JP7632099B2 - Coin identification device and currency handling device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a coin identification device and a currency handling device, and is suitable for use in cash register change systems used at the cash registers of retail stores such as supermarkets and convenience stores.

In recent years, cash register change systems that combine a POS register connected to a POS (Point Of Sales) system with a change machine that processes the deposit and withdrawal of banknotes and coins are becoming more common. Among these change machines, coin processing devices that process coins include, for example, a coin deposit port that allows the cashier to deposit coins, a transport section that transports the coins along a transport path using a belt or the like, a recognition section that identifies the type and authenticity of the inserted coins, a storage unit that stores coins by denomination, and a withdrawal port that stores coins dispensed from the storage unit and allows the cashier to remove them.

This coin deposit and withdrawal unit has a recognition section that detects various information from the coin using various sensors arranged along the conveying path while conveying the coin with the conveying belt of the conveying section. In this recognition section, it is possible to improve the accuracy in detecting the size (diameter) of the coin, for example, by abutting the peripheral side of the coin against a reference surface formed along the conveying path.

As a result, it has been proposed that the recognition unit of a coin processing device be provided with a push-over mechanism having, for example, a rotatable push-over arm and a push-over spring that biases the push-over arm against a reference surface, and that the coin being transported is pressed against the reference surface to obtain a certain level of detection accuracy (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2019-61463 A (FIG. 4, etc.)

In recent years, some countries and regions have begun issuing bi-color clad coins, which use different types of metal near the center and on the periphery, to prevent counterfeiting. For this reason, the recognition unit may detect information about the coin using sensors that correspond to the center and periphery of the bi-color clad coin.

However, in the recognition unit using the above-mentioned push-button arm, if the coin is transported while being pressed against a reference surface by the push-button arm, there is a high possibility that the coin's posture will become unstable during transport, making it difficult to maintain a constant detection accuracy in each sensor.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to propose a coin identification device and currency handling device that can improve the accuracy of detecting coin characteristics using a sensor.

In order to solve this problem, the coin identification device of the present invention includes a transport guide that forms a transport path along which coins are transported in a transport direction, and has a guide surface that guides the coin and a reference surface that regulates the range of movement of the coin in a width direction on the guide surface perpendicular to the transport direction, a sensor that detects coin information, a first biasing section that urges the coin in the width direction toward the reference surface, and a second biasing section that is provided downstream or upstream of the first biasing section in the transport direction and urges the coin at least toward the reference surface, and the second biasing section has a flexible member that is flexible between one end and the other end, and a holding section that holds the other end of the flexible member that is located away from the guide surface, and the distance between one end of the flexible member and the guide surface is smaller than the thickness of the smallest coin among the coins .

In addition, the currency handling device of the present invention is a currency handling device having a coin deposit port through which coins are deposited, and a coin identification device that identifies coins, wherein the coin identification device is provided with a transport guide that forms a transport path along which coins are transported in a transport direction, and that has a guide surface that guides the coins, and a reference surface that regulates the range of movement of the coin in a width direction on the guide surface perpendicular to the transport direction, a sensor that detects coin information, a first biasing section that urges the coin in the width direction toward the reference surface, and a second biasing section that is provided downstream or upstream of the first biasing section in the transport direction and urges the coin at least toward the reference surface, wherein the second biasing section is provided with a flexible member that is flexible between one end and the other end, and a holding section that holds the other end of the flexible member that is located away from the guide surface, and the distance between one end of the flexible member and the guide surface is smaller than the thickness of the smallest coin among the coins .

In the present invention, the first biasing section biases the coin toward a reference surface to bring it into contact with the reference surface, and the second biasing section biases the coin toward the reference surface. At this time, the second biasing section biases the coin toward the guide surface by the action of a restoring force, since a portion of the flexible member near one end thereof bends upon contact with the coin. Therefore, in the present invention, the sensor can accurately detect information from the coin while maintaining the coin in contact with the reference surface and the guide surface .

The present invention makes it possible to realize a coin identification device and a currency handling device that can improve the accuracy of detecting the characteristics of coins using a sensor.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of a cash register change system. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a coin depositing and dispensing unit. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the state of coins in a coin depositing and dispensing section; FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a conveying unit. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a transport unit, a coin verification unit, a reject branch unit, and a reject transport path. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the path of coins in the coin depositing and dispensing section. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a coin verification unit according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a coin verification unit according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a magnetic information acquisition unit according to the first embodiment. FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a coin according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a coin according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the appearance of a coin according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a coin according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the appearance of a coin according to the first embodiment. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a virtual first coin verification unit. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a virtual first coin verification unit. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a coin by a virtual first coin verification unit. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the state of adhesion of foreign matter by the virtual first coin verification unit. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a virtual second coin verification unit. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the appearance of a coin by a virtual second coin verification unit. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing forces acting on a coin in a virtual second coin verification unit. FIG. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a coin verification unit according to a second embodiment. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a coin verification unit according to a second embodiment. FIG. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the appearance of a coin according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the appearance of a coin according to a second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a coin verification unit according to another embodiment. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a conveyor belt unit according to another embodiment. FIG.

Below, the form for implementing the invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiment) will be explained with reference to the drawings.

1. First embodiment
[1-1. Configuration of the cash register change system]
As shown in the external appearance in Figure 1, the cash register change system 1 according to the first embodiment is composed of an upper POS register 2 and a lower change machine 3, which are independent devices. This cash register change system 1 is operated by a cashier at a checkout (a so-called cash register) in a retail store such as a supermarket or convenience store, when a customer pays for products that he or she wishes to purchase. In the following explanation, the front side facing the cashier and the opposite side are respectively defined as the front side and the back side, and left and right and top and bottom are further defined as viewed from the cashier.

The POS register 2 has a register control unit 5, a display operation unit 6, and a receipt processing unit 7. The register control unit 5 provides overall control. A barcode reader (not shown) is also connected to the POS register 2, and the barcode attached to a product is read by this barcode reader to identify the product.

The display operation unit 6 is composed of a display unit such as an LCD display, and an operation unit such as a touch panel placed over the LCD display. The display operation unit 6 displays the name and price of the recognized product on the LCD display. The display operation unit 6 also displays input keys for numbers and the like on part of the display screen, and when a location on the touch panel corresponding to an input key is pressed, it accepts the input operation corresponding to the input key and sends it to the cash register control unit 5. In response, the cash register control unit 5 performs various processes such as increasing or decreasing the quantity of products and correcting the price. The receipt processing unit 7 prints the recognized product name and price on a receipt, which is then discharged from the receipt discharge port 7A.

The change machine 3 is broadly composed of a change control unit 10, a banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 11 on the left side, a coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 on the right side, and a display/operation unit 13 on the upper front side. The change control unit 10 is composed mainly of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and performs overall control of the change machine 3 by reading and executing various programs, such as a change dispensing program, from a memory such as a flash memory.

The banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 11 takes in banknotes deposited by a cashier through the banknote deposit/withdrawal port 14 and stores them in the banknote storage vault 15. The banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 11 also pays out banknotes from the banknote storage vault 15 as instructed by the cash register control unit 5, and dispenses them from the banknote deposit/withdrawal port 14 as change.

The front of the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 is provided with a coin deposit port 16 at the top, and a reject port 17 and a coin withdrawal port 18 below it. The coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 takes in coins inserted into the coin deposit port 16 by the cashier and stores them in an internal storage 27 (Figure 2). The coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 also dispenses coins of a denomination and number according to the amount instructed by the cash register control unit 5 from the coin withdrawal port 18 as change.

The coins handled by the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 are made of metals such as nickel, copper, aluminum, etc., or alloys of these metals, and are formed into thin plates with circular or polygonal surfaces. The coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 is also designed to handle so-called bicolor clad coins, whose center and outer periphery are made of different types of metal.

The display operation unit 13 is composed of a combination of a specified display panel and specified operation buttons. The display panel of the display operation unit 13 displays the operating status of the banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 11 and the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12, and displays, for example, that there is a shortage of coins for change in the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12, that a specified sensor has detected an abnormality, and the location of the abnormality. The operation buttons of the display operation unit 13 receive instructions, for example regarding the transport of coins, via pressing operations by a cashier or the like.

[1-2. Configuration of coin deposit/withdrawal unit]
2, the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 has, in addition to the above-mentioned coin deposit port 16, reject port 17, and coin withdrawal port 18, a coin control unit 20, a deposit separation unit 21, a transport unit 22, a coin recognition unit 23, a reject branch unit 24, and a reject transport path 25. The coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 also has six storage box branch units 26 (26A to 26F), six storage boxes 27 (27A to 27F), and six withdrawal adjustment units 28 (28A to 28F).

The coin control unit 20 is composed mainly of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) not shown, and performs overall control of the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 by reading and executing various programs, such as a coin deposit/withdrawal program, from a memory such as a flash memory.

The coin deposit port 16 is formed in a shape scooped out like a mortar, and is provided with a separation disk 16D, a separation gate 16G, an actuator (not shown), a sensor (not shown), etc. The separation disk 16D is formed in a disk shape, is incorporated into the bottom of the coin deposit port 16, and is configured to be rotatable around a rotation axis 16DX that runs in the vertical direction. The actuator supplies driving force to the separation disk 16D under the control of the coin control unit 20. The sensor detects the presence or absence of coins in the coin deposit port 16, and notifies the coin control unit 20 of the detection result obtained.

