The present invention relates to the handling of objects such as coins or similar items of different object types. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for the handling of such objects, comprising a transport path with a plurality of separating stations for the objects, each separating station being associated with an object type and being capable of assuming an activated position, in which a passing object is separated from the transport path, and a deactivated position, respectively, in which a passing object is not separated from the transport path but continues along the same past the separating station. The device also has a sensor for detecting the objects and determining an object type, and a controller for selective activation/deactivation of the separating stations depending on determined object types. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for the handling of objects according to the above.
A coin sorting machine with active sorting is one example of a device according to the above. Active sorting means that each separating station in the machine has a movable member which by receiving control signals can be caused to switch between two different positions; a first, deactivated position in which the movable member assumes a retracted position with respect to the transport path and thus does not affect a passing coin, and a second, activated position in which the movable member assumes a position which intrudes upon the transport path and thus will separate a passing coin from the transport path. Electromagnetic solenoids are often used in the separating stations, wherein the control signals are applied voltages or currents at appropriate levels and the movable member is the movable core of the solenoid, and/or a deflector coupled to this movable core. Which separating station that is to be activated so as to sort off an individual coin is determined by a coin sensor and a controller, which detect suitable physical parameters for the coin (such as conductivity, permeability, diameter and/or thickness), determine a coin type (such as denomination, valid/false) and supply control signals to the correct separating station at the appropriate moment, i.e. at a correct timing so that the particular individual coin will be separated when the movable member of the separating station assumes its activated position, without thereby separating other coins than the intended one (for instance such coins that have another denomination and therefore shall be separated by another separating station).
One example of a coin sorting machine according to the above is disclosed in WO 99/33030, which in its illustrated embodiment has 10 separating stations, each having a solenoid, distributed along a circular transport path. Another example of a coin sorting machine for active sorting, having a linear rather than a circular transport path, is disclosed in WO 87/07742.
Another type of coin sorting machines are such that operate with a passive sorting technique. Here, instead of separating stations that can be activated/deactivated, purely passive arrangements are used for separating the coins at respective positions along the transport path. In a common type of passive coin sorting machines the coins are caused to roll down a sloping sorting rail, where sorting knives are arranged at successively decreasing heights above the transport path, wherein coins with the largest diameter are separated by the first sorting knife in the transport direction, and then coins having the second largest diameter are separated by the next sorting knife, and so on. Another common type of passive coin sorting machine instead uses a rotary carrier device which transports the coins in a circular transport path by way of a dragging movement over a baseplate, in which coin falling openings of successively increasing size have been arranged.
There are several drawbacks with the passive coin sorting machines described above. For instance, mechanical measures are required in the machine (replacement of baseplate, height position adjustment of sorting knives, etc) so as to adapt the machine for use in a coin system with another currency, etc. Another drawback is mechanical wear and tear of coins as well as sorting mechanism. In addition, some passive coin sorting machines have a limited sorting capacity.
Coin sorting machines with active sorting technique make it possible to avoid or at least mitigate the problems given above and are therefore both interesting and popular. Furthermore, they can be made compact.
By choosing components for the sorting mechanism and the coin sensor with high quality and accuracy, and by carefully programming the controller of the coin sorting machine, a coin sorting machine with active sorting technique can be made to exhibit an astonishingly high sorting capacity and a very good accuracy (low error rate). Of course, the active sorting technique has certain technical limitations as regards how fast the separating stations can switch between activated and deactivated positions. Therefore, during the operation of a coin sorting machine with active sorting technique, situations with so called coin trains are repeatedly occurring. A coin train is a sequence of successive coins, which even if they can be detected and determined in type individually by the coin sensor and the controller, they are too close to each other in distance to be sorted off individually by the separating stations. Such situations with coin trains can be handled appropriately by programming the controller to handle a coin train in different ways depending on its nature: whether all coins contained in the coin train are destined to the same destination or to different destinations, whether the coin train contains invalid coins that are to be returned (known as reject coins, etc), and so on.
Since coin sorting machines with active sorting technique contain movable components in the separating stations, there is a common need to increase the efficiency of the machine (the sorting capacity), at the same time reducing the wear and tear of the movable components, reducing the heat generated from their operation as well as limiting the generated noise to a reasonable level. By handling certain coins as a coin train rather then individual coins, improvements may be achieved in these areas.
