JPH0158103B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a banknote validating device for determining the authenticity of banknotes, and in particular, it is used in automatic vending machines, etc., and is capable of temporarily holding a plurality of banknotes that have been determined to be genuine in preparation for return. This is what I did.

The banknote storage device that stores banknotes that are determined to be genuine banknotes by a banknote recognition device built into a vending machine, currency exchange machine, etc. is generally installed on the back of the door together with the banknote recognition device, which may cause problems when opening and closing the door. It is desirable that the banknotes be sufficiently small and lightweight so as to prevent the banknotes from being stolen, and have a function of temporarily holding multiple banknotes at the same time (escrow) and returning them when a return command is received.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a conventional banknote validating device equipped with a banknote storage device at its lower part. In the figure, 1 indicates a banknote validating device, 2 a banknote storage device, 3 a banknote insertion guide opening, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b pulleys, 6, 7 a conveyor belt stretched between the pulleys, 8a, 8b, 8c, and 9 are holding rollers serving as clamping means for conveying banknotes together with the conveyor belt;
10, 10 is a discrimination sensor that is a sensor part of a discrimination device that detects the characteristics of banknotes and discriminates authenticity based on the detection signal; 11 is a spiral;
2 is a driving section of the spiral 11. Conveyance path 1 where banknotes inserted from insertion guide port 3 are shown by chain lines
3, the bill validating device 1 activates a conveying motor (not shown) to rotate, for example, a pulley 4a in the direction of the arrow, and transfers the conveying belt 6, presser roller 8a, and 8b, and take the bill into the conveyance path 13. When the bill passes through the positions of the discrimination sensors 10, 10 provided in the middle of the conveyance path 13, the detection signals output from the discrimination sensors 10, 10 are used to detect the discrimination control circuit section (not shown) of the discrimination device. ), the authenticity of the banknotes is determined, and the banknotes determined to be genuine (hereinafter simply referred to as genuine banknotes) are conveyed as they are and led to the banknote storage device 2, and the banknotes determined to be fake (hereinafter simply referred to as fake banknotes) are transported as they are and guided to the banknote storage device 2. Pulley 4a
Return it through the insertion guide port 3 by rotating it in the opposite direction.

The genuine banknotes guided into the banknote storage device 2 are detected by a sensor (not shown) provided at the entrance, and the pulley 5a, for example, rotates in the direction of the arrow and the conveyor belt 7
and the presser roller 9, and is guided into the groove of the spiral 11, and after the pulley 5a stops, the spiral 11, which is driven, moves it one pitch to the right and is temporarily held there. Then, when a storage command is issued from a control circuit (not shown) of a vending machine or the like, the drive mechanism section 12 operates again to rotate the spiral 11 and remove the genuine banknotes that were held in the groove. Follow the instructions to move to the right and enter storage section 1.
Store in 4. When a return command is issued from the control circuit, the spiral 11 is rotated once in the opposite direction to press the bill against the conveyor belt 7, and the pulley 5a
Then, rotate 4a in the opposite direction and return it through the insertion guide port 3.

In this way, the conventional banknote storage device 2 equipped with a temporary holding function is installed separately from the banknote validating device 1 and requires a dedicated space. , the banknote validating device 1 and the banknote storage device 2 each have a banknote conveying mechanism (conveying motor, pulley, presser roller, etc.).
This has disadvantages in that it becomes extremely heavy and expensive.

In view of the above-mentioned points, an object of the present invention is to provide a banknote validating device that can be reduced in size and weight in total and has a storage function.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a system in which a pulley is stretched between two pulleys separated by a predetermined distance,
A conveyor belt is provided along one side of the conveyor belt between the two pulleys for conveying the inserted banknotes in forward and reverse directions, and the conveyor belt is provided along one side of the conveyor belt between the two pulleys. a conveyance passageway that is curved to the side and has an outlet near the curved portion; and a conveyance passageway provided in the middle of the one side of the conveyance passageway;
a discrimination sensor for distinguishing the authenticity of banknotes that are normally conveyed through the conveyance path by the conveyance belt; It has a banknote storage part that stores banknotes transported forward by a belt, and a groove provided in the banknote storage part through which the banknotes are carried in and taken out by the forward and reverse transport of the conveyor belt, and a groove that can be rotated in forward and reverse directions. It is characterized by having a spiral whose number of times can be controlled.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, both the front and back sides of the conveyor device (both sides of the conveyor belt stretched between the pulleys face each other) One is used for conveyance to convey banknotes to the discrimination sensor provided in the conveyance path, and the other is used for storage to store banknotes after discrimination.