The separation gate 16G is located near the outer periphery on the left rear side of the coin deposit port 16. The lower end portion of this separation gate 16G is formed roughly horizontally, and a gap is formed between the upper side of the separation disk 16D and the upper surface of the separation disk 16D. The distance of this gap is larger than the thickness of one coin and smaller than the thickness of two coins stacked on top of each other.

When a coin CN is inserted, as shown in FIG. 3(A), the coin deposit port 16 detects this with a sensor, rotates the separation disk 16D under the control of the coin control unit 20, and moves the coin toward the outer periphery of the separation disk 16D by centrifugal force. As a result, the coin deposit port 16 separates the coins CN one by one through the gap between the separation disk 16D and the separation gate 16G, and dispenses them to the left rear side, as shown in FIG. 3(B).

The deposit separation unit 21 (Figure 2) is located behind the separation gate 16G and is composed of a rotating shaft 21X aligned in the left-right direction, a cylindrical deposit separation roller 21R inserted into the rotating shaft 21X, a sensor (not shown), and an actuator (not shown). The rotating shaft 21X is rotatably supported and rotates together with the deposit separation roller 21R. The sensor detects the presence or absence of coins dispensed from the coin deposit port 16. Based on the control of the coin control unit 20, the actuator supplies a driving force to the rotating shaft 21X to intermittently rotate the deposit separation roller 21R.

When the deposit separation unit 21 detects a coin using a sensor, it intermittently rotates the deposit separation roller 21R under the control of the coin control unit 20, thereby sending each coin CN backward at regular intervals, as shown in Figure 3 (C).

The conveying section 22 (Figure 2) is composed of a conveying guide section 31 that forms a coin conveying path, and a conveying belt section 32 that moves the coin along the conveying path on the conveying guide section 31. The conveying guide section 31 is also composed of a recognition conveying guide section 31A that runs along the front-rear direction, and a sorting conveying guide section 31B that runs along the left-right direction. In this conveying guide section 31, the rear end of the recognition conveying guide section 31A is connected to the left end of the sorting conveying guide section 31B.

The recognition and transport guide unit 31A is disposed behind the deposit separation unit 21, and has a guide unit 41, a left regulation unit 42L, and a right regulation unit 42R, as shown in the schematic cross-sectional view of FIG. 4. The distance between the left regulation unit 42L and the right regulation unit 42R in the left-right direction is greater than the diameter of the largest diameter coin that can be handled in the coin deposit and withdrawal unit 12 (hereinafter referred to as the maximum diameter coin). The upper surface of the guide unit 41 (hereinafter referred to as the guide surface 41S) is formed in a generally horizontal plane, and it is intended that the coin will be slid backwards with the coin's plate surface in contact with the guide surface 41S.

The left regulating unit 42L is positioned on the upper left side of the guide unit 41 and regulates the leftward movement range of the coin on the guide surface 41S. Below, the right side surface of the left regulating unit 42L is referred to as the reference surface 42S. The right regulating unit 42R is positioned on the upper right side of the guide unit 41 and regulates the rightward movement range of the coin on the guide surface 41S.

From another perspective, the recognition transport guide section 31A forms a space above the guide section 41 that is surrounded by the guide surface 41S of the guide section 41, the reference surface 42S of the left regulating section 42L, and the left side surface of the right regulating section 42R, and the coins are transported backward within this space. Hereinafter, this space is also referred to as the transport space 31S, and the path along which the coins travel at this time is also referred to as the transport path.

The sorting transport guide section 31B (Figure 2) is configured as if the recognition transport guide section 31A was rotated approximately 90 degrees clockwise on a horizontal plane, with the guide section 41 and guide surface 41S extending in the left-right direction, and a transport space 31S extending in the left-right direction being formed above them.

The conveying belt section 32, which acts as a conveying section, is disposed above the conveying guide section 31 and is composed of four conveying pulleys 43A, 43B, 43C, and 43D, and a pin belt 44. Each of the conveying pulleys 43A, 43B, 43C, and 43D is formed in a cylindrical shape centered on an axis along the vertical direction, and is supported so as to be rotatable around this axis. The conveying pulley 43A is also connected to an actuator (not shown), and its rotation is controlled based on the control of the coin control section 20.

Incidentally, the conveying pulley 43A is disposed near the front end of the recognition conveying guide section 31A. The conveying pulley 43B is disposed near the rear end of the recognition conveying guide section 31A and near the left end of the sorting conveying guide section 31B. The conveying pulley 43C is disposed near the right end of the sorting conveying guide section 31B. The conveying pulley 43D is disposed to the right front side of the conveying pulley 43B.

The pin belt 44 is composed of a flexible endless belt 45 and a number of pins 46 provided at predetermined intervals on the belt 45. The belt 45 is stretched along a path that goes around the transport pulleys 43A, 43B, and 43C and abuts against the transport pulley 43D. The belt 45 runs in the recognition transport guide section 31A, approximately halfway between the right side of the left regulating section 42L and the left side of the right regulating section 42R, that is, on the upper side near the center in the left-right direction of the transport space 31S. Incidentally, the lower end of the belt 45 forms a gap between the guide surface 41S that is sufficiently large compared to the thickness of one coin.

The pin 46 is cylindrical with its central axis aligned in the vertical direction, with its upper end located near the upper end of the belt 45, while its lower end protrudes below the lower end of the belt 45 and reaches near the guide surface 41S. As shown in FIG. 4, the gap formed between the lower end of the pin 46 and the guide surface 41S is a very small gap that is much smaller than the thickness of a single coin. The above-mentioned conveying pulley 43A is also provided with a sensor that detects the position of the pin 46 and notifies the coin control unit 20.

With this configuration, the conveying unit 22 drives the actuator under the control of the coin control unit 20 to rotate the conveying pulley 43A of the conveying belt unit 32 clockwise in FIG. 2 and run the pin belt 44. The coin control unit 20 operates the deposit separation unit 21 in sync with the timing of the pins 46, thereby sending out each coin CN between the pins 46, as shown in FIG. 3 (D).

As a result, in the recognition transport guide section 31A (Figure 4), the transport section 22 can place coins on the guide surface 41S, and while regulating the left-right movement range with the left regulating section 42L and the right regulating section 42R, apply a rearward force to each coin with each pin 46, and transport the coins rearward along the transport path. In addition, in the sorting transport guide section 31B, the transport section 22 can place coins on the guide surface 41S, and while regulating the left-right movement range with each pin 46, and transport the coins rightward along the transport path.

The coin recognition unit 23 (Figure 2) is located near the center of the recognition and conveyance guide section 31A of the conveyance section 22, and detects information about the coin using multiple sensors. Based on the detection results, the coin's denomination, authenticity, or degree of damage or defacement is recognized, and the recognition results are notified to the coin control unit 20 (details will be described later). In response, the coin control unit 20 determines the conveyance destination of the coin based on the notified recognition results.

The reject branching section 24 is disposed behind the coin recognition section 23, as shown in a schematic side view in FIG. 5, and is composed of a hole 24H, a branching plate 24V, and an actuator (not shown). The hole 24H is a rectangular hole that passes through the guide section 41 in the recognition and transport guide section 31A in the vertical direction, and the length of each side is slightly larger than the diameter of the coin. The branching plate 24V is a rectangular plate member that can close the hole 24H, and is supported near its rear end so that it can rotate relative to the guide section 41 around an axis that runs in the left-right direction.

The actuator rotates the branch plate 24V by supplying a driving force to the branch plate 24V, and can transition between a closed state (shown by a solid line in FIG. 5) in which the branch plate 24V closes the hole 24H, and an open state (shown by a dashed line in FIG. 5) in which the front end of the branch plate 24V is raised above the guide portion 41 (guide surface 41S) to open the hole 24H. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 2, the branch plate 24V has a large cut-out portion formed near the center in the left-right direction, extending from the front end to the rear end, so that interference with the pin belt 44 can be avoided in the open state.

The reject conveying path 25 is a sloping conveying path that gradually descends from the reject branching section 24 toward the reject opening 17. When a coin falls from the reject branching section 24, gravity is used to slide the coin down and make it reach the reject opening 17.

For example, if the recognition result obtained from the coin recognition unit 23 indicates that a coin that has passed through the coin recognition unit 23 is a coin that cannot be handled by the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 (hereinafter referred to as a rejected coin), the coin control unit 20 determines that the coin should be transported to the reject port 17 (Figures 1 and 2). At this time, the reject branching unit 24 transitions the branching plate 24V to an open state using an actuator based on the control of the coin control unit 20. As a result, the coin abuts against the underside of the branching plate 24V and falls downward through the hole 24H, and as shown by coin CN and arrow U1 in Figure 6 (A), it slides forward along the reject transport path 25, eventually reaching the reject port 17 and being removed by the cashier.

