-like light emission element 153. The
lens member 154 forms a lens group consisting of a number
of, e.g., 38 lenses that are integrally arrayed in a
train with a predetermined pitch. The lenses of the lens
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member 154 are disposed in a manner so as to confront the
spot-like light emission element 153. The lens member 154
is covered with a transparent cover plate 155 such as a
cover glass that is exposed to the slit-like guide passage
150b.
On the other hand, the light reception side sensor
member 147 confronting the light emission side sensor
member 146 is also provided at its back side with a light
reception substrate 156 on which light reception elements
157 such as photodiodes or CCDs are arrayed. The light
reception side sensor member 147 equipped with the light
reception substrate 156 is provided with a lens member 154
of the light emission side sensor member 146, a lens member
158 similar to the cover plate 155, and a transparent cover
plate 159. The transparent cover plate 159 is arranged
confronting the cover plate 155 and has a slit-like guide
passage 150b formed between the two cover plates 155 and
159. The slit-like guide passage 150b thus provides a check
and detection region for the currency notes guided through
the guide passage 149.
The lens member 158 of the light reception side
sensor member 147 scans and condenses on an element surface
of the light reception element 157 a transmission light
that is emitted from each light emission element 153 of the
light emission side sensor member 158 and that is
collimated by the lens member 154; thereby ensuring a light
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reception of a sufficient quantity of light by the light
reception element 157. The light reception elements 157
are arrayed confronting each other in line. Thus, these
light emission elements 153 and the light reception element
157 constitute the light emitter and the light receptor,
which build up a transmission type light detector in
cooperation.
That is, the line sensor 65 constitutes a
transmission type light detector and provides a detection
width enough to scan the overall surface of the currency
notes of the worldwide currency notes having different
patterns and sizes.
In the case of scanning the overall surface of the
currency notes by means of the line sensor 65, it is
preferred to scan the currency notes as close to the
detectors as possible in order to ensure an easy detection
of the variance of density of light and to obtain a stable
scanning data. For this purpose, the height of the
slit-like guide passage' 150b of the guide passage 149 is
made as narrow as possible so that the currency notes can
be guided through the gap defined therebetween, whereby the
currency notes can intimately adhere to the detector and a
stable scanning data are obtained.
However, the actual currency notes include notes
in various conditions such as folded currency notes, corner
folded currency notes, used currency notes, new currency
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no t es, so that the narrowed slit-like guide passage 150b
may occur the currency notes jamming in the detector. The
narrowed gap of the guide passage 149 for guiding the
currency notes will need any measures against the currency
notes jamming. Ideally, the height (gap) of the guide
pas sage 149 is preferably equal to the height (gap) of the
rectilinear conveyance passage 48a.
By the way, if the gap between the light emission
si de and the light reception side is increased in a typical
transmission type light detector, the density of the
transmission light will vary depending on the height of the
pas sage of the currency notes from the light receptor, and
hence, it will become hard to obtain desired scanning data
on the currency notes.
The line sensor 65 shown in FIGS. 17 to 20
it a rates the line scanning to scan the overall surfaces of
the currency notes, which will make it difficult to provide
a feed roller such as a rubber roller within the slit-like
guide passage 150a which provides a detection/check region.
That is, it is difficult to dispose, in the line sensor 65,
the means for preventing any disturbance of the currency
notes during the scanning.
Taking this situations into consideration, the
line sensor 65 shown in FIGs. 17 to 20 allows the lens
members 154 to collimate the diffused light from the light
emission light 153 into a parallel light for transmission,
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to t hereby prevent any variation of the quantity of light
(va r iation in the strength of emission) arising from the
difference of the currency notes detection distance. On
the contrary, even though the chip size of the light
reception element 157 is made smaller, the light reception
element 157 side is also provided with the lens member 158
so as to prevent any variations in the change of light
reception quantity, whereby the collimated light is
condensed through the lenses of the lens member 158 so that
the variance of the output arising from the change of the
light reception quantity can be suppressed.
The true-counterfeit identification sensor 66
disposed downstream of the light sensor 65 is for example a
magnetic sensor which is provided in pairs in the
shorter-side direction of the conveyance passage 48. The
magnetic sensor is arranged confronting the sensor roller
160 as shown in FIG. 21, with the sensor head 162 of the
magnetic sensor being positioned within a peripheral groove
161 of the sensor roller 160. The sensor head confronts the
currency notes P guided through the conveyance passage 48
in such a manner as to come as closer as possible and be
abl a to come into contact therewith. The magnetic sensor
may be replaced by an UV sensor using the ultraviolet
rays: Furthermore, the UV sensor may be used with the
magnetic sensor so that it is interposed between the paired
magnetic sensors or disposed downstream of the magnetic
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sensor.
Thus, the detection signals detected by the
front - reverse identification sensor 64, the line sensor 65,
the t rue-counterfeit identification sensor 66 are fed as
shown in FIG. 22 to an arithmetic control system on the
circu it board 165, for arithmetic processing. The circuit
board 165 is disposed in the side space 32 on the control
chamber side shown in FIG. 3.
The circuit board 165 is mounted with, as shown in
FIG. 22, the arithmetic control system 166, a power source
system 167 for allocation of the voltage, a sensor
processing system 168 and a power control system 169.