When a banknote inserted through the insertion guide port 3 is detected by a sensor (not shown) provided near the entrance of the transport path 13, the banknote validating device 1 starts a transport motor (not shown) to move the pulley 4a in the direction of the arrow. The banknotes are taken in between the conveyance belt 6, which follows the rotation of the pulley 4a, and the press rollers 8a and 8b, and conveyed along the conveyance path 13. During the conveyance process, the banknotes pass through the positions of identification sensors 10, 10 provided facing the passage, and the authenticity of the banknotes is determined based on the output from the sensors. Even if you pass the sensor (not shown), this discrimination sensor 1
Conveyance is continued by the output signals from 0 and 10, and the direction of the bill held between the belt and the rollers is reversed again along the curved wall surface of the conveyance path 13. Then, based on the output signals from the discrimination sensors 10, 10, a discrimination control section (not shown) discriminates the authenticity of the bill, and if the result is determined to be "true," for example, the bill is conveyed as is, and the bill is transferred to the conveyor belt. 6
If the banknote is determined to be "false", the pulley 4a is rotated in the direction opposite to the arrow and inserted into the insertion guide opening 3. The counterfeit banknote is then returned, and after the return, the banknote validating device 1 enters a standby state. Note that the banknote discrimination and return operations are the same as those of the conventional device, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

Since the banknotes pushed out of the conveyance path 13 by the conveyance belt 6 and presser roller 8a are detected by the sensors 16a and 16b provided at the exit of the path, even if the signals from the discrimination sensors 10 and 10 are interrupted, It is continuously conveyed and guided to the groove of the spiral 11 provided in the banknote storage section 15.

The operation of storing banknotes guided into the banknote storage section 15 in this manner will be described in detail based on the enlarged view of FIG. 3a. As is clear from FIG. 3b, two spirals 11 are arranged at the same position on both sides sandwiching two conveyor belts 6, and the conveyor belts 6 cross the space formed by the opposing grooves of the spirals. It is strung between pulleys like this. Then, the banknotes guided to the groove 11a of the spiral 11 facing the conveyor belt 6 (actually, the groove is a series, but it refers to the part divided by the ridge line when the device is viewed from the front), Groove 11 as it is pushed up inside the groove
It is held between the wall surface 11b of a and the conveyor belt 6. However, since the friction between the bill and the conveyor belt is greater than between the bill and the spiral, the bill follows the conveyor belt 6 with its end along the groove 11a, and is pulled up into the bill storage section 15. During this time, the banknote is curved as shown by the chain line in FIG. 3b, which is a cross section of FIG. 6. In addition, pulleys, press rollers, etc. are omitted to make it easier to understand the condition of the banknotes. And the sensor 16a, 1
After passing the position 6b, the conveyor belt 6 is controlled to be stopped after a certain time delay, so that the lower end (the rear end in the conveying process) of the banknote is above the bottom 151 of the banknote storage section 15. After the conveyor belt 6 has stopped, the spiral drive unit 12 is activated and the spirals 11, 11 are simultaneously rotated once in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Stored temporarily. B in FIG. 3b shows this temporarily stored banknote.

Further, a case where a plurality of banknotes are inserted, for example, a case where three genuine banknotes are inserted, will be explained based on FIG. 4. In addition, FIG. 4 is a partial view of FIG. 3b viewed from the PP direction in order to make it easier to understand the banknotes in the spiral groove. First, when the first banknote B1 is temporarily stored in the groove 11c of the spiral 11 (Figure a) as described above, the second banknote B2
When the banknote is inserted, it is conveyed through the conveyance path in the same way as the first banknote and subjected to authentication, and if it is a genuine banknote, it is guided into the groove 11a as shown in Figure b. After the conveyance motor is stopped, when the spiral 11 is rotated once by the spiral drive unit 12, the two banknotes B1 and B2 are moved leftward by one pitch as shown in Fig. c, and are temporarily stored again. Note that even if a banknote is inserted from the insertion guide while the spiral drive unit 12 is being driven and a sensor in the transport path detects this, the transport motor is controlled not to be driven. After the spiral drive unit 12 stops, when the third banknote B3 is inserted, it is transported in the same way as the previous banknote and guided to the groove 11a of the spiral 11 according to the result of the authenticity discrimination, and the spiral drive unit 12 is started again. As shown in Figure d, insert each banknote one by one into the grooves 11c and 1 of the spiral 11.
Temporarily stored in 1d and 11e. During this time, the counting control section (not shown) of the bill validating device 1
The number of banknotes temporarily stored in the spiral 11 is counted, and this count is returned to zero in response to a storage command from a vending machine, etc., and the banknotes temporarily stored in the groove of the spiral 11 remain in the standby state. Become. As explained above, since the banknotes are stored in the grooves excluding the groove 11a, even if the banknotes remain in the spiral 11, they will not interfere with the next storage operation. In addition, when a return command is received, the banknotes temporarily stored in the spiral 11 are returned one by one by repeating the reverse operation of storage based on the above-mentioned counting contents. Then, each time one banknote is returned, "1" is subtracted from the previous count, and when the count reaches "0", the return ends and the machine enters a standby state.

