JP2007226475A - Coin discrimination apparatus, coin discrimination method, and coin discrimination program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coin discrimination apparatus which is provided with a simple apparatus construction and is capable of discriminating the denomination of coins highly precisely. <P>SOLUTION: The coin discrimination apparatus is provided with: a waveform detection part 20 which has a coil arranged along a coin passage and detects a waveform indicating a temporal change of coil inductance which occurs as coins pass; an operation processing part 40 for analyzing the frequency of the waveform detected by the waveform detection part 20 to operate a spectrum distribution of the waveform; and an discrimination part 50 for discriminating the denomination of coins corresponding to the spectrum distribution operated by the operation processing part 40 on the basis of the spectrum distribution of each coin obtained in advance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a coin identifying device, a coin identifying method, and a coin identifying program for identifying a type of coin.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a coin discriminating device for discriminating the type of inserted coins, a coin discriminating device for obtaining the material, outer diameter, and plate thickness of a coin using a magnetic sensor such as a coil has been proposed (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document). 2). In such a coin identification device, the material, outer diameter, and thickness of the coin detected by the material sensor that detects the material of the coin, the outer diameter sensor that detects the outer diameter of the coin, and the thickness sensor that determines the thickness of the coin, respectively. The type of coin is identified based on

JP 08-315209 A JP 2001-167310 A

  However, the conventional coin discriminating apparatus includes an amplification circuit that amplifies signals output from each sensor using a high-precision analog circuit for each of the material sensor, outer diameter sensor, and plate thickness sensor, and digitally converts the amplified analog signal. It has an analog / digital (A / D) conversion circuit that converts it into a signal, and an arithmetic circuit that extracts a predetermined feature amount from the converted digital signal, and the material and outer diameter of the coin based on each extracted feature amount The plate thickness was obtained and the type of coin was identified. For this reason, the conventional coin discriminating apparatus needs to include an oscillation circuit, an amplification arithmetic circuit, and an arithmetic circuit corresponding to the material sensor, the outer diameter sensor, and the plate thickness sensor, respectively. There is a problem that it is not possible to reduce the cost of direct materials in the coin discriminating apparatus and the number of assembly man-hours, for example, reduction of the number of parts such as a magnetic sensor for each feature and the accompanying analog circuit. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described drawbacks of the prior art, and includes a coin identification device, a coin identification method, and a coin identification program that have a simple device configuration and can identify the type of coins with high accuracy. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention has a coil disposed along a coin path, and detects a waveform indicating a time change of the inductance of the coil as the coin passes. Corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing means based on the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance, and performing a frequency analysis of the waveform to calculate the spectrum distribution of the waveform. And an identifying means for identifying the type of coin.

  The coin discriminating apparatus according to the present invention further comprises integrating means for integrating a window function to the waveform, and the calculation processing means calculates a spectrum distribution of the waveform integrated with the window function by the integrating means. It is characterized by that.

  Moreover, the coin identification device according to the present invention is characterized in that the arithmetic processing means performs a discrete Fourier transform to calculate a spectral distribution of the waveform.

  Moreover, the coin identification device according to the present invention is characterized in that the arithmetic processing means calculates a spectrum distribution of the waveform by performing discrete Fourier transform using fast Fourier transform.

  Further, in the coin identifying device according to the present invention, the identifying means includes a component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution calculated by the arithmetic processing means and a component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance. Based on the comparison, the type of coin corresponding to the waveform is identified.

  Further, in the coin identifying device according to the present invention, the identifying means is based on the degree of coincidence between the envelope for the spectral distribution calculated by the arithmetic processing means and the envelope for the spectral distribution of each coin determined in advance. The coin type corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing means is identified.

  Further, the coin identification method according to the present invention includes a detection step of detecting a waveform indicating a time change of inductance accompanying the passage of coins in a coil disposed along a coin path, and performing a frequency analysis of the waveform, A calculation processing step for calculating a spectrum distribution, and an identification step for identifying a coin type corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated in the calculation processing step based on the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance. Features.

  Further, the coin identification program according to the present invention performs a detection procedure for detecting a waveform indicating a time change in inductance accompanying the passage of coins in a coil disposed along a coin path, and performs a frequency analysis of the waveform, A calculation processing procedure for calculating the spectrum distribution, and an identification procedure for identifying the type of coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated in the calculation processing procedure based on the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance. Features.

  According to the present invention, the spectrum distribution of the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil accompanying the passage of the coin detected by the detecting means is calculated, and the spectrum distribution calculated based on the spectrum distribution of each coin obtained in advance is supported. In order to identify the type of coin to be performed, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of detecting means, and there is an effect that it is possible to realize a coin identifying device, a coin identifying method, and a coin identifying program having a simple device configuration.