The arithmetic control system 166 has two CPUs,
i.e., a control CPU 170 and an arithmetic CPU 171 such as a
digit al signal processor (DSP). The control CPU 170 causes
the arithmetic CPU 171 to burden the arithmetic processing,
to thereby achieve a prompt control of the drive motor 39
of t he sheet delivery drive system 35, the drive motor 40
of the sheet conveyance drive system 37, the switching
drive solenoid, not shown, of the divergence switching gate
93, a brake for stopping the delivery drive motor 39, and
the sensors. Thus, the control processing speed of the
mechanism actions of the currency note identification
counter 10 can be increased.
The control CPU 170 is provided with a program ROM
173 in which control programs or arithmetic programs are
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stored. In accordance with the control programs of the
program ROM 173, the control CPU 170 is subjected to the
control processing so as to achieve a action control of the
motor drivers 174, the brake driver 175, the gate driver
176; etc., of the power control system 169. One of the
motor drivers provides a control of activation, stop and
brake of the delivery drive motor 39, and the other
provides a control of activation, stop and brake of the
conveyance drive motor 39.
The brake driver 175 is provided for the action
control of the braking devices shown such as the mechanical
brake or electromagnetic brake for urgently stopping the
delivery drive motor 39, with the gate driver 176 serving
to provide an action control of the switching drive
solenoid of the switching gate 93. Reference numeral 177
denotes a current control resistor in the power control
system 169.
More specifically, the control of the conveyance
drive motor 40 is effected by the control CPU 170 as shown
in FIG. 23. An ON/OFF signal and a brake signal from the
control CPU 170 is fed to the motor driver 174 which
provides an ON/OFF (drive/stop) control and braking control
of the conveyance drive motor 40 that is a DC motor.
On the other hand, the motor driver 174 receives a
control signal from the phase lock loop controller (PLL
controller) acting as an autonomous rotation control
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circuit. In response to the control signal, the motor
driver 174 provides a rotational speed control of the
conveyance drive motor 40. For comparison and arithmetic,
the PLL controller 180 receives a reference clock signal
from the control CPU 170 and an encoder (rotational speed)
signal from the encoder for effecting the detection of the
rotational speed of the conveyance drive motor 40, and
provides as its output a rotational speed control signal
for driving the motor driver 174.
In this context, the conveyance drive motor 40 is
subjected to a motor driver ON/OFF (drive/stop) control and
a brake control in response to the control signals (ON/OFF
signal, brake signal) from the control CPU 170, although
the rotational speed control of the conveyance drive motor
40 is effected by the PLL controller 180. The PLL
controller 180 constitutes the autonomous rotation control
circuit of the conveyance drive motor 40 and provides the
rotational speed control of the conveyance drive motor 40
in response to the reference pulse issued from the control
CPU 170.
The PLL controller 180 constitutes means for
reducing the processing burden of the control CPU 170. By
virtue of the presence of the PLL controller 180, the
control CPU 170 has only to feed the reference pulse signal
to the PLL controller 180 which is a motor autonomous
rotation control circuit so that the processing burden of
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s
the control CPU is relieved.
The control of the delivery drive motor 37 is also
effected in the same manner as the control of the
conveyance drive motor 40, with the provision of the
autonomous rotation control circuit such as the PLL
controller 180.
The motor rotational speed control of the delivery
drive motor 37 and the conveyance drive motor 40 is made by
the PLL controller 180, not by the control CPU 170. In a
case where the control CPU provides the motor rotational
speed control, the control CPU 170 monitors and controls
the motor rotational speed, with the result that the
processing of interruption into the control CPU 170 is
increased, which may possibly reduce the processing time
for the other control system processing of the control CPU
170. Due to the provision of the PLL controller 180 which
constitutes the motor autonomous rotation control circuit,
the motor rotational speed control is effected by the PLL
controller 180 side so that the processing burden of the
control CPU 170 is relieved.
In order to further relieve the processing burden
of the control CPU 170, the arithmetic control system 166
shown in FIG. 22 is mounted with an arithmetically
processing CPU 171. The arithmetic CPU 171 serves to
subject the detection signals (scanning data) from the
various sensors to the arithmetic processing. The
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arithmetic CPU 171 is provided with an arithmetic DSP so as
to speedup the processing time taken for discriminating the
kind of currency notes.
If the currency notes of a specific one country are
merely identified, then it will be sufficient to provide a
CPU having a throughput conforming to its processing
speed. However, this currency note identification counter
is characterized in that it is able to identify the
currency notes of various countries. In order to identify
the currency notes of the various countries, the currency
note identification counter 10 will not need any
modification of the counter body 11, but merely replace the
identification programs for each country currency notes
with another, for the identification of the currency notes
of each country. The identification programs for country
currency notes are stored in e.g., in a major country
currency notes identification program ROM 173.
Some currency notes may cause an increase of the
arithmetic (operation) amount of the identification
program, which will need a provision of the fairly high-
speed-processing control CPU to present a performance
capable of identifying various country currency notes by a
single control CPU. This is not preferable in terms of
costs.
In order to impart a versatility to the dealing of
the various country currency notes, the currency note
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identification counter 10 is provided with the arithmetic
CPU 171 for high speed processing, in addition to the
control CPU 170, thereby acquiring a sufficient arithmetic
capabilities of the identification programs. The
arithmetic CPU 171 is provided with a memory 172 and can
act as an arithmetic dedicated DSP which can process the
scanning data within a predetermined time and can minimize
the arithmetic time for discriminating the kinds of the
currency notes .
In order to identify 1200 currency notes per
minute by means of the currency note identification counter
10, it is necessary to complete the discrimination of the
kind of a single currency notes within 50 millisecond
(msec), which will require both the high speed data
processing and the accuracies in the discrimination of the
kind of currency notes.