On the other hand, if the recognition result obtained from the coin recognition unit 23 indicates that the coin that has passed the coin recognition unit 23 is of one of the denominations that can be handled by the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12, the coin control unit 20 determines that the destination of the coin is the storage vault 27 of that denomination (described in detail below). At this time, under the control of the coin control unit 20, the reject branching unit 24 transitions the branching plate 24V to a closed state using an actuator. As a result, the coin passes above the branching plate 24V at the reject branching unit 24, as shown by coin CN and arrow U2 in Figure 6 (B), is transported backward along the recognition transport guide unit 31A by the transport unit 22, and is further transported to the right along the sorting transport guide unit 31B.

The six storage bin branching sections 26 (26A to 26F) shown in FIG. 2 are arranged so as to be aligned in the left-right direction in the sorting and transporting guide section 31B. Each storage bin branching section 26 is configured similarly to the reject branching section 24, and has a hole 26H provided in the guide section 41A in the sorting and transporting guide section 31B, a rotatable branching plate 26V, and an actuator (not shown), etc. Each storage bin branching section 26 is assigned a different denomination (for example, 1 yen, 10 yen, 100 yen, 500 yen, 50 yen, and 5 yen).

The six storage cabinets 27 (27A-27F) are arranged adjacent to one another in the left-right direction. Each storage cabinet 27 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the front-to-back direction, short in the left-to-right direction, and has a certain depth in the up-down direction, and is capable of storing coins therein. Like each storage cabinet branch section 26, each storage cabinet 27 is assigned a different denomination.

The rear end of each storage vault 27 is located below the sorting and transporting guide section 31B, i.e., below each storage vault branch section 26. Therefore, when a coin falls from each storage vault branch section 26, the coin is stored in the storage vault 27 located below it. In addition, the front end of each storage vault 27 is adjacent to the rear side of the coin withdrawal port 18.

The coin control unit 20 appropriately opens and closes each storage vault branch section 26 based on the denomination recognized by the coin recognition unit 23. As a result, the coin control unit 20 can transport the coin CN by the transport unit 22 along the sorting transport guide section 31B, as shown by the coin CN and arrow U3 in Figure 6 (B), and drop it from the storage vault branch section 26 corresponding to its denomination and store it in the storage vault 27.

The bottom of the storage 27 (Fig. 2) is inclined so that it becomes higher from the rear to the front, and a conveyor belt is built in. This conveyor belt is stretched so that it goes around multiple conveyor pulleys (not shown), and when a driving force is supplied from an actuator (not shown), the conveyor belt is run, causing the bottom part of the storage 27 to move forward and backward.

The six dispensing adjustment units 28 (28A to 28F) are arranged near the front end of each storage unit 27 (27A to 27F) and are composed of a rotating shaft 28X, a dispensing roller 28R, and an actuator and a sensor (not shown). The rotating shaft 28X is formed in a long, thin columnar shape along the left-right direction, is arranged to pass through the six storage units 27, and is supported rotatably. Each dispensing roller 28R is formed in a cylindrical shape centered on an axis along the left-right direction, and is inserted into the rotating shaft 28X. The actuator supplies a driving force to the rotating shaft 28X to rotate it based on the control of the coin control unit 20. The sensor detects coins in front of the dispensing roller 28R and notifies the coin control unit 20 of the detection result.

When dispensing coins stored in the storage vaults 27 as change, the coin control unit 20 conveys the stored coins forward by running the conveyor belt and moving the bottom portion forward. The coin control unit 20 also adjusts the number of coins dispensed from each storage vault 27 by appropriately rotating each dispensing roller 28R while monitoring the detection results obtained from each sensor in the dispensing adjustment unit 28. As a result, the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 can pay out the desired denomination and number of coins from each storage vault 27 and store them in the coin withdrawal port 18, and the cashier can remove these coins.

[1-3. Configuration of coin recognition unit]
Next, the configuration of the coin recognition unit 23 will be described in detail. As shown in a schematic plan view in Fig. 7 and a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line A1-A2 in Fig. 8, the coin recognition unit 23 is disposed so as to be embedded in the middle of the recognition and transport guide section 31A (Fig. 3). Specifically, the coin recognition unit 23 includes a recognition control section 50, a lower sensor frame 51, an upper left sensor frame 52, an upper right sensor frame 53, an optical information acquisition section 54, a magnetic information acquisition section 55, a blade biasing section 57, a brush biasing section 58, etc.

Incidentally, in the coin recognition unit 23, coins are conveyed from the front to the rear by the pin belt 44, similar to the recognition conveyance guide unit 31A of the conveyance unit 22. For this reason, in the following, focusing on the progress of the coin, the front side is also referred to as the upstream side, and the rear side is also referred to as the downstream side. In the following, the rear direction in which the coins are conveyed by the conveyance unit 22 is also referred to as the conveyance direction, and the left-right direction perpendicular to this conveyance direction on the guide surface 41S is also referred to as the width direction.

The recognition control unit 50 is composed mainly of a CPU (not shown), and reads and executes various programs such as a recognition program from a storage unit such as a flash memory, and performs various processes related to coin recognition based on various information obtained from the optical information acquisition unit 54 and the magnetic information acquisition unit 55.

The lower sensor frame 51 is made of a non-magnetic material and is formed into a relatively large rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is disposed so as to be embedded halfway into the guide section 41. The upper surface of the lower sensor frame 51, which is the guide surface 51S, is formed flat, and forms a plane that is continuous with the guide surface 41S of the guide section 41. The left regulating section 42L and a part of the right regulating section 42R are disposed on the upper side of the lower sensor frame 51. In addition, a thin plate-shaped reference abutment plate 42B is provided on the right side of the left regulating section 42L, and the right side surface of the reference abutment plate 42B forms the reference surface 42S. Incidentally, the reference surface 42S is a plane that is approximately perpendicular to the guide surface 41S.

The upper left sensor frame 52 is made of a non-magnetic material and is formed into a relatively small rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is fixed to the upper left rear portion of the lower sensor frame 51 at a distance from the guide surface 51S equal to the thickness (i.e., the vertical length) of the left regulating portion 42L. In other words, the upper left sensor frame 52 is positioned opposite the guide surface 41S across the transport space 31S.

The upper right sensor frame 53 is made of a non-magnetic material and is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped shape that is shorter in the front-rear direction than the upper left sensor frame 52, and is fixed to the upper right rear part of the lower sensor frame 51 at a distance from the guide surface 51S equal to the thickness of the right regulating part 42R. When the upper right sensor frame 53 is viewed from the front (Figure 8), the vicinity of the lower left end (apex) has a shape that looks like it has been cut off diagonally. Incidentally, a gap is formed between the upper left sensor frame 52 and the upper right sensor frame 53 to allow the pin belt 44 to pass through. Hereinafter, the upper left sensor frame 52 and the upper right sensor frame 53 are collectively referred to as the conveyor facing part.

The optical information acquisition unit 54, which serves as an optical sensor, is embedded in the front side of the lower sensor frame 51 midway through the guide unit 41, and is composed of a light-transmitting member 54T, as well as a light-emitting element, a lens, an image sensor, and the like (not shown). The light-transmitting member 54T is a plate-like member that is light-transmitting and has high strength, such as single crystal sapphire. The guide surface 54TS, which is the upper surface of this light-transmitting member 54T, is formed flat and forms a plane that is continuous with the front guide surface 41S and the rear guide surface 51S. For convenience, hereinafter, the guide surface 54TS and the guide surface 51S will be collectively referred to as the guide surface 41S.

The light-emitting element is disposed below the light-transmitting member 54T, and emits light such as visible light or infrared light, which travels upward. This light passes through the light-transmitting member 54T and reaches the transport space 31S above it. Furthermore, if there is a coin in the transport space 31S, this light is reflected by the underside of the coin, becoming reflected light, which passes through the light-transmitting member 54T and travels downward.

The lens is positioned at a different location from the light-emitting element below the light-transmitting member 54T, and focuses the reflected light. The image sensor is positioned at or near the focal point below the lens, and captures an image of the reflected light focused by the lens, converts it into an electrical signal, and supplies it to the recognition control unit 50. The recognition control unit 50 forms image data based on the obtained electrical signal, and uses this image data for the coin recognition process.

The magnetic information acquisition unit 55 is composed of three sets of sensors: a lower material sensor 55A, an overall material sensor 55B, and an outer diameter sensor 55C. As shown in FIG. 7, the lower material sensor 55A is located slightly to the right of the upper left sensor frame 52. The lower material sensor 55A is embedded in the lower sensor frame 51, which is below the transfer space 31S, as shown in FIG. 9(A), which is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line B1-B2 in FIG. 7.

This lower material sensor 55A has a magnetic flux transmitter that transmits magnetic flux toward the upper side, and a magnetic flux receiver that receives magnetic flux arriving from the upper side. It generates a lower material reception signal as information representing the reception result by the magnetic flux receiver and notifies the recognition control unit 50. The recognition control unit 50 determines the surface material of the lower side of the coin based on the obtained lower material reception signal.

As shown in FIG. 7, the overall material sensor 55B is disposed on the left side behind the lower material sensor 55A, i.e., relatively close to the reference surface 42S. As shown in FIG. 9(B), which is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line C1-C2 in FIG. 7, this overall material sensor 55B is composed of an overall material sensor transmitter 55BL embedded in the lower sensor frame 51 below the transfer space 31S, and an overall material sensor receiver 55BU embedded in the upper left sensor frame 52 above the transfer space 31S.