  Below, the Example of the coin identification device concerning this invention is described in detail based on drawing. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. In the description of the drawings, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a coin identifying apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the coin identifying device 1 according to the embodiment includes an input unit 10, a waveform detection unit 20, an ADC processing unit 25, an insertion detection processing unit 22, an integration unit 30, an arithmetic processing unit 40, an identification unit 50, A control unit 60, an output unit 70, and a storage unit 80 are provided. The control unit 60 controls each component part of the coin identifying device 1.

  The input unit 10 inputs an operation instruction of the coin identification device 1 and instruction information of processing performed by the coin identification device 1 to the control unit 60. The input unit 10 can also turn on and off the coin identification device 1 and acquire information, for example. The input unit 10 may be realized by a pointing device such as a keyboard or a mouse.

  The waveform detection unit 20 includes a coil disposed along the coin passage, detects a waveform indicating a time change in the inductance of the coil accompanying the coin passage, and outputs the detected waveform to the integration unit 30. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the waveform detector 20 shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows not only the waveform detection unit 20 but also the main part of the coin identification device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the waveform detection unit 20 detects a waveform indicating the time change of the coil 22 disposed along the path of the coin 2 conveyed via a belt conveyor and the like, and the inductance of the coil 22. An amplifying unit 23 that amplifies the signal to such an extent that it can be converted into a signal and an oscillating unit 24 connected to the coil 22 are provided. The oscillating unit 24 causes the coil 22 to oscillate a magnetic field so as to output a predetermined idle waveform as a waveform indicating a change in inductance over time. When the coin 2 passes in the vicinity of the coil 22 that oscillates the magnetic field, the inductance of the coil 22 changes as the coin 2 passes. The waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 with the passage of the coin 2 is different for each type of the coin 2. The waveform detection unit 20 outputs to the ADC processing unit 25 a waveform indicating the change over time in the inductance of the coil 22 amplified by the amplification unit 23.

  The ADC processing unit 25 converts the analog signal voltage indicating the waveform output from the waveform detection unit 20 into a digital signal and outputs the digital signal to the input detection processing unit 26. Therefore, future processing will be digital signal processing by software.

  The insertion detection processing unit 26 processes a digital signal corresponding to the waveform output from the ADC processing unit 25, and detects whether or not the coin 2 is inserted based on the change in the waveform. When it is determined that the shape of the waveform converted into the digital signal has changed from a predetermined shape, the insertion detection processing unit 26 determines that the coin 2 has been inserted.

  When the insertion detection processing unit 26 determines that the coin 2 has been inserted, the integration unit 30 integrates the window function to the waveform indicating the time variation of the inductance of the coil 22 output from the waveform detection unit 20 and integrated the waveform. Is output as a calculation target in the calculation processing unit 40. For a waveform that has changed from the start of passage of coins to the end of passage, a predetermined window function is integrated to cut out the waveform to be subjected to frequency analysis. By cutting out the waveform by this window function, it is possible to prevent the generation of truncation errors due to the harmonic component generated at the time axis amount end point of the cut out waveform and not the object of calculation processing. As a result, by the window function integration process performed by the integration unit 30, the calculation process in the calculation processing unit 40 can perform highly accurate frequency analysis in which generation of a spectrum other than the desired spectrum is suppressed. The integrating unit 30 uses, for example, a Hanning window, a rectangular window, a Hamming window, a Bradman = Harris window, or the like as a window function.

  The arithmetic processing unit 40 performs frequency analysis of the waveform obtained by integrating the window function by the integrating unit 30, and calculates the spectral distribution of the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as the coin passes. The arithmetic processing unit 40 performs a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) on the waveform obtained by integrating the window function by the integrating unit 30 and calculates a spectral distribution of the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as the coin passes. The arithmetic processing unit 40 performs DFT using a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm, and calculates a spectral distribution of a waveform indicating a time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as coins pass. The arithmetic processing unit 40 associates each frequency with the component amount of each frequency as the calculated spectrum distribution, and outputs it to the identification unit 50.

  The identification unit 50 identifies the type of coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 based on the spectrum distribution of each coin obtained in advance. Based on the comparison between the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution calculated by the arithmetic processing unit 40 and the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution of each coin obtained in advance, the identification unit 50 calculates the inductance of the coil 22. The type of coin corresponding to the waveform showing the time change is identified. The identifying unit 50 determines whether or not the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution of the coin to be compared among the spectrum distributions of the respective coins obtained in advance is in the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40. Further, when determining that the specific spectrum is present, the identification unit 50 determines whether or not the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. When the identification unit 50 determines that the component amount of the specific spectrum is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the coin corresponding to the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 is the same type of coin as the coin that was being compared. Is identified. Note that a threshold for the component amount of the specific spectrum is set in advance according to the type of coin.