This currency note identification counter 10 uses
the line sensor 65 as the paper identification unit 63 for
the judgment of the kind of the currency notes. The line
sensor 65 is a light transmission type detector consisting
of, e.g., 38 light emission elements 153 and light
reception elements 157 that are arrayed in line with 5 mm
pitches as shown in FIGs. 17 to 20. This line sensor 65 is
used to effect a serial line scanning of each detector. By
iterating this line scanning, e.g., 1 mm pitch line
s canning in the currency notes conveyance direction as
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shown in FIG. 24, the overall surfaces of the currency
not es can be scanned. The reasons of the use of the light
transmission type line sensor 65 is that its optical
reaction speed is high as compared with the light
ref lection type detector needing the reading of the both
surfaces of the currency notes.
More specifically, the line sensor 65 is e.g., a
38 channel (ch) detector for effecting the line scanning of
the currency notes P conveyed as indicated by the broken
line arrow B in FIG. 24. When the line scanning is
effected in the longitudinal direction of the currency
notes, with the 1 mm pitch scanning in the currency notes
shorter-side direction (currency notes feeding direction),
38 detectors of the line sensor 65 can acquire 38 detection
signals as the scanning data signals for each line
scanning.
In a case of treating the US dollar bills, its
currency notes dimensions in the feed (width) direction is
66 mm, and hence, the number of samples as the scanning
data corresponds to 38 x currency notes feed length which
results in 2508 scanning samples. The processing of these
scanning data samples within a predetermined time for
discrimination of the kind of the currency notes will need
the arithmetic CPU 171 such as DSP for the high speed
arithmetic processing. The provision of the arithmetic CPU
171 will minimize the arithmetic processing time of the
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currency notes P.
FIG. 25 is a function block diagram of the
scanning processing circuit for effecting the kind of the
currency notes by use of the light transmission type line
sensor 65.
The line sensor 65 is activated in response to a
control signal from the control CPU 170. On the light
emission side of the line sensor 65, the light emission
element driver circuit 185 such as the LED drive circuit is
driven by the drive signal from the control CPU 170 so that
the light emission elements 153 (see FIGs. 17 to 20) of the
light emission side sensor member 146 are operated for
light emission.
On the other hand, on the light reception side of
the line sensor 65 on the other hand, the sensor scanning
circuit 186 is driven by a drive signal from the control
CPU 170. The sensor scanning circuit 186 receives the drive
signal from the encoder 187 and issues a sensor scanning
start signal.
At that time, the signal timing of the scanning
processing circuit 190 has a relationship (timing chart)
shown in FIG. 26.
When the sensor scanning circuit 186 of FIG. 25
receives e.g., a 1 mm drive signal (drive signal per 1 mm)
from the encoder 187, the internal counter of the sensor
scanning circuit 186 starts its action and the sensor
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scanning circuit 186 issues a scan start signal to the 38
bit line sensor 65, to initiate the line scanning
ope ration. The encoder 187 is e.g., an encoder (i.e. lmm
encoder) allowing an output of a drive signal per 1 mm so
that, during the rotation of the delivery drive motor 53,
the line scanning is effected at 1 mm cycle Tlm. That is,
the currency notes can be line scanned at 1 mm pitch since
the 1 mm of the encoder 187 corresponds to the currency
notes feed of 1 mm.
The 1 mm pitch cycle Tlm of the delivery drive
motor 53 results in 318 ~, sec in terms of the conveyance
speed of 1200 currency notes per minute. During the Tsc
time (Tsc < Tim) where the scan start signal is issued, 38
bit line sensor 65 is line scanned.
At that time, the scan addresses are given for
each bit of the line sensor 65. The sensor scanning circuit
186 uses as the reference clock signal a 2.45 master clock
signal (MCK), for example. Thus, the expansion of the one
bit of the line sensor 65 results in a processing time of
fixed value generated from the frequency division of 2. 45
MCK. The one bit access time Tad is e.g., 6. 56 ~c sec. The
tot al scanning time Tsc for 38 bits results in 249.28 ~,s
from this access time Tad. The total scanning time Tsc is a
certain value irrespective of the conveyance speed.
The AD converter 189 interrupts the arithmetic CPU
171 on a bit-by-bit basis. The interruption timing allows
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the start of the conversion of the AD converter 189 at 50 %
of the access time Tad for each bit. Since the interruption
time of the AD converter 189 occurs within e.g., 1.6~,sec,
the start timing of the AD converter is issued at the time
axis having the switching margin, for the AD conversion.
After the completion of the 38 bit actions of the line
sensor, the counter is self-stopped, after which 38 bit
actions again start with the interruption (drive signal) of
the encoder 187.
When the line scanning of the line sensor 65 is
viewed from the arithmetic CPU 171, the scanning data from
the line sensor are fetched by only the drive signal from
the (1 mm) encoder 187, so that one line scanning
corresponding to 1 mm is complete at the time when 38 bit
scanning data have been fetched. After the completion of
the one line scanning by the line sensor 65, the next line
scanning is prepared.
