JP2014049099A - Coin depositing/dispensing device - Google Patents

Abstract

A coin depositing / withdrawing apparatus is provided that reduces interruption of customer service when there is an error such as overdischarge or not being paid out.
A coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus includes a storage box 2, a payout opening 3, a reject box 6, a standby unit 5, a counting unit 16, a rejection unit, and a retry unit. The storage 2 stores coins. The payout port 3 pays out coins according to the payout instruction. The reject box 6 is a destination where coins are rejected. The standby unit 5 is located between the storage 2 and the payout opening 3 and is adjacent to the reject storage 6, temporarily holds the coins sent out from the storage 2, and pays out the coins to the payout 3. Retreat to the reject box 6. The counting unit 16 counts the number of coins sent to the standby unit 5. The reject means retreats the coins of the standby unit 5 to the reject box 6 when the counting result of the counting unit 16 is not a predetermined number. When the counting result of the counting unit 16 is not a predetermined number, the retry means causes the coins in the storage 2 to be sent out to the standby unit 5 again after the coins are withdrawn from the standby unit 5.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a coin deposit and withdrawal device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus suitable for use by connecting to an electronic device such as a POS terminal is known. Such a coin depositing / dispensing device conveys coins inserted from an insertion slot into a casing, sorts them into denominations by a sorting unit, stores them in a storage, and stores them based on a payout instruction from a POS terminal or the like. To pay out coins to the payout exit.

As a conventional coin depositing and dispensing device, for example, there is one in which an endless belt is arranged on the bottom of a storage.
Such a coin depositing / dispensing apparatus stores coins in a state where the coins are randomly accumulated on the belt. And in paying out, a coin is conveyed toward a payout opening by turning a belt.
A separation roller is disposed on the outlet side of the belt. The separation roller faces the belt with a gap corresponding to the thickness of the coin, rotates in the same direction as the rotation direction of the belt, and separates the coins conveyed on the belt one by one. Try to pay out one by one.

As in the above-described coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus, when the randomly accumulated coins are moved from the bottom and conveyed, the coins often overlap and reach the separation roller. The separation roller works so that the coins are dispensed one by one. For example, when there is a worn coin, a plurality of coins are caught between the separation roller and the belt, and the plurality of coins are left as they are. You may be paid out. Alternatively, coins may be jammed and not released.
In those cases, there is a miscalculation that the total amount of coins paid out to the payout port is different from that recognized by the coin depositing and dispensing device.

  The coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus of the present embodiment includes a storage, a payout opening, a reject storage, a standby unit, a counting unit, a rejecting unit, and a retrying unit. The storage stores coins. The payout exit pays out coins according to the payout instruction. The reject box is the destination to reject coins. The standby unit is located between the storage and the payout opening, is adjacent to the reject storage, temporarily holds the coins sent out from the storage, and pays out the coins to the payout or retreats to the reject storage. The counting unit counts the number of coins sent to the standby unit. When the counting result of the counting unit is not a predetermined number, the rejecting unit retreats the coin of the standby unit to the reject box. When the counting result of the counting unit is not a predetermined number, the retry means causes the coins in the storage to be sent again to the standby unit after the coins are withdrawn from the standby unit.

FIG. 1 is a vertical left side view schematically showing a partial configuration of a coin depositing and dispensing apparatus and showing a state when coins are sent to a standby unit. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process of paying out coins to the payout opening and replenishing coins to the standby unit. FIG. 4 is a vertical left side view showing a state in which coins are paid out to the payout opening. FIG. 5 is a vertical left side view showing a state in which the coin is retracted to the reject box.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a coin depositing and dispensing device 1 will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Further, in the present embodiment, a case where it is used by being connected to a POS terminal used in a store such as a supermarket will be described as an example.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal left side view schematically illustrating a partial configuration of a coin depositing and dispensing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. FIG. 1 shows the front side for the operator, that is, the side facing the operator on the right and the back side for the operator on the left. Hereinafter, expressions such as up and down, left and right, front, back, front, etc. in the description using the drawings are those when the surface facing the operator is the front.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus 1.

The coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus 1 includes a storage 2, a payout opening 3, a receiving tray 4, a standby unit 5, a reject store 6, and a reject port 7.
The storage 2 stores coins. The payout opening 3 is a mouth for paying out coins. The tray 4 receives the coins paid out from the payout opening 3 and holds them until the operator removes them. The standby unit 5 is located between the storage 2 and the payout opening 3, temporarily holds coins sent from the storage 2, and pays out coins to the payout outlet 3.
The reject box 6 stores coins that have been rejected due to an error or the like. The reject port 7 is an entrance for coins from the standby unit 5 to the reject box 6.

The storage 2 includes a storage belt 11, a delivery roller 12, a first driven roller 13, a delivery motor 14 (see FIG. 2), a delivery separation roller 15, and a delivery counting unit 16.
The storage belt 11 is an endless flat belt, and is supported by being wound around a delivery roller 12 and a first driven roller 13 to form the bottom of the storage 2, and no coins are present here. Deposit to the rules.

