Check-actuated control mechanisms – Including means to test validity of check – By testing material composition
Patent
1996-11-15
1998-08-04
Bartuska, F. J.
Check-actuated control mechanisms
Including means to test validity of check
By testing material composition
194334, G07D 502
Patent
active
057880468
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a method according to claim 1 and to an apparatus according to claim 19.
There are various known methods and apparatuses for recognizing permitted and prohibited coins. In the case of the widely used multi-slot automatic machines, separate coin slots are provided for the various permitted coins, so that the coins must be inserted into the correct slots. In order to increase the user-friendliness, devices having only one coin slot for all coins were developed. The various coins are separated mechanically on the basis of size and, if necessary, weight of the coins. However, with mechanical separation it is not possible to guarantee sufficiently good recognition of false coins. Furthermore, good mechanical separation is not sufficiently rapid and, owing to the necessary contacts, tends to cause blockage.
In order to detect coins better and more rapidly on the basis of the diameter and of the material or of their electromagnetic properties, a measuring method has been described in which the coins pass through an alternating magnetic field of a first coil. The induction voltage induced by the alternating magnetic field and changed by a coin passing through the alternating field is measured with a second coil. The induction voltage curve depends on the coin size, on the electromagnetic properties of the coin and on the velocity of passage.
Since the coin properties act cumulatively on the measured induction voltage, it is possible that different coins cause essentially the same change to the induction voltage curve and thus cannot be separated from one another. The extent to which the induction changes caused by different coins differ from one another also depends on the frequency of the alternating magnetic field used. The fact that a frequency tuned to the expected permitted and prohibited coins has to be chosen is therefore a disadvantage of this method. For increasing the accuracy of differentiation, the known apparatus provides two alternating magnetic fields having different frequencies and accordingly two induction coils. Not only is a substantially more complicated apparatus necessary as a result but also the analysis is made very complex owing to the evaluation of frequency-dependent differences.
The measurement of a small change in the induction voltage is very susceptible to interference, particularly close to electric circuits and in apparatuses having metallic parts. In addition, there is a danger that a permitted coin may be simulated by an interfering electromagnetic signal.
It is therefore the object according to the invention to describe a method and an apparatus which permits coins of any currencies to be recognized as permitted or prohibited at little expense and with high reliability by means of a non-contact measurement.
The object according to the invention is achieved by the process features of claim 1 as well as by the apparatus features of claim 19.
The learning step envisaged in the method according to the invention permits simple and universal use of the method since the input of reference coins determines characteristic values which can be compared with the corresponding values of the coins to be tested. If the result of the comparison is within predetermined limits, the tested coin is classed as permissible. To ensure reliable coin classification, the one or more properties investigated by means of a measurement belong to a group which consists of coin diameter, coin thickness, coin material, coin surface, coin weight, air resistance and/or rolling resistance of the coin and generally of the coin rolling behaviour in an inclined chute.
The coins are fed into an apparatus via a feed means having a coin slot from which the coins, preferably in a predetermined state of movement, reach a chute which is coordinated with a sensor unit. At least one sensor of the sensor unit determines, during the rolling process, a measured value which depends on coin properties and chute properties. The sensor unit is connected to an electronics unit which comprises at least one p
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patent: 4646904 (1987-03-01), Hoormann
patent: 5033603 (1991-07-01), Kai et al.
patent: 5067604 (1991-11-01), Metcalf
patent: 5392892 (1995-02-01), Mulder
Austel Licensing GmbH
Bartuska F. J.
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