Thus, the line sensor 65 allows a line scanning of
the . light reception elements 156 of the line sensor 65 on a
line-to-line basis. The sequential iteration of this line
scanning achieves the scanning of the overall surfaces of
the currency notes. At that time, the encoder 187 is
provided on the delivery roller (drum) 53 so as to issue a
1 mm drive signal 'in response to the rotation of the
delivery roller 53. The delivery roller 53 is e.g., a 50
mm diameter delivery roller 53. The encoder 187 fixed
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coax i ally with the delivery roller 53 serves to detect
e.g., 1 mm feed of the delivery roller 53 and allows the
sens o r scanning circuit 186 to issue a drive signal for the
line scanning of the light reception elements 157 of the
light reception side sensor member 147 in response to the 1
mm d rive signal from the encoder 187. The encoder 187 need
not necessarily issue the 1 mm drive signal and may issue a
drive signal of the order of several millimeters. In this
cas e, the overall surfaces of the currency notes can be
scanned at pitches of several millimeters.
A currency notes analog data signal from each light
reception element 157 is fed to a signal processing circuit
188 for data processing, in which it is amplified, the
currency notes analog data signal being detected by the
line scanning each light reception element 157 of the light
reception member 147. The signal processing circuit 188 is
provided with an amplifier unit and has two processing
circuits consisting of a concentration system and an
automatic regulation system, which has a system circuit
switching selectively switched by the arithmetic CPU 171.
The currency notes analog data signal processed by
the signal processing circuit 1$8 is converted by an AD
converter 189 into a digital signal, which is in turn fed
to the arithmetic CPU 171 for the high-speed arithmetic
processing. The processing data processed by the
arithmetic CPU 171 is a currency notes discrimination
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I r
(denomination discrimination) notice which is sent to the
control CPU 170. Upon the reception of the currency notes
discrimination notice results, the control CPU 170 provides
as its output e.g. , a drive signal of a brake driver 175 or
the gate diver 176 shown in FIG. 22.'
The signal processing time required for the overall
scanning of the currency notes P through the line scanning
with the scanning system circuit 189 of one system by use
of the 38 bit (38 ch) line sensor 65 is within about 30
milli seconds in the state of the present technology. The
throughput of the currency notes per minute is theoretic-
ally about 2,000 from this signal processing time.
Although FIG. 25 shows the example using the one
system scanning processing circuit 190 to effect a serial
line scanning with the line sensor 65, it may be possible
that the light reception side of the line sensor 65 is
divided at its central portion and a parallel scanning
processing circuit 191 is provided for effecting a parallel
line scanning' of the light reception side sensor member 147
of the line sensor 65 to thereby reduce the scanning time.
In this case, the throughput of the currency notes per
minute can be about 4,000.
In an arrangement in which the scanning processing
circuit for scanning processing of the line sensor 65 is
constituted every 1 ch, the respective detectors can effect
the simultaneous parallel processing of each detector to
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a
further reduce the scanning time, which however needs the
scanning processing circuit for 38 ch, resulting in too
large a circuit board.
In this currency note identification counter 10,
as shown in FIG. 25, the line sensor having 38 detectors is
formed to be processed by the one system of the
scanning processing circuit 189 to thereby reduce the
substrate dimensions. The serial scanning of the 19 ch
detectors effected by the scanning processing circuit 189
and 190 with the provision of the parallel scanning
processing circuit 190 will halve the scanning time, which
will theoretically allow about 4, 000 currency notes per
minute of scanning.
One currency notes is delivered for each rotation
as shown in FIGs. 4 and 6 from the delivery roller (drum)
of the currency note identification counter 10. In order
to deliver 1,200 currency notes per minute, the delivery
roller 53 need to be rotationally driven at 1,200 rpm, and
for 1,500/min, delivery, the delivery roller 53 will have
only to be rotationally driven at 1,500 rpm.
If the US dollar bills having the currency notes
feed width of 66 mm are conveyed, since the delivery roller
53 has a diameter of e.g., 50 mm, the currency notes are
conveyed at about 157 mm pitch, with the interval of about
90 mm relative to the following currency notes. The 90 mm
interval and the length of the conveyance passage 48 will
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1
be needed in order to ensure sufficient actions of the
switching gate 93 for the currency notes having
denominations which have been discriminated. The interval
need not necessarily be 90 mm, but an interval exceeding
the currency notes width in the feeding direction will
suffice.
Actually, the occurrence of delay of the currency
notes delivery or slippage will cause the narrowed currency
notes conveyance intervals, which may possibly delay the
currency notes identification processing. For this reason,
currency note identification counter 10 has the appropriate
detection sensors that are disposed downstream of the
delivery roller (drum) 53, with a provision of a feed
interval correcting circuit. The feed interval correcting
circuit monitors the currency notes feeding interval, and
if the feeding interval is small, causes the braking
operation of the delivery drive system motor 39 to
instantaneously reduce the motor rotational speed, or
alternatively, it instantaneously activates the brake
disposed on the roller axis of the delivery roller (drum)
53 to thereby delay the subsequent currency notes to modify
the feeding interval to be normal. The feeding interval
correcting circuit is provided on the circuit board 165 and
is partially allocated to the control CPU 170.
Since the currency note identification counter 10
has the pocket 20 for discharging the currency notes out of
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identification, the conveyance passage 48 is diverged on
the downstream side of the paper identification unit 63
into the stacker 21 side and the pocket 20 side. For this
reason, the switching gate 93 is disposed on the way of the
conveyance passage 48 and a solenoid, not shown, performs
the switching operation of the switching gate 93.
The switching operation of the switching gate 93
can not be performed till the completion of the
discrimination of the denomination after the passing of the
currency notes through the paper identification unit 63.
Taking into consideration the margin up to the completion
of the identification of the currency notes, it is
preferred that the distance from the paper identification
unit 63 to the switching gate 93 be longer.