An objective of the present invention is to provide improved devices and methods for the handling of objects such as coins or similar items with separating stations that can be activated/deactivated, focusing on the above-mentioned problems with sorting capacity, wear and tear of movable parts, heat generation and noise.
The objective stated above has been achieved through the inventor's realisation that not only a single train of objects should be considered when handling the objects (for instance sorting of coins) but also situations with successive trains of objects.
More specifically, the inventors have realised that the objects can be handled in the following way according to a first aspect of the invention: determining that a first train of objects has been detected by the sensor; recording information about an object type for said first train of objects; determining that a second train of objects has been detected by the sensor; recording information about an object type for said second train of objects; and using the recorded information about the object type for said second train of objects when controlling a separating station associated with the object type for said first train of objects.
Furthermore, the inventors have realised that the objects can be handled in the following way according to a second aspect of the invention: determining that a first train of objects has been detected; determining that a second train of objects has been detected, wherein the distance between the end of the first train (the trailing edge of its last object) and the beginning of the second train (the leading edge of its first object) per se is such that trains of objects could be handled independently from each other by the separating stations and the controller; determining whether the objects of the first train have the same destination among the separating stations as the objects of the second train and, if so, selectively activating the destination separating station in question and maintaining its activation during separation of the objects of the first train as well as the objects of the second train without intermediate deactivation of the destination separating station.
The objectives stated above are achieved by a device and at method, respectively, according to the appended independent patent claims. A device according to the invention can be comprised in a coin sorting machine. Then, the object types may include a number of different coin denominations, and the case where a coin is invalid. In addition to coins the objects may be constituted by tokens, gaming markers etc.
A device according to the invention may comprise means for transporting the objects along the transport path, the transport path being circular or linear.
The controller in a device according to the invention may be adapted to form a train of objects logically by successively combining objects that have been detected one after the other, these objects having a mutual distance less than a threshold value. This threshold value may be a function of a shortest possible time for activation followed by deactivation of said separating stations.
The controller in a device according to the invention may be adapted to perform selective activation of said same destination station and maintain its activation so as to separate the objects in said first and second trains without intermediate deactivation, even if the distance between a last object of said first train of objects and a first object of said second train of objects exceeds said threshold value.
Other objectives, advantages, aspects and features of the invention will appear from the attached detailed disclosure, the patent claims and the accompanying drawings.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
a-3d illustrate four common situations with coin trains that are handled by the device and method according to the invention, and
In
The device has a number of separating stations 120 which are located along the circular transport path 100 and each of which is associated with a certain coin type. The term coin type may include different coin denominations but also whether a coin is invalid and should be returned, or has a type which could not be determined and therefore should be re-circulated, or should be re-circulated for other reasons, according to the further description below. In
A coin sensor 130 is located next to the transport path 100 and serves to detect an individual coin when it passes the sensor 130 along the transport path 100 as well as to determine a coin type for the coin in cooperation with a controller 140. To this end, various physical parameters are detected for the coin, such as conductivity, permeability, diameter, thickness or weight, and the detection result is compared to prestored reference data, wherein a decision is made that the coin belongs to a certain coin type, if there is sufficient correspondence with any of the coin types that are defined by aforesaid reference data.
The controller 140 may be implemented by a commercially available microprocessor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or by another programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or alternatively as an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), as discrete analogue and/or digital components, or as any combination of the above. The controller 140 has access to internal and/or external memory such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or any combination of the above.