The delivery motor 14 generates a driving force that rotates the delivery roller 12. The first driven roller 13 is rotated by receiving a rotational force from the storage belt 11 that rotates as the delivery roller 12 rotates.
The delivery separation roller 15 is opposed to a portion slightly upstream of the portion of the storage belt 11 supported by the delivery roller 12 with a gap corresponding to the thickness of the coin, and rotates in the same direction as the delivery roller 12. In this case, a plurality of coins are separated and the coins are sent to the standby unit 5 one by one.
The sending counting unit 16 is a sensor that counts the number of coins sent to the standby unit 5.

The standby unit 5 includes a standby unit belt 21, a dispensing roller 22, a second driven roller 23, a dispensing motor 24 (see FIG. 2), a dispensing separation roller 25, a dispensing counting unit 26, and a coin detecting unit 27. Is provided.
The standby unit belt 21 is an endless flat belt, is stretched over the payout roller 22 and the second driven roller 23 and supported substantially horizontally, and is sent from the storage 2 on the upper surface of the horizontal portion. Hold coins. The length of the horizontal portion is set to be longer than two coins having the maximum diameter.

  In addition, the control part 30 mentioned later controls so that a predetermined number of coins may be hold | maintained on this standby part belt 21. FIG. The predetermined number here is, for example, 4 for 1 yen coin, 1 for 5 yen coin, 4 for 10 yen coin, 1 for 50 yen coin, 4 for 100 yen coin, 1 for 500 yen coin This is the maximum amount of change paid in 999 yen, that is, coins. Alternatively, any coin may be four.

  The dispensing motor 24 generates a driving force that rotates the dispensing roller 22. The second driven roller 23 is rotated by being given a rotational force by the standby belt 21 that rotates as the dispensing roller 22 rotates. Here, the payout roller 22 is capable of forward rotation and reverse rotation. During forward rotation, the coins on the standby unit belt 21 are paid out to the payout port 3, and during reverse rotation, the coins on the standby unit belt 21 are rejected. Retreat to 6.

The payout separation roller 25 is opposed to a portion slightly upstream of the portion of the standby belt 21 supported by the payout roller 22 with a gap corresponding to the thickness of the coin, and rotates in the same direction as the payout roller 22. Then, a plurality of coins stacked on the standby belt 21 are separated so that the coins are paid out to the payout port 3 one by one.
The payout counting unit 26 is a sensor that counts the number of coins paid out to the payout opening 3.
The coin detection unit 27 is a sensor that is provided on the back side of the surface of the standby unit belt 21 that holds coins and detects the presence or absence of coins on the standby unit belt 21.

  The coins on the standby belt 21 are conveyed by the reverse of the payout roller 22 and are rejected to the reject box 6 through the reject port 7. The reject box 6 stores coins that have been rejected from the standby unit 5.

The coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus 1 includes a control unit 30. The control unit 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an I / O device control unit, and a communication I / F (all not shown). The ROM stores various programs executed by the CPU and various data. The RAM temporarily stores data and programs when the CPU executes various programs.
The control unit 30 controls each unit of the coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus 1 according to the various programs. The control unit 30 is directly or indirectly connected to the POS terminal and receives a payout instruction or the like from the POS terminal.

In addition, the control part 30 implement | achieves the rejection means 31, the retry means 32, and the waiting coin replenishment means 33 of this embodiment by following a program. When there is an error in sending coins from the storage case 2, the reject unit 31 controls the standby unit 5 to retreat the coins held by the standby unit belt 21 to the reject store 6. The retry means 32 causes the coins on the standby unit belt 21 to be sent out from the storage 2 again after retreating to the reject storage 6. The standby coin replenishing means 33 controls the number of coins held in the standby unit 5 to be constant by replenishing the standby unit 5 with the coins paid out from the payout opening 3.
The control unit 30 controls the sending motor 14 and the dispensing motor 24 based on signals received from the sending counting unit 16, the dispensing counting unit 26, and the coin detecting unit 27 in accordance with the program.

  Hereinafter, operation | movement of the coin depositing / withdrawing apparatus 1 is demonstrated along the procedure of goods sales. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process of paying out coins to the payout outlet 3 and replenishing coins to the standby unit 5 based on the payout instruction from the POS terminal. FIG. 4 is a vertical left side view showing a state in which coins are paid out to the payout opening 3. FIG. 5 is a vertical left side view showing a state in which the coin is retracted to the reject box 6.

  First, when receiving a payout instruction from the POS terminal (step S1), the controller 30 rotates the standby belt 21 by driving the payout motor 24 and rotating the payout roller 22, as shown in FIG. Then, the coins held on the standby unit belt 21 are paid out to the payout opening 3 (step S2). When the count result by the payout counting unit 26 reaches the number that matches the payout instruction, the control unit 30 stops driving the payout motor 24.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 30 replenishes the coins paid out from the standby unit 5 from the storage 2 (step S3). More specifically, the storage belt 11 is rotated by driving the delivery motor 14 to rotate the delivery roller 12, and the coins are delivered to the standby unit 5. When the count result by the sending counting unit 16 is the same as the number paid out from the standby unit 5, the control unit 30 stops driving the sending motor 14.
When the control unit 30 executes step S3, the standby coin replenishing means 33 described above is realized.