It is also desirable that the conveyance passage
48 has as a rectilinear layout or structure as possible in
order to suppress the occurrence of jamming of the currency
notes due to the high speed conveyance thereof along the
conveyance passage 48. The rectilinear layout of the
conveyance passage 48 may result in the enlargement of the
apparatus and may not be suitable for the desktop use. The
currency note identification counter 10 allows the
conveyance passage 48 to detour within the counter body 11
so that the apparatus is made compact while allowing the
rectilinear layout from the paper identification unit 63 to
the branch switching gate 93. This currency note
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i
identification counter 10 achieves an overall size
reduction and compactness irrespective of the throughput of
the currency notes, i.e., irrespective of the fact that the
1,20 O sheets per minute or more can be identified. More
spec ifically, this desktop type cylinder head currency note
identification counter 10 has front width x depth x height
of 3 30 mm x 335 mm x 300 mm, respectively, by way of an
example.
By the way, the currency note identification
counter 10 is provided with the circuit board 165 acting as
the control substrate (board) shown in FIG. 2, and the
arithmetic processing system 166 of the circuit board 165
is provided with a bus emulator circuit 195 for effecting a
prompt graphic processing on the display panel 17 (see
FIG. 1). The display panel 17, e.g., the LCD that is a
gene ral-purpose part for the LCD graphic display is not a
character display. Due to the presence of the difference in
the sending or receiving timing or speed between the signal
processing on the display panel 17 and the signal
processing of the control CPU 170, the LCD bus emulator
circuit 195 is provided as an interface circuit for
adjusting and matching this difference. The LCD bus
emulator circuit 195 can be integrated into one chip by use
of the PLD.
The drive of the display panel 17 such as the
full-graphic display LCD is effected through the processing
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of the control CPU 170 so that the mass of data are
interchanged therebetween. However, the direct drive of the
displ ay panel 117 that is a general-purpose part by the
control CPU 170, a multiplicity of processing steps are
allocated to a single control CPU 170, causing the control
CPU 170 to an extremely large burden.
The control CPU 170 burdens all of the control
side processings of the various drivers 174, 175, 176,
etc., and hence, it is preferred to reduce the burden.
Furthermore, a valuable I/O port of the control CPU 170 may
be a sed for the other controls, although this I/O port is
variously restricted in use, which could not be used for
the control of the operation panel 17. Furthermore, a
dedicated CPU for display panel drive may additionally be
provided for the purpose of achieving a direct drive of the
displ ay panel. Otherwise, in this currency note
identification counter 10, the bus emulator circuit 195 as
the interface circuit between the one control CPU 170 and
the general-purpose part display panel 17 may be
additionally provided. This bus emulator circuit 195 looks
as if it is directly driven by the control CPU 170 when
viewed from the general-purpose display panel 17 side.
The addition of the bus emulator circuit 195
enables 8-bit information to be fed for processing to the
display panel 17 at the same timing with a single command
for example, allowing a high-speed processing. The
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add t t tonal provision of the bus emulator circuit 195
relieves the processings for the display panel of the
control CPU 170 to a large extent so as to reduce the
processing burden of the control CPU 170, allowing the
high- speed processing.
In lieu of the bus emulator circuit 195, the
control CPU 170 may be provided with an IO port connected
to the display panel 17 so that the control CPU 170
connects the display panel 17. In the event of no
difference in the sending and receiving timing or speed of
the signal processing between the control CPU 170 and the
displ ay panel 17, the control CPU 170 may directly be
connected to the display panel.
The sensor processing system 168 of the circuit
board 165 shown in FIG. 22 is separated into a line sensor
processing system 196 and a magnetic sensor processing
sys t em 197 or a UV sensor processing system. The line
sens or processing system 196 is connected via a line sensor
connector 198 to the line sensor 65. Reference numeral 189
denotes an AD converter for converting an operation data
anal og signal into a digital signal.
The magnet sensor (MG sensor) processing system 197
is connected via an MG connector 200 to the MG sensor
act t ng as the true-counterfeit identification sensor 66.
Reference numeral 201 denotes a connector for the UV sensor
necessary when the UV sensor is used as the true-
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counterfeit identification sensor 66. Reference numeral 202
denotes a capacitor, 203 is a test point for regulation or
testing, and 204 is a regulation volume for the MG sensor.
The power source system 167 is provided with a
regulator 210 capable of generating a large amount of
thermal energies and with a heat radiating plate 211 for
radiating the heat from the regulator 210. Reference
numeral 212 denotes a resistor array.
Description will then be made of the currency notes
identification processing by use of the currency note
identification counter 10 of the characters mentioned above.
The console panel 16 is provided on the front
surface at the top of the counter body 11 of the currency
note identification counter 10. The currency notes
identification processing by the currency note
identification counter 10 can be effected by pressing the
operation buttons 18 on the console panel 16. When pressing
(depressing) the operation buttons 18, the contents of
currency notes identification appear on the display panel
17 such as the LCD .
The operation button 18s provides key switches
which may include 11 (eleven) types of currency notes
processings, for example. The operation buttons 18
selectively act so that any currency notes processing mode
is appropriately be selectable. The currency notes
processing modes implemented by the operation buttons 18
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are shown in the following Table, in which description is
made with reference to the case where objects of
identification are the US dollar bills. The operation
buttons 18 are interlinked with the key switches so that
the pressing of the operation buttons 18 allows the key
sw itches to be operated.