Note that, as described above, even if bills are stored each time in the storage space provided at the end of the spiral 11 by driving the spiral drive unit 12 in response to a storage command without leaving any banknotes in the groove of the spiral 11. Of course it doesn't matter. Further, the confirmation of the number of sheets upon return is not limited to the above-mentioned subtraction method.
Furthermore, although the spiral 11 shown in FIG. 4 allows the return of four banknotes, the number of banknotes that can be returned can be increased by increasing the number of grooves in the spiral. The banknotes temporarily stored in the groove of the spiral 11 are sequentially sent to the left one pitch at a time as new banknotes are stored, and eventually the banknotes are stored in the storage space from the end of the spiral 11, and the banknotes stored in the storage space are The end face of the spiral 11 is perpendicular to the axis of rotation so that the spiral 11 is not damaged by rotation. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the banknotes from bending by pressing the upper end of the banknotes temporarily stored in the groove of the spiral 11 with a presser plate (not shown). It is also possible that the upper part is guided into the groove of this spiral, and that banknotes are accommodated by the cooperation of the four spirals.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. Compared to the first embodiment, the position of the banknote storage section 15 is different, and therefore the manner in which banknotes are taken in is also somewhat different. When the sensor detects the insertion of a banknote, the pulley 4a and the drive roller 17 rotate in the directions of the arrows, and the presser roller 18 and the drive roller 1 rotate.
7 and between the drive roller 17 and the conveyor belt 6 to take in the banknote. In addition, 19 is the conveyor belt 6
This is a press roller that presses the drive roller 17 against the drive roller 17. Then, the taken banknotes are stored in a banknote storage section 15 provided on the back side of the banknote validating device according to the result of the validation. When the storage section is provided on the back side in this way, the storage section side is exposed when the door is opened, for example, when the vending machine is damaged or for maintenance work, so there is an advantage that banknotes can be easily collected.

In the two embodiments described above, the holding roller or the drive roller is used as the clamping means for clamping the banknotes between the conveyor belt, but it is also possible to use a second conveyor belt stretched between different pulleys to face each other. ,
Banknotes may be held between these two conveyor belts.

According to the present invention as described above, by providing a spiral in the banknote storage unit that can rotate forward and backward and control the number of rotations, it is possible to temporarily store a plurality of banknotes, and also to prevent tension between two pulleys. One side of the suspended conveyor belt is used for conveyance for identification, and the other side is used for storage, and the conveyance belt is shared between the identification section and the storage section, making it possible to downsize and reduce costs. Become.

Therefore, it is suitable for use in selling high-value products by accepting a plurality of banknotes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional device, FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 3 a and b are partially enlarged views of FIG. 2,
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the transfer operation of banknotes held in a spiral groove, and FIG. 5 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention. 1...Banknote validation device, 4a, 4b...Pulley,
6... Conveyor belt, 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d,
9, 18, 19...Press roller, 10...Identification sensor, 11...Spiral, 13...Transportation path, 15...Banknote storage section, 17...Drive roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A conveyor belt stretched between two pulleys separated by a predetermined interval for conveying inserted banknotes in forward and reverse directions, and a conveyor belt provided along one side of the conveyor belt between the two pulleys. , a conveyance path which is curved along the conveyor belt to the other side of the conveyor belt at one of the pulleys and has an outlet near the curved portion; and a conveyor path provided midway on the one side of the conveyor path, a discrimination sensor for distinguishing the authenticity of banknotes that are normally conveyed by the conveyance belt through the conveyance path; a banknote storage section for storing banknotes conveyed in the forward direction; a groove provided in the banknote storage section through which the banknotes are carried in and out by the forward and reverse conveyance of the conveyor belt; A banknote validating device characterized by comprising: a spiral capable of controlling.