  The control unit 60 performs each process or operation of the input unit 10, the waveform detection unit 20, the ADC processing unit 25, the input detection processing unit 26, the integration unit 30, the arithmetic processing unit 40, the identification unit 50, the output unit 70, and the storage unit 80. To control. The control unit 60 performs predetermined input / output control on information input / output to / from each of these components and performs predetermined information processing on this information.

  The output unit 70 outputs predetermined information according to the control of the control unit 60. The output unit 70 outputs the type of coin identified by the identifying unit 50. The output unit 70 is realized by using a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic electroluminescence display, or a light emitting diode (LED) that continues to emit light while a current is supplied, and outputs a display. May be. The output unit 70 may be realized using a microphone and a speaker, and may output sound. The output unit 70 may be implemented using an external communication interface, and may perform information communication with an external management device (not shown) that manages the coin identification device.

  The storage unit 80 stores various information and programs required for the processing operation of each component. The storage unit 80 stores a spectrum distribution corresponding to each type of coin. These spectral distributions are obtained in advance, and for each type of coin, after obtaining a waveform showing the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 accompanying the passage of the coin, after integrating the window function to the obtained waveform, It is obtained in advance by performing DFT using FFT. In addition, the capital part 80 stores a threshold value corresponding to a specific spectrum for each type of coin.

  Next, an operation process of the coin identifying device 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation process of the coin identifying device 1. As shown in FIG. 3, first, the control unit 60 causes the oscillation unit 24 in the waveform detection unit 20 to oscillate, and causes the coil 22 to output an idle waveform (step S102). FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an idle waveform output from the coil 22, and shows a time change in the inductance of the coil 22. As shown in FIG. 4, the coin discriminating apparatus 1 outputs a sine wave as an idle waveform, and avoids the influence of higher-order noise on the spectrum during the DFT in the arithmetic processing unit 40.

  The input detection processing unit 26 determines whether or not there is a change in the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 (step S104). When it is determined that there is no change in the waveform (step S104: No), the control unit 60 determines that no coin 2 is inserted, and proceeds to step S102 to continue outputting the idle waveform.

  On the other hand, when the insertion detection processing unit 26 determines that there is a change in the waveform (step S104: Yes), the integration unit 30 acquires the waveform in which the change has occurred in order to determine that the coin 2 has been inserted. (Step S106). FIG. 5 is a diagram exemplifying a waveform showing a change over time in the inductance of the coil 22 during coin passage. As shown in FIG. 5, the waveform showing the change over time in the inductance of the coil 22 is clearly different from the idle waveform shown in FIG. 4 as coins pass. The accumulating unit 30 acquires a waveform as shown in FIG. 5 as a waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 during coin passage.

  The integrating unit 30 integrates the window function with respect to the digital signal corresponding to the waveform output from the input detection processing unit 26, and performs the window function integrating process that is output as the calculation target in the calculation processing unit 40 (step S108). . The integrating unit 30 extracts a waveform to be subjected to frequency analysis by integrating the window function. Here, the integration unit 30 performs window function integration processing using the Hanning window shown in FIG. 6 as the window function. The time span of the Hanning window is set according to a period from when the inductance of the coil 22 starts to change due to the passage of coins conveyed via a belt conveyor or the like. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a waveform obtained by integrating the Hanning window to the waveform shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the accumulating unit 30 accumulates the Hanning window shown in FIG. 6 to the waveform shown in FIG. 5, thereby generating before and after times Ta and Tb which are time axis amount endpoints of the waveform shown in FIG. The harmonics that have been removed can be removed. As a result, in the arithmetic processing in the arithmetic processing unit 50, it is possible to suppress the influence of both ends of the cut-out waveform and prevent the generation of truncation errors due to the occurrence of harmonic component distortion. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a waveform obtained by integrating the Hanning window to the waveform of a different type of coin from the coin in the waveform of FIG. The waveform of FIG. 8 is clearly different from the waveform of FIG. 7 in that it has a shorter period than the waveform of FIG. Thus, the waveform showing the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 is different depending on the type of each coin.

  Next, the arithmetic processing unit 40 performs frequency analysis of the waveform obtained by integrating the window function by the integrating unit 30, and performs arithmetic processing for calculating the spectral distribution of the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as the coin passes. (Step S110). The arithmetic processing unit 40 performs a DFT using an FFT algorithm to calculate a spectrum distribution of a waveform indicating a time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as the coin passes, and associates each frequency with a component amount of each frequency. The obtained spectrum distribution is obtained and output to the identification unit 50.