The overall material sensor transmitter 55BL has a magnetic flux transmitter that transmits magnetic flux upward. When a coin is present in the transport space 31S, part of this magnetic flux is blocked by the coin, and the remainder passes through the coin. The overall material sensor receiver 55BU receives the magnetic flux transmitted from the overall material sensor transmitter 55BL and that has passed through the coin, generates an overall material reception signal, and notifies the recognition control unit 50. The recognition control unit 50 determines the overall material of the coin based on the obtained overall material reception signal.

As shown in FIG. 7, the outer diameter sensor 55C is located behind the overall material sensor 55B and to the right of the lower material sensor 55A and the overall material sensor 55B, i.e., to the right of the portion where the pin belt 44 passes, and at a position relatively far from the reference surface 42S. As shown in FIG. 9(C), which is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line D1-D2 in FIG. 7, this outer diameter sensor 55C is composed of an outer diameter sensor transmitter 55CL embedded in the lower sensor frame 51 below the transfer space 31S, and an outer diameter sensor receiver 55CU embedded in the upper right sensor frame 53 above the transfer space 31S.

The outer diameter sensor transmitter 55CL, like the entire material sensor transmitter 55BL, has a magnetic flux transmitter that transmits magnetic flux upward. When a coin is present in the transport space 31S, part of this magnetic flux is blocked by the coin, and the remainder passes through the coin. The outer diameter sensor receiver 55CU, like the entire material sensor receiver 55BU, receives the magnetic flux transmitted from the outer diameter sensor transmitter 55CL and that has passed through the coin, generates an outer diameter reception signal, and notifies the recognition control unit 50. The recognition control unit 50 determines the outer diameter of the coin based on the obtained outer diameter reception signal.

The mounting positions of the sensors in the magnetic information acquisition unit 55 are adjusted in the left-right direction on the assumption that the coins are transported in the transport space 31S with their left ends in contact with the reference surface 42S. For this reason, in the coin recognition unit 23 (Figure 7), the blade biasing unit 57 and the brush biasing unit 58 bias the coins in the transport space 31S toward the reference surface 42S.

The blade biasing section 57 (Figure 7) is composed of a shaft 57X, a blade 57A, a contact section 57B, a locking body 57C, and a spring 57D. The shaft 57X is an elongated cylinder with its central axis aligned in the vertical direction, and stands upright from a portion of the top surface of the guide section 41 located to the left of the optical information acquisition section 54.

Blade 57A is made of a specific resin material and has a polyhedral shape that is long in the front-to-back direction, short in the left-to-right direction, and short in the up-to-down direction as a whole. The vertical length of blade 57A is smaller (shorter) than the vertical length of left regulating portion 42L and right regulating portion 42R, i.e., the vertical length of conveying space 31S, and is larger (longer) than the thickness of one coin.

Blade 57A is shaped so that about half of its front side is bent toward the left, while about half of its rear side is bent toward the left. When viewed from above, the left side of blade 57A is shaped like a straight line bent in two places into a crank shape, with the front and rear parts roughly aligned in the front-to-rear direction, while the center part is aligned in a diagonal direction connecting the front right side and the rear left side. Incidentally, the upper and lower sides of blade 57A are planar and nearly parallel to guide surface 41S, and the front, rear, left and right sides are planar and nearly perpendicular to guide surface 41S.

The rear end of the blade 57A is located behind the lower material sensor 55A, forward of the overall material sensor 55B and outer diameter sensor 55C, and forward of the front end of the upper right sensor frame 53. Furthermore, the blade 57A has a round shaft hole 57AH drilled in the vicinity of the front end thereof in the vertical direction. The shaft body 57X is inserted through the shaft hole 57AH, and the blade 57A can rotate on the guide surface 41S around the shaft body 57X.

The abutment portion 57B is made of a non-magnetic material with high rigidity, such as stainless steel or ceramic, and is electrically insulated from other portions. This abutment portion 57B is composed of a central abutment portion 57BC and a rear abutment portion 57BE, each of which is formed into a thin plate. The central abutment portion 57BC covers the central portion of the left side surface of the blade 57A. The rear abutment portion 57BE covers the rear portion of the left side surface of the blade 57A.

The locking body 57C is a rectangular parallelepiped that is sufficiently small compared to the blade 57A, and is disposed on the guide surface 41S to the rear and left of the shaft 57X. When the blade 57A attempts to rotate counterclockwise around the shaft 57X, the locking body 57C comes into contact with the front portion of the left side surface of the blade 57A, limiting the range of rotation. The spring 57D is, for example, a coil spring that extends in the left-right direction, and when compressed from its natural state, its right end is fixed to the guide portion 41, and its left end is attached near the rear end of the blade 57A.

With this configuration, the blade biasing unit 57 can increase or decrease (i.e., change) the distance between the contact portion 57B and the reference surface 42S by rotating the blade 57A around the shaft 57X, in other words, move the contact portion 57B closer to or further away from the reference surface 42S. In addition, the blade biasing unit 57 rotates the blade 57A counterclockwise around the shaft 57X by the action of the restoring force of the spring 57D, and stops it when it comes into contact with the locking body 57C. At this time, the rear contact portion 57BE is located to the right of the lower material sensor 55A, and forms a relatively small (short) gap between it and the reference surface 42S in the left-right direction. This gap is shorter than the diameter of the coin with the smallest diameter (hereinafter referred to as the minimum diameter coin) handled by the coin depositing and dispensing unit 12.

The brush urging part 58 (Fig. 7) is elongated in the front-rear direction overall, i.e., it is a substantially straight line extending along the front-rear direction when viewed from above, and is attached to the left side surface of the upper right sensor frame 53. In other words, the brush urging part 58 is provided on the opposite side of the reference surface 42S in the left-right direction, sandwiching the pin belt 44 therebetween. The front end of the brush urging part 58 is located rearward (downstream) of the front end of the upper right sensor frame 53, and forward (upstream) of the outer diameter sensor 55C. The rear end of the brush urging part 58 is also located rearward (downstream) of the outer diameter sensor 55C.

In the front-to-rear direction, the distance from the rear end of the blade biasing portion 57 to the front end of the brush biasing portion 58 is approximately 0.5 to 1.0 times the diameter of the smallest diameter coin. In addition, the distance from the center of the entire material sensor 55B to the front end of the brush biasing portion 58 is approximately 0.3 to 0.5 times the diameter of the smallest diameter coin. The distance from the front end of the holding portion 58A to the center of the outer diameter sensor 55C is approximately 0.2 to 0.4 times the diameter of the smallest diameter coin. The distance from the center of the outer diameter sensor 55C to the rear end of the brush biasing portion 58 is more than 0.5 times the diameter of the smallest diameter coin.

Furthermore, the distance from the reference surface 42S in the left-right direction to the front end of the brush biasing portion 58 is greater than the radius of the maximum diameter coin and slightly shorter than the diameter of the minimum diameter coin. Also, the length of the brush biasing portion 58 in the front-rear direction is roughly equal to the diameter of the minimum diameter coin.

The brush biasing portion 58 is composed of a holding portion 58A, a bristle portion 58B, and a restricting portion 58C. The holding portion 58A is attached to the left side surface of the upper right sensor frame 53, and is formed into a rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the front-to-rear direction, short in the up-down direction, and extremely short in the left-to-right direction. As shown in FIG. 8, the upper and lower ends of the holding portion 58A are located at approximately the same height as the upper and lower ends of the left side surface of the upper right sensor frame 53.

The hair section 58B is a bundle of many hairs, i.e., many long, fibrous objects, and the vicinity of its upper end is embedded and held inside the holding section 58A. That is, the hair section 58B is in a state where it grows downward from almost the entire range of the lower surface of the holding section 58A. In other words, the brush biasing section 58 is configured in a shape similar to a brush. Each hair that constitutes the hair section 58B has a linear, long, thin shape that runs vertically, and is a flexible member that has flexibility. For convenience of explanation, the lower end of the hair section 58B and each hair will be referred to as one end, and the upper end will be referred to as the other end.

The vertical length of the hair body portion 58B is slightly longer than the vertical length of the right regulating portion 42R, i.e., the vertical length of the transport space 31S, and is, for example, about 5 to 6 times the thickness of the thickest coin handled by the coin deposit and withdrawal unit 12 (hereinafter referred to as the thickest coin). The lower end of the hair body portion 58B is located above the guide surface 41S with a small gap. This gap is 1/3 or less the thickness of the thinnest coin handled by the coin deposit and withdrawal unit 12 (hereinafter referred to as the thinnest coin).

If a horizontal external force is applied near the bottom end of hair section 58B, the flexibility of each hair causes it to bend in the direction of the external force and exerts a restoring force that attempts to return it to its original shape (a straight line extending vertically).

The regulating portion 58C is configured as a plate-like member that is long in the front-to-rear direction, short in the up-down direction, and thin in the left-to-right direction. The front-to-rear length of the regulating portion 58C is equal to the front-to-rear length of the holding portion 58A. The up-to-down length of the regulating portion 58C is longer than the up-to-down length of the holding portion 58A, and is approximately the up-to-down length of the holding portion 58A plus about half the up-to-down length of the hair portion 58B.

