This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan patent applications number 101135135 and 101149061, filed on Sep. 25, 2012 and Dec. 21, 2012.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bill acceptor technology and more particularly, to a valuable paper position correction method for use in a bill acceptor to automatically correct the position of an offset valuable paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of modern technology, convenience and rapidness have become important factors in our modern daily life. Nowadays, different automatic vending machines, card dispensers, ticket machines and bill exchange machines are used everywhere to sell different products without serviceman. These machines are highly appreciated for the advantage of saving much labor and bringing convenience to people.
Further, to avoid direct loss due to counterfeiting and to avoid inadvertently passing counterfeit valuable papers to consumers, a bill acceptor has recognition means to recognize the authenticity of a valuable paper before receiving it. However, the bill passage of a bill acceptor is specifically designed for a particular valuable paper of one specific width. Because different valuable papers issued from different countries have different sizes (length, width and thickness) and different anti counterfeit characteristics at different locations. A valuable paper that is inserted into a bill acceptor must be kept in accurate alignment with the recognition device, so that the recognition device can accurately recognize the anti-counterfeit characteristics. If a valuable paper is inserted into a bill acceptor in an offset manner, the recognition device of the bill acceptor may reject the valuable paper due to a recognition error. In this case, the user must insert the valuable paper again, causing inconvenience.
Further, many valuable paper position correction designs have been created for use in a bill acceptor for correcting an offset valuable paper. A known valuable paper position correction design uses two clamping arms at two opposite lateral sides of the bill passage for correcting the position of an offset valuable paper being transferred by transmission roller sets, and sensors to detect a feedback resistance between the valuable paper and the clamping arms. When the resistance reaches a predetermined value, the clamping arms are stopped. However, a valuable paper may wrinkle or curve after a long use. If the two clamping arms clamp a wrinkled or curved valuable paper, a feedback resistance cannot be accurately produced, resulting in a detection error. When this problem occurs, the valuable paper can be jammed between the clamping arms. Further, this valuable paper position correction design has a complicated structure, leading to a high manufacturing cost.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a valuable paper position correction means that eliminates the aforesaid problems.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a valuable paper position correction method, which automatically corrects an offset valuable paper without using any extra mechanical correcting mechanism, preventing mechanical wear, reducing the cost and simplifying the operation.
The valuable paper position correction method is used in a bill acceptor. When a valuable paper is inserted into the bill slot of the bill acceptor, two motors will be triggered to drive respective bill-transfer roller sets respectively. At this time, two sensor components of a sensor unit sense the presence of the inserted valuable paper. Subject to the sensing operation of the sensor components, the sensor unit determines the time span between the detection of two sensors and calculates the difference in distance between the two bill-transfer roller sets using the detected data of the time span and the revolving speeds of the motors. Thereafter, the sensor unit calculates the length of time needed for speed change, and then controls one of the motor to change its speed in driving the respective bill-transfer roller set, and then controls the speeded up or slowed down motor to return to its former speed after the length of time for speed change is up. Thus, the valuable paper position correction method can accurately correct an offset Valuable paper to the range within 4° relative to the accurate center position, facilitating further valuable paper validation and collection procedures.