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TABLE 1
OPERATIONFORM AND USE OF OPERATION BUTTON
BUTTONS
This operation button is pressed to perform switching
of four counting
modes, FREE (counting of the number of currency notes),
MIXED (counting
of identification of mixed denominations), SINGLE (counting
of
MODE detection of different denominations), and SORT (counting
of detection
of denominations) and switching of SET-UP mode (that selects
and sets
functions pertaining to the four counting modes). The
thus selected
counting mode appears on a display panel (LCD).
Currently counted number (or amount of money) is added
to most recently
ADD counted number (or amount of money) to display the result
on the
d i sp l ay pane I (LCD).
In the case of setting~ll or . in mo e, t is
operation button is depressed to add a counterfeit currency
note
CF detection function. When the counterfeit currency note
detection
function is added, the display panel (LCD) presents characters
MG or
v.
A breakdown of the denominations identified and counted
in MIXED,
DENOMI SINGLE, SORT modes is displayed. In the presence of instructions
of
gross total display with GT key, a breakdown of GT (gross
total) is
displayed immediately below.
Each time the operation button for designating the number
to be batch
., .. ., ,. .,
processed is depressed, display varies among 100 50 25
"10" "5" and "undesignated" . The designation of the number
BATCH can be
varied in SET-UP mode. When varying the designation of
the number one
by one, " D " or " 0 " key is pressed to vary the batch
processing
numbs r.
The gross total of the number (or amount of money) counted
so far is
GT displayed, and when depressed again, the most recently
counted number
(or amount of money) is displayed on. the display panel
(LCD).
Each time this operation button is depressed, the amount
of money
UNIT display or the number display is switchingly displayed.
In the case of
selection of the amount of money display, ~ mark (or ~
mark) is added
to the forefront of the numerals for display.
This operation button is used to store the most recently
counted number
(or amount of money) and to count in comparison with the
currently
CHECK counted number (or amount of money). When designation
of the CHECK
button is present, no addition is made to the gross total.
Upon the
selection of the CHECK button, CHECK appears on the display
panel
(LCD).
This operation button is used to cancel a conveyance error
or to clear
CLEAR a count value for each counting operation from the gross
total. It is
also used to cancel items selected in SET-UP mode.
RESTART This is pressed to start or restart the counting operation.
It is also
STOP used when setting selected items in SET-UP mode.
These buttons are used to increase or decrease the batch
number one by
Q L1 one, or to select SET-UP mode items, or to select designated
denomination in SINGLE mode or any denomination on DENOMI
display.
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When the currency note identification counter 10
is actuated after feeding of the currency notes P to be
identified into the hopper 15 with the currency note
identification contents selected by use of the operation
buttons 18, the delivery drive motor 39 and the conveyance
drive motor 40 are activated as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 to
drive the sheet delivery drive system 35 and the sheet
conveyance drive system 37 which constitute the sheet
conveyance apparatus.
The drive of the sheet delivery drive system 35
causes the feed roller 50 and the delivery roller (drum) 53
to be driven in synchronism with each other as shown in
FIG. 4. The feed roller 50 is arranged to feed, one by one
from the bottommost one, the sheets in the form of currency
notes stacked in the hopper 15, into the conveyance passage
48. On the other hand, the delivery roller (drum) 53 is
arranged to deliver the currency note 14 fed from the feed
roller 50 to the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a of the
conveyance passage 48.
One rotation of the delivery roller 53 allows a
delivery of one currency note. In order to achieve
rotations at e.g.. 1,200 rpm or more, the feed roller 50
and the delivery roller 53 are provided with weight
balancers 52 and 56 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 for securing
a rotational balance.
The delivery roller may be constructed as shown in
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FIGs. 27A and 27B. A delivery roller 53A has a semi-
circular friction member 55A formed partially in the
circumferential direction and a balancer weight 56A
integ rated with or integrally provided at a position
diametrically confronting the friction member 55A.
The rectilinear conveyance passage 48a is a
conveyance passage rectilinearly downwardly extending along
the back side within the counter body 11 from the delivery
roller 53 towards the reverse feed drive roller 70 provided
below, with the currency notes 14 fed to the rectilinear
conveyance passage 48a being subjected by the paper
identification unit 63 to the currency note denomination
judgment, folded currency note judgment, normal or damaged
currency note judgment and true-counterfeit currency note
judgment.
The paper identification unit 63 is provided at
least with the line sensor 65 and with the true-counterfeit
currency note judgment sensor 66. The paper identification
unit 63 may further be provided with a front-reverse
identification sensor 64 for identifying. the front or
reverse of the currency notes.
The line sensor 65 is for example a 38-bit light
transmission type detector consisting of e.g., 38 detectors
that are arrayed in line with equal pitches of, e.g., 5 mm
so as to traverse the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a.
Hy line scanning of the line sensor 65, the currency note
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14(P) is scanned, as indicated by a broken line arrow B, in
the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. 24.
The currency note P is fed at a high speed in its
shorter-side direction along the conveyance passage 48,
although the currency note P transported on the conveyance
passage 48 is actually permitted to have a slight
inclination. This permissible angle of the longitudinal
direction of the conveyance passage 48 is of the order of
12 to 15° , for example.
The line sensor 65 is linearly (line) scanned along
the longitudinal direction of the currency note P and then
scanned in sequence at 1 mm pitch in the currency note
feeding direction. Through this scanning of the line
sensor 65, the overall surface is scanned of the currency
note P conveyed on the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a.