  The identification unit 50 performs identification processing for identifying the type of coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 based on the spectrum distribution of each coin obtained in advance (step S112). And the output part 70 performs the identification result output process which outputs the classification of the coin identified by the identification part 50 as an identification result in the identification part 50 (step S114).

  Next, the identification process shown in FIG. 3 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the identification processing shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, first, the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is input to the identification unit 50 (step S122). The identification unit 50 refers to the spectrum distribution of each coin obtained in advance and stored in the storage unit 80 (step S124). In this case, the identification unit 50 refers to each spectrum distribution in a predetermined order among the spectrum distributions stored in the storage unit 80. For example, you may refer to the spectrum distribution of each coin in order of the type of use frequency.

  The identification unit 50 compares the spectrum distribution by the calculation processing unit 40 with the referenced spectrum distribution, and determines whether or not the spectrum distribution by the calculation processing unit 40 includes a specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution of the referenced coin. (Step S126). If the identification unit 50 determines that there is no specific spectrum (step S126: No), it determines that the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is not the type of coin corresponding to the referenced spectrum distribution. And the identification part 50 refers to the spectrum distribution in the coin of the kind used as a reference object next from the spectrum distribution of each coin memorize | stored in the memory | storage part 80 (step S128).

  On the other hand, when determining that there is a specific spectrum (step S126: Yes), the identification unit 50 determines whether the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is equal to or greater than a threshold (step S130).

  When the identifying unit 50 determines that the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution by the calculation processing unit 40 is not equal to or greater than the threshold (No in step S130), the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution by the calculation processing unit 40 is the spectrum distribution referred to. It is determined that it is not a coin of the type corresponding to, and the spectrum distribution of the coin of the type to be referred next is referred to from the spectrum distribution of each coin stored in the storage unit 80 (step S128). On the other hand, when the identification unit 50 determines that the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is greater than or equal to the threshold (Yes at Step S130), the coin having this spectrum distribution corresponds to the referenced spectrum distribution. (Step S132), and the coin type is output as the identification result.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a spectrum distribution in the coin A. As shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a spectrum distribution in a coin B of a different type from the coin A. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the amount of components at each frequency varies depending on the type of coin.

  First, a case where the identifying unit 50 determines whether or not the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 is the same type as the type of the coin A shown in FIG. In the coin A, for example, the frequency S3 is set as a specific spectrum. Therefore, the identification unit 50 determines whether or not the specific spectrum S3 is included in the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 (step S126).

  If the identification unit 50 determines that the specific spectrum S3 is not included in the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 (step S126: No), the identification unit 50 identifies that it is not the same type as the coin A, and then refers to it. Refer to the spectral distribution of the coin.

  On the other hand, when the identification unit 50 determines that the specific spectrum S3 is included in the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 (step S126: Yes), whether or not the component amount of the specific spectrum S3 is within a predetermined threshold value. Is determined (step S128). For example, in the case of the coin A shown in FIG. 10, the component amount “4” is set as the threshold Ta for the specific spectrum S3. Therefore, the identification unit 50 determines whether or not the component amount of the specific spectrum S3 in the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 is equal to or greater than the threshold value Ta (step S130), and the component amount of the specific spectrum S3 is the threshold value. If it is determined that it is equal to or greater than Ta (step S130: Yes), the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit 40 is identified as the same type as the coin A (step S132). If the identifying unit 50 determines that the component amount of the specific spectrum S3 is not equal to or greater than the threshold value Ta (step S130: No), the identifying unit 50 identifies that the component is not the same type as the coin A, and the spectrum of the coin to be referenced next. Refer to the distribution.

  Further, when identifying whether or not it is the same type as the coin B, the identification unit 50 sets, for example, the frequency S6 shown in FIG. 11 as a specific spectrum, and further sets the component amount “5” as the threshold value Tb. The determination is made for the presence / absence of the specific spectrum S6 and the threshold.

  Thus, the coin discriminating apparatus 1 according to the embodiment has the spectrum distribution obtained by performing the window function integration process and the DFT / FFT operation process on the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as the coin passes. The types of coins are identified by comparing the spectrum distributions of various types of coins obtained in advance.