Referring to
Further, the bill-receiving unit 2 comprises a bill transmission mechanism 21, a sensor unit 22, a bill validation unit 23, and a bill box 24. The bill transmission mechanism 21, the sensor unit 22 and the bill validation unit 23 are installed in the bill passage 20. The bill box 24 is located at the rear side of the bill passage 20 remote from the bill slot 111. The bill transmission mechanism 21 comprises two motors 211, two transmission gear sets 2111 respectively coupled to the motors 211 at one side and rotatable by the respective motors 211, two bill-transfer roller sets 212 respectively coupled to respective output shafts 2110 of the transmission gear sets 2111, and two encoder wheels 2112 respectively coupled to the motors 211 opposite to the transmission gear sets 2111 and rotatable by the respective motors 211. Each bill-transfer roller set 212 comprises a plurality of rollers 2121, a transmission belt 2120 mounted around the rollers 2121, and an encoder wheel 2122 mounted at the roller shaft of one roller 2121 that is disposed near the front opening of the bill passage 20. The encoder wheel 2122 has photo gaps equiangularly spaced around the border thereof. The sensor unit 22 comprises a control circuit 220, and a plurality of, for example, a plurality of transversely spaced sensor components 221, two sensors 222 and two transversely spaced photo interrupters 223 for sensing the passing of each inserted valuable paper 3 (see
During operation of the motors 211, the photo interrupters 223 drive light source means thereof (not shown) to emit light toward the encoder wheels 2112 and photo receptor means thereof (not shown) to convert the light pulse from the encoder wheels 2112 into a pulse current and to output the pulse current to microprocessor means (not shown) of the control circuit 220 for calculating the revolving speed of the respective motors 211. The microprocessor means of the control circuit 220 also calculates the time span between the detection of the two sensors 222 that sensed the valuable paper 3, and then multiplies the revolving speeds of the motors 211 by the time span to get the difference of input direction between the two transversely spaced sensors 222. Similarly, the photo interrupters 223 of the sensor unit 22 can detect the amount of rotation of the rollers 2121 of the bill-transfer roller sets 212 by means of measuring the rotated number of photo gaps of the respective encoder wheels 2122. Subject to the pulse signal generated by the encoder wheels 2122, the difference in distance in which the valuable paper 3 passed through the two sensors 222 is calculated.
Further, the sensor unit 22 calculates the difference in distance between the two bill-transfer roller sets 212=the difference in input direction between the two sensors 222×(the driving distance of the rollers 2121 of the two bill-transfer roller sets 212/the transverse distance between the two sensors 222), enabling the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller of the control circuit 220 to drive one of the motors 211 to reduce or accelerate the speed. The change in speed of the respective motor 211 in a unit time subject to a predetermined ratio is a constant value. Thus, the speed change time period required for the respective motor 211 can be obtained by: the difference in distance between the two bill-transfer roller sets 212/the change in speed of the respective motor 211. Because the controller gives PWM (pulse width modulation) output for the feedback control of the output of the motors 211, the speed of the motors 211 can be maintained constant.
Further, the detected data regarding the inserted valuable paper 3 can be transmitted to the control circuit 220 or an external electronic device (computer or notebook) for calculating the input angle of the inserted valuable paper 3 to be arcTan (the difference in input direction between the two sensors 222/the transverse distance between the sensors 222). With respect to how the sensor unit 22 uses the sensors 222 and photo interrupters 223 to detect the time span of the passing of the inserted valuable paper 3 and the revolving speeds of the motors 211 and how the sensor unit 22 controls the motors 211 to drive the bill-transfer roller sets 212 in carrying the inserted valuable paper 3, all these procedures are of the known art and not within the scope of the spirit of the present invention, and therefore no further detailed description in the regard will be necessary.
The invention provides a valuable paper position correction method that can be used in the aforesaid bill acceptor. In actual application, this valuable paper position correction method can also be applied to an automatic vending machine, game console, or any consumer system that sells commodities or provides services. The aforesaid bill acceptor can also be used in any automatic vending machine, game console or consumer system. During application, the housing 1 of the bill acceptor is mounted in the housing of the automatic vending machine, game console or consumer system. After installation, the bill-receiving unit 2 is electrically connected to the control circuit of the automatic vending machine, game console or consumer system. During operation of the automatic vending machine, game console or consumer system, the bill validation unit 23 can validate the authenticity and value of each inserted valuable paper 3 (that can be a banknote, bill of exchange, stock share, certificate of ownership, coupon ticket, coupon, ID card, vehicle license, driving license, passport or any other security certificate).
The valuable paper position correction method is performed subject to the following procedure:
As stated above, when a user inserts a valuable paper 3 through the bill slot 111 of the face panel 11 of the housing 1 into the bill passage 20 of the bill-receiving unit 2, the valuable paper 3 will be detected by one sensor component 221 of the sensor unit 22, and the sensor unit 22 will immediately drive the motors 211 of the bill transmission mechanism 21 to rotate the rollers 2121 of the bill-transfer roller sets 212 synchronously, carrying the valuable paper 3 to the bill validation unit 23, which will then validate the authenticity and value of the valuable paper 3.
