JP2024131770A - Money handling equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To monitor the decrease in the amount of light emitted by a light-emitting element, and prevent the increase in operation time of deposit processing, etc., due to the decrease in the amount of light emitted. [Solution] A coin processing device (money processing device) 10 that performs deposit and withdrawal processing of coins (money), has a light-emitting element 281 and a light-receiving element 282 installed near a deposit port 12 provided in a device body 11, and is equipped with a deposit detection sensor 28 that detects the passage of money through the deposit port 12 by a detection edge, which is a rising edge of sensing when the amount of light received by the light-receiving element 282 from the light-emitting element 281 falls below a predetermined threshold, and a control unit 30 that counts the number of occurrences of the detection edge of the deposit detection sensor 28 during a predetermined monitoring time, and determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 has decreased when the number of occurrences exceeds a predetermined reference value. [Selected Figure] Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to a money processing device, and more specifically to an improvement to a money processing device used as a change dispenser.

Conventionally, money processing devices used as change dispensers identify the authenticity and denomination of money deposited through a deposit port in a coin validation section, and then sort the money identified as genuine by the coin validation section into different denominations in a sorting section and store them in storage units provided for each denomination. When a withdrawal command is given, which is a change dispensing request, this money processing device dispenses money equivalent to the requested amount from the corresponding storage unit, transports it to the withdrawal port by a withdrawal transport unit, and dispenses it (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2017-224036 A

In the above-mentioned money processing device, optical sensors (light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements) are placed near the deposit and withdrawal ports to detect the passage of money through the deposit and withdrawal ports. However, a decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting elements can result in erroneous detection of the passage of money, which can result in excessive time being required for operations such as deposit processing.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a money processing device that can monitor the decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element and prevent the increase in operating time of deposit processing, etc., caused by the decrease in the amount of light emitted.

To achieve the above object, the money processing device of the present invention is a money processing device that processes money deposits and withdrawals, and is characterized by having a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element installed near a transaction port provided in the device body, and a detection unit that detects the passage of money at the transaction port by a detection edge, which is the rising edge of sensing when the amount of light received from the light-emitting element by the light-receiving element falls below a predetermined threshold, and a control unit that counts the number of detection edges generated by the detection unit during a predetermined monitoring time, and determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element has decreased if the number of occurrences exceeds a predetermined reference value.

The present invention is also characterized in that, in the above-mentioned money processing device, when the control unit determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element has decreased, the control unit stores the number of occurrences and the date and time of occurrence as history information in the memory unit.

The present invention is also characterized in that in the above-mentioned money processing device, when the control unit determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element is decreasing, it performs an alarm operation to notify the user of this fact.

According to the present invention, the control unit counts the number of times that a detection edge occurs in the detection unit during a predetermined monitoring time, and if the number of occurrences is equal to or exceeds a preset reference value, it determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element is decreasing. This has the effect of preventing the increase in operating time of deposit processing, etc., caused by a decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element, by monitoring the decrease in the amount of light emitted.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the external configuration of a money processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the external configuration of the money processing device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the internal configuration of the coin processing device shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a characteristic control system of the coin processing device shown in FIGS. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the insertion detection sensor shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process of monitoring a decrease in the amount of light emitted, which is carried out by the light emission amount monitoring processing unit of the control unit shown in FIG.

Below, a preferred embodiment of the money processing device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

1 and 2 respectively show the external configuration of a money processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 1 being a plan view and FIG. 2 being a front view. The money processing device illustrated here is a coin processing device 10 that is used as an automatic change dispenser connected to a POS (Point Of Sales) register device (host device 1 (see FIG. 4)) in a store such as a supermarket or convenience store, and includes a device main body 11.

The device body 11 is a roughly rectangular housing, and includes a deposit port 12, an operation display unit 13, a withdrawal port 14, and a return port 15. The deposit port 12 is provided on the right side of the top front surface of the device body 11, and is an opening for receiving inserted coins into the device body 11. This deposit port 12 functions as a temporary holding unit that temporarily holds deposits from users such as customers.

The operation display unit 13 is provided on the left side of the top front surface of the device body 11, and has a display unit 13a and an operation unit 13b. The display unit 13a displays various information, and the operation unit 13b is an input means, composed of, for example, a numeric keypad, for inputting various operations.