Here, the control unit 30 determines whether or not an error has occurred in the coin delivery based on the signal transmitted by the delivery counting unit 16 (step S4). The error here is, for example, that the scheduled number to be replenished to the standby unit 5 is different from the number detected by the transmission counting unit 16.
If there is no error (Yes in step S4), the control unit 30 ends this process.

In step S4, an error has occurred, for example, when a plurality of coins are bitten between the delivery separating roller 15 and the storage belt 11 and excessively discharged, or when they are clogged and not discharged. In this case (No in step S4), the control unit 30 first writes an error log (step S5), and reverses the standby unit belt 21 (step S6).
At this time, the control unit 30 performs control so that the standby unit belt 21 is reversely rotated more than half a rotation. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, all the coins accumulated on the standby belt 21 are rejected from the reject port 7 to the reject box 6.
When the control unit 30 executes this step S6, the reject means 31 described above is realized.

Next, the control unit 30 determines the presence or absence of coins in the standby unit 5 based on a signal transmitted from the coin detection unit 27 (step S7), and determines that there is no coin in the standby unit 5 (in step S7). Yes), the sending of coins from the storage 2 to the standby unit 5 is retried (step S8). When the control unit 30 executes this step S8, the above retry means 32 is realized.
Then, the control unit 30 determines whether or not an error has occurred in the coin delivery based on the signal transmitted by the delivery counting unit 16 (step S9). If there is no error (step S9). Yes), the control unit 30 ends this process.

In step S9, an error has occurred, for example, when a plurality of coins are bitten between the delivery separating roller 15 and the storage belt 11 and are excessively discharged, or when they are clogged and not discharged. In this case (No in step S9), the control unit 30 writes an error log (step S10), notifies the operator of the error (step S11), and ends this process.
Here, the notification to the operator in step S11 may be displayed, for example, on a display device (not shown) provided in the POS terminal or the coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus 1, or the POS terminal or coin deposit / withdrawal. You may make it convey with the sound with the speaker which the apparatus 1 does not illustrate. The same applies to the notification in step S15 described later.

If it is determined in step S7 that coins remain in the standby unit 5 (No in step S7), the control unit 30 reverses the standby unit belt 21 again by more than a half rotation (step S12), and the coins of the standby unit 5 are newly updated. Is determined based on a signal transmitted from the coin detector 27 (step S13).
If it is determined in step S13 that there is no coin in the standby unit 5 (Yes in step S13), the control unit 30 advances the process to step S8. If it is determined in step S13 that coins remain in the standby unit 5 (No in step S13), the control unit 30 writes an error log (step S14) and notifies the operator of the error ( Step S15), the process ends.

As described above, according to the coin depositing and dispensing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the standby unit 5 is provided in the preceding stage of the payout port 3, and about 1 to 4 coins are made to stand by in the standby unit 5, and this is discharged. As compared with the configuration in which the randomly accumulated coins are directed directly to the payout port 3, it is possible to reduce the miscalculation when paying out to the payout port 3.
In addition, even if an error occurs in sending coins to the standby unit 5, coin delivery can be retried without relying on the operator. Therefore, if the retry is successful, the customer service is not interrupted for error handling during customer service. At this time, it is sufficient to process reject coins, so that the burden on the operator can be reduced and the waiting time for the customer's cash register can be reduced.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

2 storage, 3 outlet, 5 standby section, 6 reject storage,
16 Sending counting part (counting part), 21 Standby part belt (endless belt),
27 Coin detector, 31 reject means, 32 retry means

JP-A-9-274686

Claims (6)

A storage for coins;
A payout exit for paying out coins in accordance with a payout instruction;
A reject vault where the coins are rejected,
Located between the storage and the payout outlet and adjacent to the reject storage, temporarily holds the coins sent from the storage, and pays out the coins to the payout outlet or to the reject storage A waiting section to dismiss,
A counting unit for counting the number of coins sent to the standby unit;
Rejecting means for retreating the coin of the standby unit to the reject box when the counting result of the counting unit is not a predetermined number;
When the counting result of the counting unit is not a predetermined number, retry means for sending coins in the storage to the standby unit again after coins are withdrawn from the standby unit;
A coin deposit and withdrawal device. The coin receiving / dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the standby unit includes a coin detection unit that detects the presence or absence of coins in the standby unit. A standby coin replenishing unit that replenishes the standby unit with coins paid out from the payout port when the standby unit pays out coins to the payout port so that the number of coins held in the standby unit is constant. The coin depositing / withdrawing apparatus according to 1 or 2. The reject store is located at a position sandwiching the standby unit with the payout exit,
The standby unit includes an endless belt, a predetermined number of coins are loaded on the endless belt, the coin is paid out to the payout port by rotating the endless belt, and the reject is performed by reversing the endless belt. The coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coin is retracted to a warehouse. The coin depositing / withdrawing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a length of a portion of the endless belt on which coins are loaded is such that two coins having a maximum diameter are arranged. 6. The coin deposit / withdrawal apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the standby unit rotates more than half of the entire length when the endless belt is reversely rotated.

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