Hy s canning the overall surface of the currency
note P, it is possible to utilize the difference in
patterns and lightness between the printed zone and the
unprinted zone of the currency note P, with the setting of
an appropriate threshold value, to thereby effect a
discrimination (judgement) of denomination of the currency
note P as well as a judgement of the normal or damaged
state of the currency note P. For example, the currency
note having a small difference in lightness is judged and
identified as a damaged currency note, the one having a
large difference in lightness is judged and identified as a
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normal currency note. It would be impossible for any
detector which scans a part of the currency note P instead
of the overall surface thereof to make a true-counterfeit
judgment of the currency note.
By virtue of the detection and scanning of overall
surface of the currency note P, the line sensor 65 is able
to detect the corner fold of the currency note P or damaged
or folded currency notes so that these currency notes P can
be judged as the currency notes out of identification.
Furthermore, the true-counterfeit identification
unit 66 constituting the paper identification unit 63 makes
a judgment as to whether the currency note is true or
counterfeit. The true-counterfeit identification unit 66
may be composed of for example a magnet sensor (MG
sensor), or alternatively, it may be a combination of the
magnet sensor and the UV sensor. The MG sensor and the UV
sensor of the true-counterfeit identification unit 66 may
be disposed in the longitudinal direction of the conveyance
passage 48a.
After the front-reverse judgment of the currency
note P, the denomination judgment, the normal-damaged
judgment, the currency note fold error detection and the
true-counterfeit judgment by the paper identification unit
63 arranged on the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a, the
currency notes are guided into the U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b formed in the lower portion on the
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s
back side of the counter body 11. This curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b forms a gentle curved passage having
a radius of curvature of 50 mm (~ ) or more to prevent the
currency note jamming from occurring. The sufficient
length of the curvilinear conveyance passage 48b will
accommodate the identification processing time of the paper
identification unit 63 with margin.
A light transmission type gate timing sensor 75 is
disposed at the inlet end side of the angled conveyance
pas sage 48c of the downstream conveyance passage following
the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b to thereby
detect the passage or non-passage of the currency note P
that has been identification processed. In response to the
detection signal from the gate timing sensor 75, the
control CPU 170 shown in FIG. 22 drives the gate driver
17 6, which in turn causes the switching gate 93 to be
sw itchably driven in unison.
In cases where the paper identification unit 63
discriminates or judges that the currency note is a one to
be identified and is a true one free from any fold or
damage, the switching gate 93 is changed over to allow the
currency note to be guided to the stacker 21. On the
contrary, if the paper identification unit 63 identifies
that the currency note is a folded or damaged one or a
counterfeit one, then the gate timing sensor 75 takes the
timing to switch the switching gate 93 towards the eject
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conveyance passage 48d on the pocket 20 side.
As a result of the changeover of the switching
gate 93, the currency notes are guided from the angled
conveyance passage 48c to the eject conveyance passage 48d,
through which they are led to the pocket 20. The currency
notes led to the pocket 20 can easily be ejected from the
front side by opening the support member 23. The currency
notes guided to the stacker 2l and stacked therein are also
eas i1 y retrieved from the upwardly directed large opening
of the stacker 21.
On the other hand, the contents identification
processed by the currency note identification counter 10
are displayed timely on the display panel 17 such as an LCD
capable of full-graphic representation so that the operator
instantaneously checks the contents of the identification
processing by viewing the display panel 17. The contents of
the identification processing could be presented as a hard
copy by use of a built-in copier not shown.
The currency note identification counter 10 is
capable of performing the identification processing at a
speed of 1, 200 sheets per minute or at a higher speed so as
to be stacked on the hopper 15. To achieve rapid and
stable identification processing of the currency notes, a
sufficient length of the conveyance passage 48 is secured
in spite of the small-sized and compact desktop conveyance
passage.
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In order to secure the sufficient length of the
conveyance passage 48, the conveyance passage 48 is
arranged in a zigzag manner within the counter body 11 of
the currency note identification counter 10. In spite of
the zigzag arrangement of the conveyance passage 48, the
curved portion is designed to have a sufficiently large
radius of curvature so that the large radius of curvature
of the conveyance passage 48 can prevent the currency notes
from jamming on the way of the conveyance passage 48.
In the case of performing the identification
processing of 1,200 sheets or more by the currency note
identification counter 10, the feeding speed of the
currency notes conveyed along the conveyance passage 48
will reach as high a speed as 3.14m/sec and jamming may
occur an the way of the conveyance passage 48. The
currency note jamming is detected by the various sensors
provided along the conveyance passage 48, with the result
that the brake driver 175 is urgently driven by way of the
control CPU shown in FIG. 22, bringing the motor rotation
of the delivery drive motor 39 shown in FIG. 2 to an urgent
stop. The urgent stop of the drive motor 39 causes a stop
of the driving of the sheet delivery drive system 35,
putting the roller rotations of the delivery roller (drum)
53 (see FIG. 4) into an urgent stop.
When jamming occurs on the midway of the
conveyance passage 48, the motor drive of the conveyance
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drive motor 40 (see FIG. 3) is also brought to a stop.
This stop of the motor drive is caused slightly after the
urgent stop of the delivery drive motor 39. The stop of
the driving of the sheet conveyance drive system 37 makes
it impossible to guide the currency notes lying on the
midway of the conveyance passage 48 to the stacker 21 or
to the pocket 20, allowing the currency notes to remain on
the midway of the conveyance passage 48. However, in this
event, the provision of the conveyance passage opening
mechanisms 112, 125 and 130 permits the conveyance passages
48a, 48b, 48c and 48d to be opened to a large extent so
that the jammed currency notes can easily be retrieved and
removed from the conveyance passage 48.