The restricting portion 58C is attached to the left side of the retaining portion 58A so that the positions of the upper end, front end, and rear end are approximately aligned with those of the retaining portion 58A. In other words, the restricting portion 58C has its lower portion adjacent to the left side of approximately the upper half of the hair portion 58B. In this way, the restricting portion 58C restricts the hair portion 58B from bending significantly to the left while allowing the area near the lower end to bend to the front, rear, and right.

As shown in Figures 7 to 9, the coin recognition unit 23 is provided with three types of sensors as the magnetic information acquisition unit 55: a lower material sensor 55A, an overall material sensor 55B, and an outer diameter sensor 55C. Of these, the lower material sensor 55A, the overall material sensor transmitter 55BL of the overall material sensor 55B, and the outer diameter sensor transmitter 55CL of the outer diameter sensor 55C are located below the transport space 31S, and are therefore provided within the lower sensor frame 51.

On the other hand, the overall material sensor receiver 55BU of the overall material sensor 55B, which is part of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55, and the outer diameter sensor receiver 55CU of the outer diameter sensor 55C must be placed above the transfer space 31S. In other words, in order to receive magnetic flux, the overall material sensor receiver 55BU and the outer diameter sensor receiver 55CU must be positioned opposite the overall material sensor transmitter 55BL and the outer diameter sensor transmitter 55CL, respectively, and must be placed within a predetermined distance.

For this reason, in the coin recognition unit 23, an upper left sensor frame 52 and an upper right sensor frame 53 are provided only on the rear side of the upper side of the transport space 31S, and an overall material sensor receiver 55BU and an outer diameter sensor receiver 55CU are arranged inside them, respectively.

In this way, the coin recognition unit 23 has an optical information acquisition unit 54 and a magnetic information acquisition unit 55 (lower material sensor 55A, overall material sensor 55B, and outer diameter sensor 55C) that acquire information from the coin, as well as a blade biasing unit 57 and a brush biasing unit 58.

[1-4. Coin Recognition Processing in the Coin Recognition Unit]
Next, the coin recognition process in the coin recognition unit 23, i.e., the process of acquiring various pieces of information from the coin by the optical information acquisition unit 54 and the magnetic information acquisition unit 55 while transporting the coin by the pin belt 44 of the conveyor belt unit 32, will be described.

In the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12, as shown in Figures 3(A) to (D), when a coin CN is inserted into the coin deposit port 16, the separation disk 16D is rotated to separate and dispense the coin CN one by one through the gap with the separation gate 16G, and the coin is sent rearward at regular intervals by the deposit/separation unit 21. As a result, each coin CN is transported rearward along the recognition/transport guide unit 31A by each pin 46 of the pin belt 44, and reaches the coin recognition unit 23. At this time, the coin CN is transported without necessarily abutting against the reference surface 42S, as shown in Figure 3(D).

In the coin recognition unit 23, first, as shown in FIG. 10(A), the coin CN comes into contact with the central contact portion 57BC of the blade biasing portion 57. Here, the central contact portion 57BC is an inclined surface connecting the right front side and the left rear side when viewed from above, and is inclined with respect to the conveying direction (i.e. the rearward direction). Therefore, the coin CN is subjected to a force acting in the left front direction from the central contact portion 57BC. This force can be considered as the resultant force of a force acting in the forward direction and a force acting in the leftward direction. Meanwhile, the coin CN is subjected to a relatively large force acting in the rearward direction from the pin 46 of the pin belt 44.

As a result, the forward component of the force received from the blade biasing unit 57 is cancelled out and the coin CN moves backward, while the leftward component of the force received from the blade biasing unit 57 causes the left end of the coin CN to abut against the reference surface 42S, as shown in FIG. 10(B).

Next, in the coin recognition unit 23, as shown in FIG. 10(C), when the coin CN receives a force from the pin 46 of the pin belt 44 in the rearward direction, the coin CN is advanced in the rearward direction while the left end of the coin CN is kept in contact with the reference surface 42S. At this time, the coin recognition unit 23 transmits part of the force applied to the coin CN from the pin 46 to the blade biasing unit 57 from near the right end of the coin CN. This causes the blade biasing unit 57 to rotate the blade 57A clockwise while compressing the spring 57D, widening the gap between the rear contact portion 57BE and the reference surface 42S. At this time, part of the coin CN is directly above the lower material sensor 55A in the coin recognition unit 23, and the lower material sensor 55A detects information from the coin CN.

When the distance between the rear contact portion 57BE and the reference surface 42S widens to the same diameter as the coin CN, the coin recognition unit 23 advances the coin CN backwards while keeping the left end of the coin CN in contact with the reference surface 42S and bringing the vicinity of the right end of the coin CN into contact with the rear contact portion 57BE, as shown in FIG. 10(D). At this time, the blade biasing unit 57 applies a force from the rear contact portion 57BE to the coin CN in a direction generally to the left. This allows the coin CN to continue to advance backwards while keeping its left end in contact with the reference surface 42S.

Then, as shown in FIG. 11, part of the coin CN reaches the position of the overall material sensor 55B, i.e., between the overall material sensor receiving unit 55BU and the overall material sensor transmitting unit 55BL, and the coin recognition unit 23 detects information from the coin CN.

At this time, in the coin recognition unit 23, the rear right part of the coin CN reaches directly below the brush biasing unit 58, so that the vicinity of the lower end of the hair body portion 58B is biased in the upper right rear direction and bent, as shown in FIG. 12, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line E1-E2 in FIG. 11. As a result, the brush biasing unit 58 exerts a force on the coin CN in the lower left front direction due to the restoring force of the hair body portion 58B. This force can be considered to be the resultant force of a force in the forward direction, a force in the left direction, and a force in the downward direction. Meanwhile, the coin CN is subjected to a relatively large force in the rear direction from the pin 46 of the pin belt 44.

As a result, the forward component of the force received from the brush biasing unit 58 is cancelled out and the coin CN moves backward, while the leftward component causes the left end to abut against the reference surface 42S, and the downward component causes the bottom surface to maintain abutment against the guide surface 41S.

Next, in the coin recognition unit 23, the coin CN is transported further rearward by the movement of the pin belt 44, and as shown in FIG. 13, the coin CN separates from the rear abutment portion 57BE of the blade biasing unit 57 and is no longer subjected to force from the blade biasing unit 57.

As shown in Figure 14(A), which is a cross-sectional view taken along line F1-F2 in Figure 13, near the front end or center of the brush biasing portion 58, the vicinity of the lower end of the hair portion 58B rides up on the coin CN. At this time, a rearward force is acting on the hair portion 58B as the coin CN moves rearward, and bending to the left is restricted by the restricting portion 58C, so that the vicinity of the lower end is bent to the upper-right rear. As a result, the restoring force of the hair portion 58B exerts a force on the coin CN in a left-front-downward direction.

As shown in Fig. 14(B), which is a cross-sectional view taken along line G1-G2 in Fig. 13, near the rear end of the brush biasing portion 58, the rear right portion of the coin CN biases the lower end of the hair portion 58B in an upward and rear right direction, causing it to bend in the same manner as in Fig. 12. As a result, the brush biasing portion 58 exerts a force on the coin CN in a downward and front left direction due to the restoring force of the hair portion 58B.

The force acting on the coin CN in the left-front downward direction from each part of the brush biasing unit 58 can be considered as the resultant force of the forward force, the leftward force, and the downward force, as in the case described above. On the other hand, the coin CN receives a relatively large rearward force from the pin 46 of the pin belt 44. As a result, the forward component of the force received from the brush biasing unit 58 is canceled out and the coin CN moves rearward, while the leftward component causes the left end to abut against the reference surface 42S, and the downward component causes the lower surface to maintain abutment against the guide surface 41S.

At this time, part of the coin CN passes between the outer diameter sensor transmitter 55CL and the outer diameter sensor receiver 55CU of the outer diameter sensor 55C, and the coin recognition unit 23 detects information from the coin CN. That is, the coin recognition unit 23 can detect information about the outer diameter of the coin CN while the left end of the coin CN is in contact with the reference surface 42S and the lower surface is in contact with the guide surface 41S.

[1-5. Effects, etc.]
In the above configuration, the coin recognition unit 23 of the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 according to the first embodiment is provided with an optical information acquisition unit 54 and a magnetic information acquisition unit 55, etc., which detect information about the coin, as well as a blade biasing unit 57 and a brush biasing unit 58 which bias the coin toward the reference surface 42S.

When a coin CN is transported from the front by the pin belt 44 of the transport unit 22, the coin recognition unit 23 urges the coin CN leftward using the blade urging unit 57, causing the coin CN to move backward while its left end abuts against the reference surface 42S (Figures 10 (A) to (D)). At this time, the blade urging unit 57 first advances the coin CN leftward and causes it to abut against the reference surface 42S, because the central abutment portion 57BC is inclined relative to the transport direction. Thereafter, the blade urging unit 57 appropriately rotates the blade 57A, using the restoring force of the spring 57D to maintain the state in which the left end of the coin CN abuts against the reference surface 42S, and causes the coin CN to move backward.