If these two transversely spaced sensors 222 of the sensor unit 22 detect the presence of the valuable paper 3 at the same time, it means the valuable paper 3 is in or approximately in the center position. Under this condition, the sensor unit 22 drives the two motors 211 of the bill transmission mechanism 21 to rotate the bill-transfer roller sets 212, carrying the valuable paper 3 to a predetermined position in the bill passage 20 where a sampling and recognition module 231 of the bill validation unit 23 will validate the authenticity and value of the valuable paper 3. If the valuable paper 3 is recognized as a true valuable paper, the sensor unit 22 will drive the bill transmission mechanism 21 to carry the valuable paper 3 to the bill box 24 where a bill-pressing mechanism 241 of the bill box 24 will press the valuable paper 3 into the box body 242 of the bill box 24. If the valuable paper 3 is recognized as a counterfeit, the sensor unit 22 will drive the bill transmission mechanism 21 to carry the valuable paper 3 backwardly to the bill slot 111 of the face panel 11.
Referring to
Thereafter, calculate the difference in distance D2 between the two bill-transfer roller sets 212 of the bill transmission mechanism 21 to be: the difference in distance D1 between the input direction of the valuable paper 3 sensed by the two sensors 222 multiply (the transverse distance W2 between the rollers 2121 of the two bill-transfer roller sets 212/the transverse distance W1 between the two sensors 221). Thus, the control circuit 220 drives one motor 211 of the bill transmission mechanism 21 to reduce or accelerate the speed subject to the difference in distance D2 between the two bill-transfer roller sets 212 of the bill transmission mechanism 21. Thus, the speed change time period required for the respective motor 211 can be obtained by: the difference in distance between the two bill-transfer roller sets 212/the change in speed of the motor 211. Thereafter, the control circuit 220 controls the slowed down or speeded up motor 211 to change its speed in driving the respective bill-transfer roller set 212, and then to return to its former speed after the calculated length of time for speed change is up, thereby correcting the angular position of the valuable paper 3 to the center position. Subject to the application of the valuable paper position correction method, the bill acceptor does not need to use a complicated mechanical mechanism for correcting the position of an inserted valuable paper, preventing mechanical wear, reducing the cost and simplifying the operation.
Referring to
Further, subject to arcTan (the difference in distance D1 between the input direction of the valuable paper 3 sensed by the two sensors 222/the transverse distance W1 between the two sensors 222), the sensor unit 22 can figure out the uncorrected angle θ of the valuable paper 3 to be in the range of −28.653-29.2698. Subject to the relationship of trigonometric function between the width of the valuable paper 3 and the uncorrected angle θ of the valuable paper 3, the required difference R in which the two bill-transfer roller sets 212 correctly carry the valuable paper 3 to the bill validation unit 23 is calculated to be in the range of 0.00665-2.14985 cm.
Thereafter, the revolving speed of one motor 211 of the bill transmission mechanism 21 is reduced or accelerated. After a predetermined ratio in speed difference between the two motors 211 occurs, the speed change time period required for controlling the motors 211 to drive the respective bill-transfer roller sets 212 can then be figured out. For example, in every time unit of 1 ms, the sensor unit 22 of the bill-receiving unit 2 detects the difference in distance between the two bill-transfer roller sets 212, and controls one motor 211 to reduce the speed or the other motor 211 to accelerate the speed subject to a predetermined ratio (for example, 2:1, 3:1, or 5:1). When the length of time needed for speed change is up, the moving angle of the valuable paper 3 is corrected and kept in parallel to the bill passage 20. After correction, the difference in the number of photo gaps of the bill-receiving unit 2 is in the range of −182-602, the difference in angle is in the range of −8.1569-4.09923, the angle conversion percentage before and after the correction is in the range of 59.0948658-400. Thus, it can be seen that the valuable paper position correction method can accurately correct the input angle of the inserted valuable paper 3 to the range within 4° relative to the center position, facilitating the bill validation unit 23 to validate the valuable paper 3 and the bill box 24 to collect the valuable paper 3 accurately.
Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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101135135 | Sep 2012 | TW | national |
101149061 | Dec 2012 | TW | national |