The withdrawal port 14 is provided on the front left side of the device body 11. This withdrawal port 14 is an opening for dispensing coins stored inside the device body 11, and dispenses coins into a withdrawal tray 16 attached to the device body 11. The return port 15 is provided on the front right side of the device body 11. This return port 15 is an opening for returning coins.

The coin processing device 10 is arranged so that the front of the device body 11 faces the user, who is the customer of the store, and functions as a self-checkout where the user (customer) reads the barcodes of products and hands over money, or as a semi-self-checkout where the user only hands over money.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the internal configuration of the coin processing device 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2, and Figure 4 is a block diagram showing a characteristic control system of the coin processing device 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2. Using Figures 3 and 4, the internal configuration of the coin processing device 10 will be explained by function.

A coin transport mechanism 20 is provided inside the device body 11. This coin transport mechanism 20 has a deposit transport section 21, a temporary holding section 22, a sorting section 23, a storage 24, a withdrawal transport section 25, and a switching gate group 26.

The deposit transport section 21 transports coins inserted through the deposit port 12. This deposit transport section 21 is provided with a coin validation section 21a. The coin validation section 21a identifies the authenticity and denomination of coins.

The temporary storage unit 22 temporarily stores coins that have been identified as genuine by the coin validation unit 21a. The sorting unit 23 sorts the coins that have been stored in the temporary storage unit 22 and then transported by denomination.

The storage units 24 are provided for each denomination and store the coins sorted by the sorting unit 23. More specifically, there are six storage units 24, from the front side: a 1 yen storage unit 24a, a 50 yen storage unit 24b, a 5 yen storage unit 24c, a 100 yen storage unit 24d, a 10 yen storage unit 24e, and a 500 yen storage unit 24f.

The withdrawal transport unit 25 transports the coins dispensed from the storage 24 forward. In other words, the withdrawal transport unit 25 transports the coins dispensed from the storage 24 forward toward the withdrawal chute 27 that communicates with the withdrawal port 14.

The switching gate group 26 includes a first switching gate 26a, a second switching gate 26b, and a third switching gate 26c. The first switching gate 26a is provided downstream in the transport direction of the deposit transport unit 21. This first switching gate 26a can be selectively switched between a state in which the coins transported by the deposit transport unit 21 are transported to the temporary holding unit 22, and a state in which the coins are transported to the withdrawal port 14.

The second switching gate 26b is provided downstream of the temporary storage section 22 in the transport direction. This second switching gate 26b can be switched alternatively between a state in which the coins stored in the temporary storage section 22 are sent to the sorting section 23 and a state in which the coins are sent to the return port 15. In a normal state, the second switching gate 26b is in a state in which the coins stored in the temporary storage section 22 are sent to the sorting section 23.

The third switching gate 26c is provided downstream in the transport direction of the dispensing transport section 25. This third switching gate 26c can be switched alternatively between a transport state in which the coins transported by the dispensing transport section 25 are transported to the dispensing port 14 via the dispensing chute 27, and a circulation state in which the coins are transported to the temporary storage section 22. Such third switching gate 26c is normally in the transport state.

In addition to the above configuration, the coin processing device 10 also includes a deposit detection sensor (detection unit) 28 and a control unit 30. The deposit detection sensor 28 is provided near the deposit port 12. As shown in FIG. 5, the deposit detection sensor 28 is an optical sensor having a light-emitting element 281 and a light-receiving element 282, and is disposed on a common substrate 283.

The light-emitting element 281 emits light through a hole 121a formed in one of the pair of front and rear deposit port components 121, 122 that make up the deposit port 12, to a prism 284 installed in the opposing portion of the other deposit port component 122. The light-receiving element 282 receives light that is reflected by the opposing prism 284 and passes through a hole 121b in one of the deposit port components 121.

In other words, the insertion detection sensor 28 has a passing portion 285 of the light emitted from the light-emitting element 281 toward the corresponding prism 284, and a passing portion 286 of the light from the prism 284 toward the light-receiving element 282.