Then, the coin recognition unit 23 moves the coin CN backward while keeping it in contact with the reference surface 42S by the brush biasing unit 58 (Figures 11 to 14). At this time, when the coin CN comes into contact with the vicinity of the lower end of the hair body portion 58B, the brush biasing unit 58 applies a force in the left front downward direction due to the restoring force of the hair body portion 58B, which bends in the right rear upward direction. As a result, the brush biasing unit 58 brings the coin CN into contact with the reference surface 42S with the leftward component of this force, and maintains the state in which the coin CN is pressed against the guide surface 41S with the downward component.

In this way, the coin recognition unit 23 uses the blade biasing unit 57 and brush biasing unit 58 to bring the coin CN into contact with the reference surface 42S, and then moves it backwards while pressing it against the guide surface 41S, and detects information about the coin CN using the lower material sensor 55A, overall material sensor 55B, and outer diameter sensor 55C of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55. Therefore, based on the information obtained from each sensor, the coin recognition unit 23 can accurately determine the surface material, overall material, and outer diameter of the coin CN in the recognition control unit 50, and based on this, can recognize the denomination and authenticity of the coin CN with high accuracy.

In addition, in the coin verification unit 23, the brush biasing unit 58 is positioned to the right of the pin belt 44, that is, on the opposite side of the pin belt 44 to the reference surface 42S (Figure 7). Therefore, in the coin verification unit 23, when the coin CN reaches the front end of the brush biasing unit 58 due to the movement of the pin belt 44 (Figure 11), the right side of the front end part of the coin, which is inclined to connect the left front side and the right rear side when viewed from above, is abutted against the vicinity of the lower end of the hair body part 58B. At this time, since the coin CN advances rearward in the coin verification unit 23, it can be actively bent in the right rear upper direction against the vicinity of the lower end of the hair body part 58B, and the restoring force can be applied to the coin CN in the left front lower direction, that is, a force can be applied to the coin CN toward the reference surface 42S and the guide surface 41S.

Furthermore, the brush biasing section 58 is provided with a regulating section 58C at a position adjacent to the right side of the holding section 58A and the hair section 58B (Figure 8). As a result, the coin recognition section 23 can effectively prevent the hair section 58B from bending to the left when the vicinity of the lower end of the hair section 58B comes into contact with the coin CN or rides up on the coin CN. This allows the coin recognition section 23 to prevent the restoring force of the hair section 58B from acting on the coin CN with a force that includes a rightward component, i.e., from acting on the coin CN to pull it away from the reference surface 42S, and allows the coin CN to stably come into contact with the reference surface 42S.

Here, for comparison with the coin recognition unit 23 according to the first embodiment, we will assume a virtual first coin recognition unit 123 and a virtual second coin recognition unit 223 in which the configurations of the blade energizing unit 57 and the brush energizing unit 58 are virtually changed in two ways, and explain how they recognize the transported coin CN.

As shown in Figures 15 and 16, which correspond to Figures 7 and 8, the first virtual first coin verification unit 123 is provided with a blade urging unit 157 in place of the blade urging unit 57, but the brush urging unit 58 is omitted, compared to the coin verification unit 23 according to the first embodiment. The blade urging unit 157 has a similar configuration to the blade urging unit 57, but instead of the blade 57A and the abutment unit 57B, a blade 157A and an abutment unit 157B are provided.

Blade 157A is shaped such that the rear portion of blade 57A extends rearward and reaches the rear side of outer diameter sensor 55C. Abutment portion 157B extends rearward to match blade 157A with rear abutment portion 157BE replacing rear abutment portion 57BE. That is, blade 157A and rear abutment portion 157BE are partially inserted under the upper right sensor frame 53. Incidentally, in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123, part of right regulating portion 42R is omitted from the viewpoint of avoiding interference with blade 157A, and upper right sensor frame 53 is supported by support portion 156 provided on the rear side.

When a coin CN is transported from the front by the pin belt 44, this virtual first coin recognition unit 123 can abut the coin CN against the blade biasing unit 157, rotate the blade 157A appropriately, and advance the coin CN backward while abutting against the reference surface 42S, as shown in Figures 17(A) to (D) corresponding to Figure 10 etc.

However, in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123, although the blade biasing unit 157 applies a force to the coin CN generally in the left direction, this force contains almost no downward component, so there is a possibility that the coin CN will float up from the guide surface 41S during transport. In addition, in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123, as shown in FIG. 16, the gap between the rear part of the blade 157A and the upper right sensor frame 53 is relatively narrow, so there is a possibility that a foreign object OBJ will be caught between the two, as shown in FIG. 18. In this case, in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123, the blade 157A cannot rotate, so there is a possibility that the coin CN cannot be biased toward the reference surface 42S. In these cases, there is a risk that the accuracy of the information detected from the coin CN by each sensor of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55 in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123 will be significantly reduced.

In this case, the virtual first coin recognition unit 123 requires maintenance work to remove the foreign object OBJ, and from the viewpoint of increasing the efficiency of the maintenance work, it is conceivable to configure the upper right sensor frame 53 to be detachable from the lower sensor frame 51. However, in this case, in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123, the positional accuracy of the outer diameter sensor receiving unit 55CU in the upper right sensor frame 53 relative to the outer diameter sensor transmitting unit 55CL in the lower sensor frame 51 decreases, so the accuracy of the obtained outer diameter receiving signal decreases, and there is a risk that the accuracy in determining the outer diameter of the coin CN may also decrease.

As shown in FIG. 19, which corresponds to FIG. 7, the second virtual second coin recognition unit 223 is different from the coin recognition unit 23 according to the first embodiment in that the blade biasing unit 57 is omitted and a virtual brush biasing unit 258 is provided instead. This virtual brush biasing unit 258 is disposed in front of the brush biasing unit 58, and is configured in the same manner as the brush biasing unit 58, and has hair body portion 258B corresponding to hair body portion 58B, etc.

When a coin CN is transported from the front by the pin belt 44, the coin CN comes into contact with the front end of the virtual brush biasing unit 258, biasing the vicinity of the lower end of the hair body portion 258B in an upper-right front direction, causing it to bend. As a result, the virtual brush biasing unit 258 exerts a force on the coin CN in a lower-left front direction due to the restoring force of the hair body portion 258B, and the leftward component of this force biases the coin CN to the left.

However, in the virtual second coin recognition unit 223, the force acting on the coin CN from the hair body portion 258B to the left is smaller (weaker) than in the blade biasing unit 57 (Figure 7). For this reason, in the virtual second coin recognition unit 223, for example, when the coin CN is transported in a position relatively to the right in the transport space 31S, it may take a relatively long time for the left end of the coin CN to abut against the reference surface 42S. As a result, in the virtual second coin recognition unit 223, as shown in Figures 20 (A) to (C), when information is detected from the coin CN by each sensor of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55, the left end of the coin CN may not abut against the reference surface 42S, and in this case, the accuracy of the detected information may be significantly deteriorated.

In addition, in the virtual second coin recognition unit 223, as shown in FIG. 21, when a part of the coin CN comes into contact with the front end of the brush energizing unit 58, forces are applied to the coin CN from the pin 46 of the pin belt 44, the hair portion 258B of the virtual brush energizing unit 258, and the hair portion 58B of the brush energizing unit 58.

At this time, the pin 46 exerts a relatively large force F46 in a rearward direction on the vicinity of the front end of the coin CN. Each portion from the front end to the rear end of the hair body portion 258B exerts a relatively small force F258 mainly in a front-down direction on a slightly right side of the top surface of the coin CN, i.e., to the right of the pin 46. Furthermore, the hair body portion 58B exerts a relatively small force F58 in a left-front-downward direction on the right side of the vicinity of the rear end of the coin CN with its front end portion.

In other words, on coin CN, forces F46 and F258 act in opposite directions in the front-to-back direction, and force F46 acts to the left of force F258. Furthermore, while force F46 does not contain a component that acts in a downward direction, force F258 does contain a component that acts in a downward direction. Furthermore, force F58, like force F258, also contains a component that acts in a forward direction and a component that acts in a downward direction.

As a result, a clockwise moment is generated in the coin CN, centered on point Q, which is located near the front end of the virtual brush biasing unit 258. If this force becomes larger than the leftward component of F58 caused by the brush biasing unit 58, the virtual second coin recognition unit 223 will cause the coin CN to rotate around point Q, pulling the left end away from the reference surface 42S. As a result, there is a risk that the accuracy of the virtual second coin recognition unit 223 will decrease significantly, particularly when detecting information from the coin CN using the outer diameter sensor 55C.

As such, in the virtual first coin recognition unit 123 which omits the brush biasing unit 58, and the virtual second coin recognition unit 223 which omits the blade biasing unit 57, it may be difficult to bring the coin CN into contact with the reference surface 42S or to maintain that contact state, which may reduce the accuracy of the information detected from the coin CN.

In contrast to these, the coin recognition unit 23 according to the first embodiment (Figures 7 to 9) is provided with a combination of a blade biasing unit 57 and a brush biasing unit 58, which makes it easy to bring the coin CN into contact with the reference surface 42S and to maintain that contact state, and can obtain highly accurate recognition results based on the information detected from the coin CN.