In the event that the jammed currency notes are
resi dent in the rectilinear conveyance passage 48a or in
the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage 48b, the rear
doo r 120 is opened as shown in FIGs. 7 to 9 to open the
back side conveyance passage opening mechanism 112. The
opening of the back side conveyance passage opening
mechanism 112 allows the rear opening guide arm mechanism
114 to rotate around the pivot 113 while simultaneously
allowing the upper guide arm 115 to rotate around the pivot
of the lower guide arm 116, so that the rectilinear
conveyance passage 48a and the U-shaped curvilinear
conveyance passage 48b that are formed on the back side of
the counter body 11 can open to a large extent toward the
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back side. The opening of the rectilinear conveyance
passage 48a and the U-shaped curvilinear conveyance passage
48b allows an easy retrieval of the currency notes jammed
in those portions or of the currency notes remaining
therein, for the removal from the conveyance passages 48a
and 48b.
After the removal of the jamming currency notes
from the conveyance passages 48a and 48b, the hand-lever
is gripped and the wrist pin of the rear opening guide arm
mechanism 114 is pushed into the lock means 118 as shown in
FIG. 8, for engagement and locking by which the conveyance
passages 48a and 48b can~be closed so that the back side
conveyance passage opening mechanism 112 can be held in its
set state. Hy putting the back side conveyance passage
opening mechanism 112 into its set state, on the back side
of the counter body 11 are formed the rectilinear
conveyance passage 48a extending from the delivery roller
53 up to the reverse feed drive roller 70 and the U-shaped
curvilinear conveyance passage 48b formed in the region of
the reverse feed drive roller 70.
In the case of the occurrence of the currency note
jamming in the angled conveyance passage 48c of the
currency note identification counter 10, the angled
conveyance passage opening mechanism 125 is opened from the
front side of the counter body 11 as shown in FIG. 10. By
depressing the hand-lever 128 against the urging force of
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the paired springs 129, the opening guide arm mechanism 126
of the angled conveyance passage opening mechanism 125
rotates around the pivot 113 so that the angled conveyance
passage 48c can open forward to a large extent.
This enables the currency notes residing in the
angled conveyance passage 48c to easily be retrieved
forward of the counter body 11 through the space defined
between the paired stacker impellers 90.
Furthermore, in the case of the currency note
jamming occurring in the reject conveyance passage 48d of
the currency note identification counter 10, the reject
conveyance passage opening mechanism 130 is operatively
opened as shown in FIG. 11. To open the reject conveyance
passage opening mechanism 130, the operation button 138
depicted in FIG. 1 is pressed to actuate the engagement
hook 136 via the cam mechanism 140 as shown in FIGS. 12 and
13, with the result that the bridge pin 135 of the reject
conveyance passage opening mechanism 130 is released from
the engagement hook 136.
Once the bridge pin 135 of the reject conveyance
passage opening mechanism 130 is released, the opening
guide arm mechanism 132 can rotate by its own weight around
the pivot 131 over a large angular range. At that time, it
is desirable for the support member 23 to be freely set
from the pocket bearer 22.
Then, the large angular rotation of the opening
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guide arm mechanism 132 around the pivot causes the pocket
beare r 22 to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 11, allowing
the counter body 11 to be opened forward to a large
extent. As a result of the front opening of the counter
body 11, the reject conveyance passage 48d opens to a large
extent forward of the counter body 11 so that the currency
notes residing in the reject conveyance passage 48d can be
removed through the opening thereof.
Although in one embodiment of the paper
identification counter, description has been made by way of
an example of the identification processing of 1,200 sheets
per minute in the form of currency notes, the currency note
identification processing could be carried out at a high
speed of 1,500 notes per minute or at a higher speed. In
the event of performing the high speed processing of 1,500
notes per minute, the delivery roller (drum) needs to be
rotationally driven at 1,500 rpm so that this rotational
drive of the delivery roller can be fnterlinked with the
identification processing time of the identification unit.
It would also be possible to process the currency notes at
a low speed of the order of 700 to 800 sheets per minute.
Although in one embodiment of the paper
identification counter, description has been made by way of
the example of identifying and counting the currency notes,
the identification and counting may be effected of various
papers other than the currency notes, such as government or
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corporate bonds or other securities; tickets or coupons for
railroads, airlines, buses, etc.; certificates for gifts,
books, stationery or other notes. In such cases,
identification patterns of papers to be measured must
previously be programmed in, e.g., a program ROM of the
arithmetic control system on the circuit board.
Although in the paper identification counter of one
embodiment, the power source has been positioned for
example at the bottom on the back side of the counter body,
with the reverse feed drive roller disposed above the power
supply, the power source may be displaced in any dead space
within the counter body so that the reverse feed drive
roller can be positioned in the vicinity of the bottom on
the back side of the counter body. In this case, the
conveyance passage can have a greater length, achieving a
further speedup. This also enables the roller diameter of
the reverse feed drive roller to be increased, with a
further increase of the radius of curvature of the U-shaped
curved conveyance passage.
Although in the paper identification counter of one
embodiment, the stacker has been placed, for example, on
the front of the counter body at the lower portion thereof,
with the pocket disposed above the stacker, the stacker may
be provided above the pocket so that the conveyance passage
extending from the reverse feed drive roller up to the
stacker can be rendered rectilinear in order to provide a
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a '
more effective prevention of the paper jamming.
It is to be noted that the present invention is not
limited to the described embodiments and many other changes
and modifications may be made without departing from the
scopes of the appended claims.
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