In such a deposit detection sensor 28, a binarization process is performed so that the signal goes to a low state when the light passing portions 285, 286 are not blocked by the coin K and the amount of light received by the light receiving element 282 exceeds a predetermined threshold, while the signal goes to a high state when the light passing portions 285, 286 are blocked by the coin K and the amount of light received by the light receiving element 282 falls below the threshold. The passage of the coin K through the deposit port 12, i.e., the insertion of the coin K, is detected by the detection edge, which is the rising edge of sensing from the low state to the high state.

The control unit 30 is electrically connected to the display unit 13a, the operation unit 13b, the coin transport mechanism 20, the coin validation unit 21a, and the insertion detection sensor 28, and is also electrically connected to a higher-level device 1 such as a POS register device. When a command is given through the operation unit 13b, or when a detection signal is given from the coin validation unit 21a, or when various commands are given from the higher-level device 1, the control unit 30 controls the display of the display unit 13a and the drive of the coin transport mechanism 20 based on the programs and data stored in the memory unit 31. The control unit 30 also includes a light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a. The light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a performs a light emission amount decrease monitoring process described below to determine whether or not the light emission amount of the light emitting element 281 in the insertion detection sensor 28 has decreased.

The control unit 30 may be realized, for example, by having a processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) execute a program, i.e., by software, or may be realized by hardware such as an IC (Integrated Circuit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

The general operation of the coin processing device 10 having the above configuration will be described. First, the deposit process will be described. When a deposit permission command is given from the higher-level device 1, coins inserted into the deposit port 12 are detected by the insertion detection sensor 28, then transported by the deposit transport unit 21, and the authenticity and denomination are identified by the coin validation unit 21a. If the coin is a genuine coin, it is stored in the temporary storage unit 22. On the other hand, if the coin is not a genuine coin, it is transported to the withdrawal port 14 via the first switching gate 26a and returned to the withdrawal tray 16. If a return command is given from the higher-level device 1, the coins stored in the temporary storage unit 22 are returned to the return port 15 via the second switching gate 26b.

The coins stored in the temporary storage unit 22 are transported to the sorting unit 23, where they are sorted by denomination as they are transported backwards. The coins sorted by the sorting unit 23 are stored in the storage vault 24 according to their denomination, and then the deposit process is completed by notifying the upper device 1 that the deposit has been completed.

Next, the dispensing process will be described. When a dispensing command is given from the higher-level device 1, coins of the denomination corresponding to the dispensing command are fed from an arbitrary storage 24 to the dispensing transport section 25. They are fed from the appropriate storage 24 to the dispensing transport section 25. The coins fed to the dispensing transport section 25 are transported forward by the dispensing transport section 25, and are dispensed from the dispensing chute 27 through the third switching gate 26c which is in the transport state, and from the dispensing port 14 to the outside of the device main body 11. After the specified coins have been dispensed to the outside in this way, the dispensing process is terminated by notifying the higher-level device 1 of the completion of dispensing.

Figure 6 is a flowchart showing the process of monitoring the decrease in the amount of light emitted, which is performed by the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a of the control unit 30 shown in Figure 4. The operation of the coin processing device 10 will be explained while explaining the process of monitoring the decrease in the amount of light emitted.

In this light emission amount decrease monitoring process, the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a of the control unit 30 determines whether or not the device has transitioned to a standby state after, for example, a deposit process or the like has ended (step S101). If the device has not transitioned to a standby state (step S101: No), the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a repeats this process.

On the other hand, if the standby state is entered (step S101: Yes), the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a counts the number of times that a detection edge occurs in the insertion detection sensor 28 until a preset monitoring time (e.g., about 3 to 10 seconds) has elapsed (steps S102, S103: No).

If the monitoring time has elapsed (step S103: Yes), the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a ends the count (step S104), reads out the reference value information serving as the judgment criterion from the memory unit 31, and determines whether the counted number of occurrences is equal to or greater than the reference value (e.g., about 10 to 15 times) (step S105).

If the number of occurrences is less than the reference value (step S105: No), the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a determines that the light emission amount of the light-emitting element 281 has not decreased (step S106), and returns the procedure without performing the processing described below, thereby ending the current processing.

Here, we will explain why the decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 is determined based on the number of times a detection edge occurs. When the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 gradually decreases, the amount of light received by the light-receiving element 282 frequently exceeds and falls below the threshold value (the switching value between the low state and the high state), and as a result, the number of occurrences of a detection edge, which is the rising edge of sensing from the low state to the high state, increases. Therefore, the decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 is determined based on the number of occurrences of a detection edge.