  Here, the coin identification device according to the prior art will be described. FIG. 12: is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the coin identification device concerning a prior art. As shown in FIG. 12, the coin discriminating apparatus 201 according to the prior art includes an input unit 210 and a control unit 260 having functions similar to those of the input unit 10, the control unit 60, the output unit 70, and the storage unit 80 in the coin discriminating apparatus 1. In addition to the output unit 270 and the storage unit 280, a plurality of detection units including a material detection unit 221, an outer diameter detection unit 222, and a plate thickness detection unit 223 are provided as detection units for detecting the feature amount of coins. The material detection unit 221 includes a material sensor 221a, an amplification unit 221b that amplifies the waveform output from the material sensor 221a, and an AD conversion unit 221c that converts the waveform output from the amplification unit 221b into a digital signal. A material determination unit 221d that determines the material of the coin based on the digital signal is provided. Similarly, the outer diameter detection unit 222a includes an outer diameter determination unit 222d that determines the outer diameter of the coin based on the digital signals converted from the outer diameter sensor 222a, the amplification unit 222b, and the AD conversion unit 222c. The detection unit 223 includes a plate thickness determination unit 223d that determines the outer diameter of the coin based on the digital signals converted by the plate thickness sensor 223a, the amplification unit 223b, and the AD conversion unit 223c. The identification unit 250 identifies the coin material output from the material determination unit 221d, the outer diameter of the coin output from the outer diameter determination unit 222d, and the coin thickness output from the plate thickness determination unit 223d. The type of coin that was the subject was identified.

  The coin discriminating apparatus 201 according to the prior art uses a high-precision analog circuit for each detection unit as an amplification unit, acquires a digital signal through an AD conversion unit, and then obtains a predetermined feature amount from the converted digital signal. It was necessary to provide an arithmetic circuit for extraction. For this reason, the coin identification device 201 has a problem that it requires a complicated device configuration and cannot reduce the manufacturing cost of the coin identification device.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the coin identification device 1 according to the present embodiment includes only a waveform detection unit 20 that has a coil 22 and detects a waveform indicating a change in inductance of the coil 22 with the passage of the coin. Compared with the conventional coin discriminating apparatus 201, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of detection units. Further, the coin discriminating apparatus 201 according to the related art requires an analog circuit having a highly accurate and complicated circuit configuration as an amplifying unit. On the other hand, in the coin identification device 1 according to the present embodiment, the amplifying unit 23 in the detection unit 20 has a waveform indicating the time variation of the inductance of the coil 22 until the arithmetic processing unit 40 can perform AD conversion. Is not necessarily required to have a complicated circuit configuration. For this reason, the coin discriminating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment only needs to include, as the waveform detection unit 20, a circuit that detects a waveform indicating a time change in the inductance of the coil 22 and an amplification circuit that amplifies the waveform. Therefore, in this embodiment, compared with the coin discriminating apparatus 201 according to the prior art, a coin discriminating apparatus having a simple device configuration can be realized, and the manufacturing cost of the coin discriminating apparatus can be reduced. There is an effect.

  Moreover, in the coin identification device 1 according to the present embodiment, the integration unit 30 integrates the window function into the waveform and cuts out the waveform, which is a harmonic component generated at the end point of the time axis amount of the cut out waveform. Generation of truncation errors due to waveform components that are not the object can be prevented. As a result, in the present embodiment, it is possible to perform highly accurate frequency analysis that suppresses generation of spectra other than the desired spectrum in the arithmetic processing in the arithmetic processing unit 40, and to identify the type of coin with high accuracy. .

  Moreover, in the coin discriminating apparatus 201 according to the prior art, there is a problem that the judgment result of the coin material, the outer diameter, and the plate thickness differs depending on the passing speed of the coin, and the coin type may not be discriminated. On the other hand, in the coin identification device 1 according to the present embodiment, the type of coin is based on the spectrum distribution obtained by performing the frequency analysis based on the waveform indicating the time change of the inductance of the coil 22 as the coin passes. Has been identified. For this reason, in the coin discriminating apparatus 1, by making the characteristic quantity used for coin discrimination into the frequency domain, compared with the coin discriminating apparatus 201 according to the prior art, it is less affected by the passing speed of the coin, and the coin passing speed is reduced. Regardless, the type of coin can be identified with stable accuracy.

  Moreover, in the coin discriminating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to realize a coin discriminating apparatus having a simple configuration and flexibility by digitizing all the processes after the window function integrating process. Specifically, the arithmetic processing unit 40 adds software for processing a digital signal corresponding to the waveform AD-converted by the ADC processing unit 25, and removes stationary noise and sudden noise from the external environment. You may perform the process to do. Note that the coin identification device 1 can obtain or remove or mask the spectral distribution unique to the device in the mechanical vibration in advance for the vibration component that is always generated due to the mechanical vibration. Further, software for processing a digital signal with the same processing content may be added to the processing content processed using an analog circuit in the conventional coin discriminating apparatus. Thus, in the coin discriminating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, by adding software for processing a digital signal even after the system construction in the coin discriminating apparatus, a coin discriminating apparatus having a simple configuration and flexibility can be obtained. Can be realized. Furthermore, the coin identification device 1 may store each waveform and each spectrum distribution in the storage unit 80 and make a detailed authenticity determination on the stored waveform or spectrum distribution.