According to the above configuration, when a coin CN is transported by the pin belt 44, the coin recognition unit 23 of the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 according to the first embodiment uses the blade biasing unit 57 to bias the coin CN to the left and bring it into contact with the reference surface 42S. The coin recognition unit 23 also flexes the hair portion 58B of the brush biasing unit 58 to apply a force to the coin CN in a left-front downward direction, and causes the coin CN to move backward while maintaining its state of contact with the reference surface 42S and the guide surface 41S, and detects information using the sensors of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55. This allows the coin recognition unit 23 to accurately determine the surface material, overall material, and outer diameter of the coin CN from the obtained information, and to recognize the denomination and authenticity of the coin CN with high accuracy.

2. Second embodiment
A cash register change system 301 (FIG. 1) according to the second embodiment differs from the cash register change system 1 according to the first embodiment in that it has a change machine 303 instead of the change machine 3, but is otherwise configured in a similar manner. The change machine 303 differs from the change machine 3 according to the first embodiment in that it has a coin deposit/withdrawal unit 312 instead of the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12, but is otherwise configured in a similar manner. The coin deposit/withdrawal unit 312 (FIG. 2) differs from the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 according to the first embodiment in that it has a coin verification unit 323 instead of the coin verification unit 23, but is otherwise configured in a similar manner.

As shown in Figures 22 and 23, which correspond to Figures 7 and 8, the coin recognition unit 323 has a left regulating unit 342L and a blade biasing unit 357 instead of the left regulating unit 42L and the blade biasing unit 57, and forms a conveying space 331S instead of the conveying space 31S, but is otherwise configured in the same way.

Compared to the left regulating part 42L (Fig. 8), the right side surface of the left regulating part 342L (Fig. 23) is not perpendicular to the guide surface 41S, but is an inclined surface that connects the lower left side and the upper right side, that is, inclined toward the conveying space 331S side. In addition, a thin plate-shaped reference abutment plate 342B corresponding to the reference abutment plate 42B in the first embodiment is provided on the right side surface of the left regulating part 342L, and the right side surface of the reference abutment plate 342B is inclined in the same way as the right side surface of the left regulating part 342L, and forms the reference surface 342S. Hereinafter, the reference surface 342S is also referred to as the reference surface side inclined surface.

Blade biasing portion 357 differs from blade biasing portion 57 of the first embodiment in that it has blade 357A and abutment portion 357B instead of blade 57A and abutment portion 57B, but is otherwise configured in the same way.

Blade 357A (Fig. 23) differs from blade 57A (Fig. 7) in that the left side surface is an inclined surface that connects the upper left side and the lower right side, i.e., inclined toward the transport space 331S side, but is otherwise configured similarly. Abutment portion 357B is composed of central abutment portion 357BC and rear abutment portion 357BE that respectively correspond to central abutment portion 57BC and rear abutment portion 57BE of abutment portion 57B according to the first embodiment. Central abutment portion 357BC and rear abutment portion 357BE are each inclined in the same way as the left side surface of blade 357A. Hereinafter, the left side surface of abutment portion 357B is also referred to as the abutment portion side inclined surface.

With this configuration, when a coin CN is transported from the front by the pin belt 44 (Figure 2, etc.), the coin recognition unit 323 causes the coin CN to come into contact with the blade biasing unit 357, as in the case shown in Figures 10 (A) to (D) in the first embodiment, and causes the blade 357A to rotate, etc., and brings the coin CN into contact with the reference surface 342S.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 24, which corresponds to FIG. 23, the upper end portion of the left side of the coin CN abuts against the reference surface 342S, and applies a force F342 in a lower right direction to the coin CN from the reference surface 342S. The coin verification unit 323 also abuts against the abutment portion 357B at the upper end portion of the right side of the coin CN, and applies a force F357 in a lower left direction to the coin CN from the abutment portion 357B. In other words, the coin CN is biased in the leftward direction and pressed downward.

Next, when the coin CN is transported rearward by the pin belt 44 (see FIG. 2, etc.), a portion of the coin CN comes into contact with the front end of the brush biasing portion 58, as in the case shown in FIG. 11 in the first embodiment.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 25, which corresponds to FIG. 23 and FIG. 24, the coin verification unit 323 applies a force from the hair portion 58B of the brush biasing unit 58 in a downward left-front direction to the vicinity of the upper right end of the coin CN. The coin verification unit 323 also continues to apply a force F342 from the reference surface 342S in a downward right direction to the vicinity of the upper left end of the coin CN. In other words, the coin CN continues to be biased leftward and is pressed downward.

In this way, the coin recognition unit 323 can apply a downward force to the coin CN from both the left and right sides in addition to abutting the coin CN against the reference surface 342S as in the first embodiment. This allows the coin recognition unit 323 to effectively detect information about the coin CN using each sensor of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55 while pressing the coin CN against the guide surface 41S and stabilizing its position, and based on this, the recognition control unit 50 can accurately recognize the denomination and authenticity of the coin CN.

In other respects, the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 312 according to the second embodiment can achieve the same effects as the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 according to the first embodiment.

According to the above configuration, when a coin CN is transported by the pin belt 44, the coin recognition unit 323 of the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 312 according to the second embodiment urges the coin CN in a lower left direction by the blade urging unit 357 to abut against the reference surface 342S and urges it downward. In addition, the coin recognition unit 323 applies a force to the coin CN in a lower left front direction by bending the hair body portion 58B of the brush urging unit 58, and advances the coin CN backward while maintaining the state of abutting against the reference surface 342S and the guide surface 41S, and detects information by each sensor of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55. As a result, the coin recognition unit 323 can accurately determine the surface material, overall material, and outer diameter of the coin CN from the obtained information, and can recognize the denomination and authenticity of the coin CN with high accuracy.

3. Other embodiments
In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the blade biasing unit 57 is disposed on the front side (upstream side) of the coin verification unit 23 (FIG. 7, etc.), and the brush biasing unit 58 is disposed on the rear side (downstream side). However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the case where a sensor capable of detecting necessary information without bringing the coin CN into contact with the reference surface 42S is disposed on the upstream side of the magnetic information acquisition unit 55, the brush biasing unit 58 may be disposed on the upstream side, and the blade biasing unit 57 may be disposed on the downstream side. The same applies to the second embodiment.

In the first embodiment described above, the brush biasing portion 58 is described as holding the vicinity of the upper ends of the hairs constituting the hair portion 58B by embedding them inside the holding portion 58A. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various configurations are possible, such as fixing the upper ends of each hair constituting the hair portion 58B to the lower surface of the holding portion 58A. In short, by fixing the vicinity of the upper ends of each hair in the hair portion 58B to the holding portion 58A by the holding portion 58A, it is sufficient if the hair portion 58B can be deflected when an external force is applied to the lower end portion of the hair portion 58B. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the hair body portion 58B of the brush biasing portion 58 is described as being configured by bundling multiple hair bodies. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, multiple hair bodies standing upright facing downwards may be provided at multiple discrete locations on the underside of the holding portion 58A, and a collection of these multiple hair bodies spaced apart from one another may be used as the hair body portion 58B. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the case was described where the distance between the lower end of the hair body portion 58B in the brush biasing portion 58 and the guide surface 41S is 1/3 or less of the thickness of the minimum thickness coin. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the distance may be at least less than the thickness of the minimum thickness coin. The point is that the lower end of the hair body portion 58B must be able to bend when it comes into contact with the coin, thereby exerting a force on the coin CN in a downward, left-front direction. The same applies to the second embodiment.

In the first embodiment described above, the brush urging portion 58 is configured in a straight line along the front-rear direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured in two or more rows spaced apart in the left-right direction, such as by providing a brush urging portion 458 in addition to the brush urging portion 58, as in the coin recognition portion 423 shown in FIG. 26(A). In addition, as in the coin recognition portion 523 shown in FIG. 26(B), a brush urging portion 558 formed in a triangular wave shape when viewed from above may be provided. Alternatively, as in the coin recognition portion 623 shown in FIG. 26(C), a brush urging portion 658 formed in a wave shape (sine wave shape) when viewed from above may be provided. Furthermore, as in the coin recognition portion 723 shown in FIG. 26(D), a brush urging portion 758 formed in an arc shape when viewed from above may be provided. Also, as in the coin verification unit 823 shown in FIG. 26(E), the brush urging unit 858 configured to be relatively short in the front-rear direction may be arranged at a plurality of locations dispersed in the front-rear direction, or as in the coin verification unit 923 shown in FIG. 26(F), the brush urging unit 958 configured to be relatively short in the front-rear direction may be arranged at a plurality of locations dispersed in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction. Furthermore, in the coin verification unit 423 (FIG. 26(A)) and the coin verification unit 923 (FIG. 26(F)), the stiffness (flexibility) of the hair body 58B may be made different depending on the position in the left-right direction, for example, by increasing the stiffness of the hair body as it approaches the right side. That is, the brush urging unit 58 may be formed in a substantially straight line extending along the conveying direction (i.e., the front-rear direction) as shown in FIG. 26(A) to (E), or may be formed in a state in which it is dispersed and arranged at a plurality of locations on a plane parallel to the guide surface 41S as shown in FIG. 26(F). The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, a case has been described in which a thin plate-shaped regulating portion 58C is provided on the brush biasing portion 58 (Figure 8). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a regulating portion having various shapes, such as a frame shape corresponding to only the outer periphery of the regulating portion 58C, may be provided. Alternatively, for example, in cases where the vicinity of the lower end of the hair portion 58B is extremely unlikely to bend to the left, the regulating portion 58C may be omitted. The same applies to the second embodiment.

