Radiant energy – Photocells; circuits and apparatus – Optical or pre-photocell system
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-15
2004-08-24
Pyo, Kevin (Department: 2878)
Radiant energy
Photocells; circuits and apparatus
Optical or pre-photocell system
C250S559270, C271S261000, C271S265010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06781111
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a paper processing apparatus which judges types of money and the original or an imitation of money while conveying sheets of paper like bank notes. Particularly, the invention relates to a paper processing apparatus which is built into an automatic teller machine (hereinafter to be referred to as an ATM) that executes an automatic transaction of a reception and a payment of bank notes.
BACKGROUND ART
Recently, automation has been progressed in various fields, and types of paper, such as bank notes and admission tickets, have also been judged automatically with a paper processing apparatus. This paper processing apparatus is built into an ATM, for example. Further, unattended operation of the ATM has also been progressed as a recent trend. However, as the span for an operator to maintain and inspect the ATM becomes long, there have been many problems in the unattended operation.
A conventional paper processing apparatus is built into the ATM. This paper processing apparatus is mainly constructed of: an optical sensor which detects a design of front and back sides of each sheet of paper sequentially conveyed at high speed, and a light quantity corresponding to a shading of the paper; an amplifier which amplifies an output of the optical sensor at a desired amplification factor; an A/D converter which A/D (Analog/Digital) converts the output of the amplifier; and a judging section which judges a type of paper like types of money and distinguishes between the original and an imitation of the money, by comparing the output of the A/D converter with dictionary data prepared in advance to make judgement.
According to the conventional paper processing apparatus, it is not possible to judge types of money when two or more sheets of paper are conveyed in a superimposed status (double fed) or when sheets of paper are conveyed with excessively small distance between the sheets of paper. Therefore, in this case, the sheets of paper for which it has not been possible to judge types of money are handled as indefinite types of money, and these sheets of paper are accommodated in a reject box or are returned to a customer who entered these sheets of paper.
When a conventional paper processing apparatus is applied to an ATM which has a function that could easily generate an abnormal status in the conveyance of paper, like double feeding, a rejection rate (the number of sheets of paper that have been handled as indefinite types of money/the number of sheets of paper that have been conveyed) naturally becomes high. Consequently, the entered paper is frequently returned to customers. Therefore, the conventional paper processing apparatus has had a problem that it is very inconvenient for the customers to handle this paper processing apparatus.
Further, while the unattended operation of the ATM has been progressed recently, there is a tendency that the span for an operator to recover sheets of paper from the rejection box becomes long, because of the nature of the operation mode of the unattended ATM. Therefore, this operation mode has had a drawback in that when a rejection rate is high, the rejection box becomes full before the operator recovers sheets of paper, and this causes problems in the operation.
Further, according to the ATM of the unattended operation mode, a monitoring sensor remote monitors a total amount of bank notes held in the apparatus. A number of sheets of bank notes and types of money to be filled/recovered are determined based on a result of this remote monitoring. However, in the ATM, as the types of money and the number of sheets of bank notes accommodated in the rejection box are indefinite, it is not possible to accurately understand the total amount of bank notes at the monitoring sensor side. Therefore, this has had a problem in the operation.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper processing apparatus which is capable of improving the precision in deciding types of bank notes and deciding a number of sheets of money, and is capable of carrying out a smooth operation.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a paper processing apparatus comprising: a conveying unit (corresponding to a conveying motor
112
, a conveying belt
113
, and a central processing unit
210
in one embodiment to be described later) which conveys sheets of paper after taking them out; a light irradiating unit (corresponding to an optical sensor
241
in one embodiment to be described later) which irradiates light onto the sheets of paper that are being conveyed; a light transmission quantity detecting unit (corresponding to the optical sensor
241
in one embodiment to be described later) which detects a quantity of light transmitted through the paper; an external shape judging unit (corresponding to a type-of-money judging section
290
in one embodiment to be described later) which judges whether an external shape of the paper obtained from the light transmission quantity coincides with a prescribed shape or not; a correcting unit (corresponding to the type-of-money judging section
290
in one embodiment to be described later) which corrects the light transmission quantity, when a result of the judgement of the external shape judging unit shows that the external shape of the paper coincides with the prescribed shape and also when the light transmission quantity is lower than a light transmission quantity threshold value that has been set in advance; and a distinguishing unit (corresponding to the type-of-money judging section
290
in one embodiment to be described later) which distinguishes types of money and a number of sheets of paper, based on a light transmission quantity that has been corrected by the correcting unit.
According to this invention, when a plurality of sheets of paper have been conveyed in a status that they are completely superimposed with each other at the time of taking out these sheets of paper, the light transmission quantity of the sheets of paper becomes smaller than the light transmission quantity threshold value. Therefore, it is not possible to distinguish types of money and a number of sheets of paper, based on the light transmission quantity. Further, as the plurality of sheets of paper are completely superimposed with each other, the external shape judging unit judges that the external shape of these sheets of paper coincides with the prescribed shape. Therefore, in this case, the correcting unit corrects the light transmission quantity of the sheets of paper, and the distinguishing unit distinguishes the types and the number of sheets of paper, based on the corrected light transmission quantity.
As explained above, according to the present invention, when the light transmission quantity of the sheets of paper to be distinguished is lower than the light transmission quantity threshold value, the light transmission quantity is corrected. Therefore, even when the plurality of sheets of paper are completely in a superimposed status, it is possible to improve the precision in judging the types and the number of sheets of paper, and it is possible to carry out a smooth operation.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a paper processing apparatus comprising: a conveying unit (corresponding to a conveying motor
112
, a conveying belt
113
, and a central processing unit
210
in one embodiment to be described later) which conveys sheets of paper after taking them out; a light irradiating unit (corresponding to an optical sensor
241
in one embodiment to be described later) which irradiates light onto the sheets of paper that are being conveyed; a light transmission quantity detecting unit (corresponding to the optical sensor
241
in one embodiment to be described later) which detects a quantity of light transmitted through the paper; a light reflection quantity detecting unit (corresponding to the optical sensor
241
in one embodiment to be described later) which detects a light reflection quantity on the front and bac
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Pyo Kevin
LandOfFree
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