  In the present embodiment, the arithmetic processing unit 40 has been described with respect to the case where DFT is performed using the FFT algorithm for speeding up the frequency analysis, but it is not always necessary to perform DFT processing using the FFT. It suffices if the spectral distribution such as transformation, DCT transformation, and Walsh Hadamard transformation can be obtained by arithmetic processing.

  Moreover, although the identification part 50 demonstrated the case where the classification | category type identified based on the comparison of the component amount of the specific spectrum in spectrum distribution as a present Example, not only this but the agreement of an envelope with respect to spectrum distribution The type of coin may be identified based on the degree. In this case, together with the spectrum distribution corresponding to each coin, the envelopes in these spectrum distributions are obtained in advance and stored in the storage unit 80.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the processing procedure of the identification process illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 13, first, the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is input to the identification unit 50 (step S142). The identification unit 50 acquires an envelope for the input spectrum distribution (step S143). Next, the identification unit 50 refers to an envelope for the spectrum distribution of each coin that is obtained in advance and stored in the storage unit 80 (step S144). In this case, the identification unit 50 refers to the envelopes in a predetermined order among the envelopes stored in the storage unit 80. For example, the envelopes may be referred to in order of type of use.

  The identification unit 50 compares the envelope for the spectrum distribution obtained by the arithmetic processing unit 40 with the referenced envelope, and acquires the degree of coincidence of these envelopes (step S146). The identification unit 50 determines whether or not the acquired degree of matching is within a predetermined threshold (step S148). This threshold value is preset according to the type of each coin. When the identification unit 50 determines that the obtained degree of coincidence is not within a predetermined threshold (step S148: No), the coin in the envelope for the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is a type of coin corresponding to the referenced envelope. Therefore, the envelope for the spectrum distribution of the coin of the type to be referenced next is referred to from the envelopes of each coin stored in the storage unit 80 (step S150). On the other hand, when the identification unit 50 determines that the acquired degree of coincidence is within the threshold (step S148: Yes), the coin having the envelope is identified as a coin of a type corresponding to the referenced envelope. (Step S152), the coin type is output as the identification result.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the spectrum distribution in the coin A and the envelope for the spectrum distribution. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a spectral distribution in a coin B of a different type from the coin A and an envelope for the spectral distribution. As shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, the envelope varies depending on the type of coin. For this reason, the identification unit 50 compares the envelope of the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 with the envelope lja corresponding to the coin A shown in FIG. 14, and the degree of coincidence of these envelopes is within a predetermined threshold. When it is determined that there is a coin (step S148: Yes), the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is identified as the same type as the coin A. Further, when the identification unit 50 determines that the degree of coincidence of the envelopes is not within the predetermined threshold (step S148: No), the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is not the same type as the coin A. Whether the coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 is of the same type as the coin B is obtained by referring to the envelope ljb of the coin B to be referenced next, obtaining the degree of coincidence with the envelope ljb Judge whether or not.

  As described above, the identification unit 50 may identify the coin type based on the coincidence degree of the envelope of the spectrum distribution, or identify the coin type based on the comparison of the component amounts of the specific spectrum of the spectrum distribution. As in the case of doing, a coin identifying device having a simple device configuration can be realized. In addition, even if it is a case where it is a specification which performs the identification process shown in FIG. 9, the coin identification device 1 adds the software which instruct | indicates the identification process shown in FIG. Even after the system is constructed, the contents of the identification process can be changed. In other words, the effect identification device 1 can supply, in the form of software, processing that cannot be realized unless it is added by an analog circuit as necessary even after the system is constructed, and specifications can be added. In other words, the coin identification device 1 can achieve the same effect as the case of adding a circuit by adding software.

  Next, the spectrum distribution and the specific spectrum corresponding to each coin actually used at present are shown. FIGS. 16-1 to 16-7 are diagrams illustrating spectral distributions corresponding to the coins currently used. 16-1 to 16-7, the horizontal axis indicates the frequency, and the vertical axis indicates the component amount. A curve ls1 shown in FIG. 16-1 is a spectrum distribution corresponding to a 1-yen coin, a curve ls5 shown in FIG. 16-2 is a spectrum distribution corresponding to a 5-yen coin, and a curve ls10 shown in FIG. Is a spectrum distribution corresponding to a 10 yen coin, a curve ls50 shown in FIG. 16-4 is a spectrum distribution corresponding to a 50 yen coin, and a curve ls100 shown in FIG. 16-5 corresponds to a 100 yen coin. The curve ls500 shown in FIG. 16-6 is a spectrum distribution corresponding to the old 500 yen coin, and the curve lsn500 shown in FIG. 16-7 is a spectrum distribution corresponding to the new 500 yen coin.