Based on the coin type which has been determined by the coin sensor 130, the controller 140 will control the different separating stations 120 by supplying control signals 150, so that each station at the correct time, i.e. when the coin in question to be sorted off is positioned next to the separating station that the coin type of the coin in question is associated with, is activated so as to separate the coin. To this end, the controller 140 uses an encoder or similar not shown in
The separating stations 120, which preferably are electromagnetic solenoids, have a movable member 121 which may be switched between a deactivated, retracted position 121 and an activated extended position 121′. In the deactivated position 121 all coins 110-116 pass past the separating stations 120 along the transport path 100 without being separated, whereas a coin 116 which is positioned next to an activated separating station 120′ will be separated from the transport path 100 by the movable member 121′ in the separating station 120′, as illustrated in
The device comprises a re-circulation means 160, the purpose of which is to return such coins, that for some reason have not been separated by any of the separating stations 120, back to the transport path 100, so that the coin in question will get a new chance of successful separation. Coins may have to be resorted for several reasons. One example is when two consecutive coins happen to overlap each other or otherwise lie too close to each other when they are detected by the coin sensor 130, wherein the coin sensor can not determine any coin type for the coins. When such coins are resorted, it is likely that they will keep a larger distance the next time they pass the coin sensor 130. Therefore, the re-circulation is preferably such that re-circulation coins will not immediately continue along the transport path 100 out on a new lap past the coin sensor 130 and the separating stations 120 but will instead be returned to the mass of coins which yet has not been processed by the device. Another reason for re-circulation can be that several consecutive coins 111, 112, 113 in fact have been detected and determined in type by the coin sensor 113—and have been found to be of different coin types—but have too short mutual distance to be separated individually by the separating stations 120. Such a sequence of coins 111-113, referred to as a coin train, is labelled 117 in
Any of the separating stations 120 may operate as return station (reject) to return invalid coins back to the user. In
A mass of coins to be sorted by the machine 200 is deposited in a coin intake 210. The coins are carried through a coin feeder 220, such as a transport belt or a coin feeding device of “hopper” type, to a coin sorter 250, which is constituted by the device of
At least parts of the memory 234 may be implemented by internal memory in the controller. The controller 230 may be implemented by a commercially available microprocessor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), or by another programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or alternatively as an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), as discrete analogue and/or digital components, or as any combination of the above.
The controller 230 is responsible for the overall operation of the machine 200, including controlling a display 236 and a key pad 238 which forms a user interface. In embodiments of the invention the controller 230 may in addition cooperate with the coin sensor 130 and the controller 140 in the device according to
The coin sorting machine 200 also comprises a coin return 240 which returns non-approved coins through an external opening in the machine 200, so that such coins may be collected by the user. Coins that have been successfully sorted by the coin sorter 250, on the other hand, are collected in specific coin containers belonging to a coin storage 260. The coin containers in the coin storage 260 may be externally accessible to the user, or may alternatively for reasons of security be accommodated in an internal locked space in the coin sorting machine 200.
The operation of the device according to the embodiment in
The overall operation is as illustrated in
The routine for the handling of individual coins starts by the coin sensor 130 detecting the coin in question in step 502. A type for the detected coin is determined in accordance with the description above, and the coin type may hence be any of a number of different denominations that the device is adapted to handle, but also the case where the detected coin has been identified as invalid, or the case where no type could be determined for the detected coin. It is checked in step 504 whether the detected coin is too close in distance to an immediately preceding coin, i.e. at a distance less than a threshold value tc (too close), for the detected coin and the preceding coin to be separated individually by the separating stations 120. The interpretation of the distance threshold value tc appears from
When the routine 400/500 for handling individual coins has been ended, it is followed, as mentioned, by the routine 410 for the handling of coin trains. This routine is labelled 600 in
Referring again to
Referring again to
If it was found in step 610 that the preceding coin train has the same destination as the new coin train, this corresponds to a situation which is illustrated in
The invention has been described above in the form of exemplifying embodiments. However, the invention is in no way limited to these but includes many other alternatives, as is defined by the scope of the appended patent claims and is further readily realised by a man skilled in the art.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0302687-9 | Oct 2003 | SE | national |
This application is a continuation of International application No. PCT/SE2004/001434, filed Oct. 8, 2004, and designating the United States, which claims priority to Swedish patent application serial number 0302687-9, filed on Oct. 10, 2003 and to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/510,874, filed on Oct. 14, 2003. The disclosures, including Specification, claims and drawings, of Swedish patent application number 0302687-9, filed Oct. 10, 2003, and U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/510,874, filed Oct. 14, 2003, are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/SE04/01434 | Oct 2003 | US |
Child | 11399734 | Apr 2006 | US |