Patent Application
20050107024
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to automatic coin dispensers having canisters which contain an inventory of coins in stacks. More specifically it relates to sensing low coin or fill level positions of a stack of coins in the canister.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Prior systems are generally designed to use transmissive optical sensors to generate a low coin warning signal as the coin supply in a dispenser stack is depleted. Transmissive optical embodiments require that physically separate emitter and collector arrays be arranged on opposite sides of the coin column to provide trip point status. This literally doubles the supporting hardware required (boards, mounting features, cables, connectors), and limits positional flexibility since the coin stack must be “jacketed” or covered on both sides with sensors (see
Trip-point based coin detection is, in general, used to indicate low coin warning status when the coin inventory is at or near the point of depletion. Detection at different stack positions, i.e., further up the coin column, is not practical because of the packaging difficulty and numerous negative tradeoffs associated with surrounding the column with sensors in the upper regions of the coin stack. This difficulty is eliminated by the implementation of one-sided sensing techniques.
A common characteristic in the use of coin dispensers is that it is neither practical nor reliable to depend on the end user for a uniform starting inventory (fill level) for the canister or similar coin carrying apparatus. If a reliable starting inventory can be confirmed for each canister then exact inventory status during operation from that point forward can be known at all times via “coin counting” or decrementing from an initial value as dispensing occurs. It is a purpose of this invention to provide signals indicative of fill level and/or a depletion signal.
The reflective optical sensor of this application is unique in that it is able to sense the coin stack, while the complete sensor is positioned only on one side of the coin stack. A single sensor board assembly carries both an LED emitter and a photocell collector for each coin stack. In the presence of a reflective surface within sensing range (the stack of coins), light from the LED is reflected and collected by the photocell providing a voltage signal indicating the status “coins present”. In the absence of a reflective surface within sensing range the photocell returns a different voltage signal indicating the status “coins not present”. The light is transmitted and reflected through an aperture mask, which functions to isolate the LED from the photocell to avoid “line of sight” interference between the transmitted and reflected light. In this way only reflected light emanating from the LED is available to the photocell.
The sensor system of this invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
The coin supply sensor of this invention is designed for use in a coin dispenser 1, an example of which is shown in
The ramp 6 may interface with a coin dispenser cup 9 in a stand alone application or with a host device delivery system which may consist of a chute mounted within a frame of the host device (not shown). The host device can be adapted for a wide variety of applications, for example point of sale terminals, cash registers, automated teller machines, automated check out terminals, kiosks and the like.
As shown in
A typical low coin sensor of prior art coin dispenser systems is shown in
According to the preferred embodiment of this invention as shown in
The sensor pair 34 and 35 are enclosed by a mask 36 as shown in
The sensor array 31 is connected, as part of the coin supply sensing system 15, to coin dispenser microprocessor 10. This can be accomplished through a bus or directly, depending on the structure of the coin dispenser.
In operation infrared light is transmitted by photodiode transmitter 34 into the cylindrical receptacle 4 through mask 36 and access port 32. In the event that a stack of coins is present, the infrared light will be reflected and picked up by phototransistor receptor 35. Receptor 35 will generate a voltage signal of a first value V1 upon the receipt of reflected light. Signal V1 would indicate that there are coins present in the receptacle 4, at the location of the sensor array 31. In the event that no light is reflected, receptor 35 will generate a different voltage signal of a second value V2 which indicates that the coins are not present.
These signals are processed by coin dispenser processor 10 to initiate a variety of functions, for example: to set off a refill alarm and disable the coin dispenser; to indicate a near depletion alarm; or to indicate filled to capacity. The function would depend on the position of the sensor 31 relative to the stack of coins 30. The filled signal could be used to start a decremental accounting algorithm which would keep track of coin inventory. Sensor 31 may be mounted at a predetermined height relative to stack 30 and the predetermined height could be correlated to a set value of coin. Processor 10 would then be able to translate a sensor signal into coin value as a check for accounting control.
As shown in
The ability of the sensor of this application to function from only one side of the coin stack creates enhanced positional flexibility that can be utilized to provide coin inventory tracking through the use of early or multiple trip points. The prior art systems dealing with trip-point based coin detection is used to indicate low coin warning status when the coin inventory is at or near the point of depletion. Such systems could not provide early trip-point detection (further up the coin column) because of the packaging difficulty and numerous negative tradeoffs associated with surrounding the column with sensors in the upper regions of the coin stack. This difficulty is eliminated by the implementation of one-sided sensing techniques, according to this invention.