  As shown in FIG. 16A, in a 1-yen coin, S1a, S1b, S1c, S1d, S1e, and S1f can be adopted as a specific spectrum. As shown in FIG. 16-2, in the 5-yen coin, S5a, S5b, S5c, and S5d can be adopted as the specific spectrum. As shown in FIG. 16C, in the 10-yen coin, S10a, S10b, S10c, and S10d can be adopted as the specific spectrum. As shown in FIG. 16-4, in a 50 yen coin, S50a, S50b, and S50c can be adopted as the specific spectrum. As shown in FIG. 16-5, in the 100 yen coin, S100a, S100b, and S100c can be adopted as the specific spectrum. As shown in FIG. 16-6, in the old 500 yen coin, S500a, S500b, S500c, and S500d can be adopted as the specific spectrum. As shown in FIG. 16-7, in the new 500 yen coin, Sn500a, Sn500b, and Sn500c can be adopted as the specific spectrum. For example, in 10-yen coins, 50-yen coins, and 100-yen coins that are frequently used in drinking water vending machines or the like, the identification unit 50 uses the specific spectra S10c and 50 shown in FIG. For yen coins, for the specific spectrum S50c shown in FIG. 16-4, and for 100 yen coins, the type of coin may be identified based on the presence / absence and component amount of the specific spectrum S100b shown in FIG. 16-5.

  In addition, an envelope is also shown for the spectral distribution corresponding to each coin that is actually used. FIGS. 17-1 to 17-7 are diagrams illustrating envelopes for spectral distributions corresponding to the currently used coins. A curve le1 shown in FIG. 17-1 is an envelope corresponding to a one-yen coin, a curve le5 shown in FIG. 17-2 is an envelope corresponding to a five-yen coin, and a curve le10 shown in FIG. Is an envelope corresponding to a 10 yen coin, a curve le50 shown in FIG. 17-4 is an envelope corresponding to a 50 yen coin, and a curve le100 shown in FIG. 17-5 corresponds to a 100 yen coin. A curve le500 shown in FIG. 17-6 is an envelope corresponding to the old 500 yen coin, and a curve len500 shown in FIG. 17-7 is an envelope corresponding to the new 500 yen coin. As shown in FIGS. 17-1 to 17-7, since the shapes of the envelopes are different from each other, the identifying unit 50 determines which envelope the envelope for the spectrum distribution by the arithmetic processing unit 40 matches. By determining whether or not, it is possible to identify the type of coin.

  Moreover, the coin identification system which has the coin identification device 1 demonstrated in the said Example is realizable by executing the program prepared beforehand by computer systems, such as a personal computer and a workstation. Hereinafter, a computer system that executes a program having the same function as the processing operation in the coin identification system described in the above embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 18 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of a computer system using the above-described embodiment, and FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main body in this computer system. As shown in FIG. 18, a computer system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a main body 101, a display 102 for displaying information such as an image on a display screen 102 a according to an instruction from the main body 101, and the computer system 100. A keyboard 103 for inputting various information, and a mouse 104 for designating an arbitrary position on the display screen 102a of the display 102.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 19, a main body 101 in the computer system 100 includes a CPU 121, a RAM 122, a ROM 123, a hard disk drive (HDD) 124, a CD-ROM drive 125 that receives a CD-ROM 109, and a flexible disk. An FD drive 126 that accepts an (FD) 108; an I / O interface 127 that connects the display 102, keyboard 103, and mouse 104; and a LAN interface 128 that connects to a local area network or wide area network (LAN / WAN) 106 Prepare.

  Further, a modem 105 for connecting to a public line 107 such as the Internet is connected to the computer system 100, and another computer system (PC) 111 and server 112 are connected via a LAN interface 128 and a LAN / WAN 106. The printer 113 is connected.

  And this computer system 100 implement | achieves a coin identification system by reading and running the program recorded on the predetermined recording medium. Here, the predetermined recording medium is not limited to “portable physical medium” such as flexible disk (FD) 108, CD-ROM 109, MO disk, DVD disk, magneto-optical disk, IC card, etc. Connected to internal and external hard disk drives (HDD) 124, “fixed physical media” such as RAM 122 and ROM 123, public line 107 connected via modem 105, other computer system 111 and server 112 Any recording medium that records a program that can be read by the computer system 100, such as a “communication medium” that holds the program in a short period of time when the program is transmitted, such as a LAN / WAN 106 that is used.