However, if the number of occurrences is equal to or greater than the reference value (step S105: Yes), the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a determines that the light emission amount of the light-emitting element 281 is decreasing (step S107), and records the number of occurrences and the date and time of occurrence in the transaction log. In other words, it stores them as history information in the storage unit 31 (step S108). After that, the light emission amount monitoring processing unit 30a returns the procedure and ends the current process.

After this type of light emission reduction monitoring process is completed, the light emission monitoring processing unit 30a clears the counted number of occurrences, and the coin processing device 10 goes into a mode in which the timing of the light emission of the light-emitting element 281 is lengthened to extend the service life of the insertion detection sensor 28.

As described above, according to the coin processing device (money processing device) 10 which is an embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 30 counts the number of times that a detection edge occurs in the insertion detection sensor 28 during a predetermined monitoring time, and if the number of occurrences is equal to or exceeds a predetermined reference value, it determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 is decreasing. Therefore, by monitoring the decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281, it is possible to prevent the increase in operating time of deposit processing and the like which would be caused by a decrease in the amount of light emitted.

In particular, when the control unit 30 determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 has decreased, it stores the number of occurrences and the date and time in the memory unit 31 as historical information, so that the decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element 281 can be recognized by referring to the historical information without an operator having to directly visit the facility, such as a store, where the coin processing device 10 is installed.

The above describes a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to this and various modifications can be made.

In the above-described embodiment, the history information is stored in the storage unit 31. However, in the present invention, instead of storing the history information in the storage unit, or while storing the history information in the storage unit, the control unit may perform a notification operation to notify the user of a decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element by an alarm display, a sound, or the like. This allows the user to be notified of a decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element at an early stage, and can prevent the occurrence of problems caused by a decrease in the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element.

In the above-described embodiment, the insertion detection sensor 28 is described as an example of a detection unit, and the deposit port 12 is described as an example of a transaction port. However, in the present invention, the withdrawal port 14 or the return port 15 other than the deposit port 12 may be the transaction port, and a sensor that detects coins passing through the withdrawal port 14 or the return port 15 may be the detection unit.

In the above embodiment, the coin processing device 10 has been described as an example of a money processing device, but in the present invention, a banknote processing device may also be used as the money processing device.

In the above-described embodiment, the monitoring time for the light emission reduction monitoring process starts from the time when the coin processing device 10 transitions to the standby state, but in the present invention, the monitoring time may be set to various timings that do not interfere with the deposit/withdrawal process (deposit process or withdrawal process).

The configurations illustrated in the above-mentioned embodiments are merely functional schematics, and do not necessarily have to be physically configured as illustrated. In other words, the form of distribution and integration of each device and component is not limited to that illustrated, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit depending on various usage conditions, etc.

1... higher-level device, 10... coin processing device, 11... device main body, 12... deposit port, 13... operation display unit, 14... withdrawal port, 15... return port, 16... withdrawal tray, 20... coin transport mechanism, 21... deposit transport unit, 21a... coin validation unit, 22... temporary holding unit, 23... sorting unit, 24... storage, 25... withdrawal transport unit, 26... switching gate group, 27... withdrawal chute, 28... insertion detection sensor, 281... light-emitting element, 282... light-receiving element, 284... prism, 30... control unit, 30a... light emission amount monitoring processing unit, 31... memory unit.

Claims (3)

A cash processing device that performs cash deposit and withdrawal processing,
a detection unit having a light emitting element and a light receiving element disposed near a transaction opening provided in a device body, and detecting the passage of money through the transaction opening by a detection edge which is a rising edge of sensing when the amount of light received by the light receiving element from the light emitting element falls below a predetermined threshold;
and a control unit that counts the number of times a detection edge occurs in the detection unit during a predetermined monitoring time, and determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element is decreasing if the number of times the detection edge occurs is equal to or exceeds a predetermined reference value. The money processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element is decreasing, the control unit stores the number of occurrences and the date and time of occurrence in a memory unit as history information. The money processing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, when the control unit determines that the amount of light emitted by the light-emitting element is decreasing, it performs an alarm operation to notify the user of this fact.

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