  That is, the program is recorded on a recording medium such as the above-mentioned “portable physical medium”, “fixed physical medium”, “communication medium” and the like so that the computer system 100 can read the program. A coin identifying device and a coin identifying system are realized by reading and executing a program from such a recording medium. Note that the program is not limited to being executed by the computer system 100, and when the other computer system 111 or the server 112 executes the program, or when they cooperate to execute the program. In addition, the present invention can be similarly applied.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the Example of the coin identification device concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the waveform detection part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement process of the coin identification device shown in FIG. It is the figure which illustrated the idle waveform which the coil shown in FIG. 2 outputs. It is a figure which illustrates the waveform which shows the time change of the inductance of the coil in coin passage. It is a figure which illustrates the window function which an integration part shown in Drawing 1 accumulates. It is the figure which illustrated the waveform obtained by integrating a Hanning window to the waveform shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the waveform obtained by integrating a Hanning window to the waveform in the coin of the kind different from the coin in the waveform of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the identification process shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution in the coin A. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution in the coin B. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the coin identification device concerning a prior art. It is a flowchart which shows the other example of the process sequence of the identification process shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the envelope with respect to the spectrum distribution in coin A and a spectrum distribution. It is a figure which shows the envelope with respect to the spectrum distribution in the coin B, and a spectrum distribution. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to 1 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to a 5-yen coin. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to a 10 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to a 50 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to a 100 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to an old 500 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the spectrum distribution corresponding to a new 500 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to 1 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to a 5-yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to a 10 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to a 50 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to a 100 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to an old 500 yen coin. It is a figure which shows the envelope corresponding to a new 500 yen coin. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the computer system using an Example. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the main-body part in the computer system shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,201 Coin identification apparatus 2 Coin 10,210 Input part 20 Waveform detection part 22 Coil 23 Amplification part 24 Oscillation part 25 ADC process part 26 Throw detection process part 30 Accumulation part 40 Calculation process part 50,250 Identification part 60,260 Control Unit 70, 270 Output unit 80, 280 Storage unit 100 Computer system 101 Main unit 102 Display 102a Display screen 103 Keyboard 104 Mouse 105 Modem 106 Local area network or wide area network (LAN / WAN)
107 Public line 108 Flexible disk (FD)
109 CD-ROM
111 Other computer systems (PC)
112 server 113 printer 121 CPU
122 RAM
123 ROM
124 hard disk drive (HDD)
125 CD-ROM drive 126 FD drive 127 I / O interface 128 LAN interface 221 Material detection unit 221a Material sensor 221b, 222b, 223b Amplification unit 221c, 222c, 223c AD conversion unit 221d Material determination unit 222 Outer diameter detection unit 222a Outer diameter Sensor 222d Outer diameter determination unit 223 Plate thickness detection unit 223a Plate thickness sensor 223d Plate thickness determination unit

Claims (8)

Detection means having a coil disposed along the coin passage, and detecting a waveform indicating a time change of the inductance of the coil accompanying the passage of the coin;
An arithmetic processing means for performing frequency analysis of the waveform and calculating a spectral distribution of the waveform;
Identification means for identifying the type of coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing means based on the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance;
A coin discriminating apparatus comprising: Further comprising an integrating means for integrating a window function to the waveform,
2. The coin identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic processing unit calculates a spectral distribution of the waveform obtained by integrating the window function by the integrating unit.   3. The coin identifying device according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic processing unit performs a discrete Fourier transform to calculate a spectrum distribution of the waveform.   4. The coin identifying apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the arithmetic processing unit performs a discrete Fourier transform using a fast Fourier transform to calculate a spectrum distribution of the waveform.   The identification unit corresponds to the waveform based on a comparison between the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution calculated by the arithmetic processing unit and the component amount of the specific spectrum in the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance. The coin identification device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a coin type is identified.   The identification unit is configured to calculate the spectrum calculated by the calculation processing unit based on the degree of coincidence between the envelope for the spectrum distribution calculated by the calculation processing unit and the envelope for the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance. The coin identification device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a coin type corresponding to the distribution is identified. A detection step of detecting a waveform indicating a change in inductance with time in accordance with the passage of coins in a coil disposed along the coin path;
An arithmetic processing step of performing frequency analysis of the waveform and calculating a spectral distribution of the waveform;
An identification step for identifying the type of coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated in the calculation processing step based on the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance;
A coin identifying method comprising: A detection procedure for detecting a waveform indicating a change in inductance with time due to the passage of coins in a coil disposed along a coin path;
An arithmetic processing procedure for performing frequency analysis of the waveform and calculating a spectral distribution of the waveform;
An identification procedure for identifying the type of coin corresponding to the spectrum distribution calculated in the calculation processing procedure based on the spectrum distribution of each coin determined in advance;
Including a coin identification program.

Images