In the first embodiment described above, the blade 57A of the blade biasing unit 57 is rotated around the shaft 57X to increase or decrease the distance between the contact portion 57B and the reference surface 42S. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the blade 57A may be configured to move in parallel in the left-right direction relative to the guide portion 41 or the right regulating portion 42R, and the distance between the contact portion 57B and the reference surface 42S may be increased or decreased by the left-right movement of the blade 57A. Alternatively, the blade 57A may be formed of a flexible material and fixed near the front end to the guide portion 41 or the right regulating portion 42R, and the blade 57A may be flexed (bent) to increase or decrease the distance between the contact portion 57B and the reference surface 42S. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the blade 57A in the blade biasing section 57 of the coin recognition unit 23 (Figure 7, etc.) is described as having a polyhedral shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the blade 57A may be lightened by drilling a number of holes penetrating in the vertical direction while leaving the parts that form the outer shape of the blade 57A and the parts that ensure its strength. This allows the blade 57A to rotate at a higher speed, so that even when the coin transport speed is increased, the blade 57A can be made to follow the movement of the coin well, i.e., to continue to abut against the reference surface 42S. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned first embodiment, a case has been described in which three sets of sensors, namely, the lower material sensor 55A, the overall material sensor 55B, and the outer diameter sensor 55C, are provided in the magnetic information acquisition unit 55. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various sensors that use magnetism to detect information from the coin CN may be provided, and the number of sensors may be two or less or four or more. In these cases, it is desirable to place the upper right sensor frame 53 outside the movable range of the blade 57A in the blade biasing unit 57. Furthermore, in addition to sensors that use magnetism, various sensors that detect information representing various physical quantities such as light and electromagnetic waves from the coin CN may be provided. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned first embodiment, an optical information acquisition unit 54 is provided in the coin recognition unit 23 (FIGS. 7 and 8), and image data is generated by capturing an image of the underside of the coin. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the optical information acquisition unit 54 may be omitted. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned first embodiment, the pin belt 44 having a belt 45 with multiple pins 46 is disposed above the transport space 31S (FIGS. 2 and 3). However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a groove may be formed in the center of the left-right direction of the guide section 41 of the transport guide section 31, the belt 45 of the pin belt 44 may be disposed inside the groove, and the upper ends of the pins 46 may be protruded above the guide surface 41S, and the pin belt 44 may be made to run below the transport space 31S to transport coins. In this case, various sensors may be disposed in the coin recognition section 23 at locations that do not interfere with the pin belt 44. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, a pin belt 44 having multiple pins 46 on a belt 45 is run along the conveying direction, and the pins 46 come into contact with the coins to convey them in the conveying direction (FIGS. 2 and 3). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, as in the conveying belt section 1032 shown in FIG. 27(A) and (B), a protruding belt 1044 having protrusions 1046 at multiple discrete points on the underside of a belt 1045 may be run along the conveying direction, and the protrusions 1046 may come into contact with the coins CN to convey them in the conveying direction. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned first embodiment, the change machine 3 is provided with a banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 11 and a coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12, and both banknotes and coins are handled. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the banknote deposit/withdrawal unit 11 may be omitted from the change machine 3, and only coins may be handled. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned first embodiment, the present invention has been described as being applied to the coin recognition unit 23 provided in the coin deposit/withdrawal unit 12 of the change machine 3. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to various electronic devices that perform coin deposit processing, such as automated teller machines (ATMs), vending machines, or settlement machines. The same applies to the second embodiment.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and other embodiments. In other words, the scope of application of the present invention extends to embodiments that arbitrarily combine the above-mentioned embodiments with part or all of the other embodiments described above, or to embodiments that extract parts of the above-mentioned embodiments.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the coin recognition unit 23 as a coin identification device is configured by the transport guide unit 31 as a transport guide, the magnetic information acquisition unit 55 as a sensor, the blade biasing unit 57 as a first biasing unit, and the brush biasing unit 58 as a second biasing unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the coin identification device may be configured by a transport guide, a sensor, a first biasing unit, and a second biasing unit having various other configurations.

The present invention can be used, for example, in the coin recognition section of a coin deposit/withdrawal unit incorporated in a change machine of a cash register change system.

1, 301: cash register change system, 3, 303: change machine, 12, 312: coin deposit/withdrawal section, 16: coin deposit port, 20: coin control section, 22: transport section, 23, 323: coin recognition section, 31: transport guide section, 31A: recognition transport guide section, 31B: sorting transport guide section, 31S, 331S: transport space, 32: transport belt section, 41: guide section, 41S, 51S: guide surface, 42B, 342B: reference abutment plate, 42L, 342L: left regulating section, 42R: right regulating section, 42S, 342S: reference surface, 44: pin belt, 45: belt, 46: pin, 50: recognition control section, 51: lower sensor Frame, 52...upper left sensor frame, 53...upper right sensor frame, 54...optical information acquisition section, 55...magnetic information acquisition section, 55A...lower material sensor, 55B...overall material sensor, 55C...outer diameter sensor, 57, 357...blade energizing section, 57A, 357A...blade, 57B, 357B...contact section, 57BC, 357BC...central contact section, 57BE, 357BE...rear contact section, 57D...spring, 58...brush energizing section, 58A...holding section, 58B...hair section, 58C...regulating section, 123...virtual first coin recognition section, 223...virtual second coin recognition section, CN...coin, OBJ...foreign object.

Claims (15)

a conveying guide that forms a conveying path along which coins are conveyed in a conveying direction, the conveying guide having a guide surface that guides the coins and a reference surface that regulates a movement range of the coins in a width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction on the guide surface;
A sensor for detecting information of the coin;
a first biasing unit that biases the coin in the width direction toward the reference surface;
a second biasing section provided on the downstream side or upstream side of the first biasing section in the conveying direction and biasing the coin at least toward the reference surface ;
The second biasing portion is
A flexible member having flexibility between one end and the other end;
a holding portion that holds the other end of the flexible member that is located farther from the guide surface;
Equipped with
The distance between the one end of the flexible member and the guide surface is smaller than the thickness of a minimum thickness coin that is the smallest among the coins.
A coin identification device. The coin identification device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the one end side of the flexible member comes into contact with the coin being transported within the transport path, the second biasing portion bends in a direction that includes a directional component moving away from the reference surface and biases the coin at least toward the reference surface. The second biasing portion is
3. The coin identifying device according to claim 2 , further comprising a restricting portion provided on the reference surface side of the flexible member, restricting the one end side of the flexible member from bending toward the reference surface side. The coin identifying device according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible member is a bundle of a plurality of linear hairs. The coin identifying device according to claim 1 , wherein the second biasing portion is formed in a substantially linear shape extending along the conveying direction. The coin identifying device according to claim 1 , wherein the second biasing portion biases the coin toward the reference surface and the guide surface. The coin identification device according to claim 1, characterized in that the first biasing portion has a contact portion that contacts the coin, and is capable of changing the distance between the contact portion and the reference surface by moving closer to or away from the reference surface. The coin identifying device according to claim 7 , wherein the contact portion of the first biasing portion has a contact portion side inclined surface that is inclined so as to approach the reference surface side as it moves away from the guide surface. The coin identifying device according to claim 7 , wherein the reference surface has a reference surface side inclined surface that is inclined so as to approach the abutment portion of the first biasing portion as it moves away from the guide surface. the conveying guide has a length in the width direction of the guide surface that is greater than the diameter of a maximum diameter coin among the coins;
The coin identification device according to claim 1, characterized in that the second biasing portion is positioned at a position where a distance between the second biasing portion and the reference surface in the width direction is greater than a radius of the maximum diameter coin when in contact with the reference surface. a conveying section that travels along the conveying direction and applies a force to the coin in the conveying direction,
The coin identifying device according to claim 1 , wherein the second biasing portion is disposed on the opposite side of the reference surface across a portion along which the transport action portion travels. The sensor includes an outer diameter sensor that detects an outer diameter of the coin,
The coin identifying device according to claim 1, wherein an upstream end of the second biasing portion in the conveying direction is located upstream of a position where the outer diameter sensor is provided. The sensor includes an optical sensor that captures an image of the coin;
The coin identifying device according to claim 12 , wherein the optical sensor is disposed upstream of a position where the coin is urged against the reference surface by the first urging portion. a conveying facing portion disposed at a position facing the guide surface across the conveying path,
the sensor is provided at a plurality of locations along the conveying direction, and at least a portion of the sensor is provided at the conveying facing portion;
The first biasing portion biases the coin toward at least the reference surface outside a range between the guide surface and the transport opposing portion,
The coin identifying device according to claim 1 , wherein the second biasing portion is provided on the transport facing portion. A currency handling device having a coin receiving port for receiving coins and a coin identifying device for identifying the coins,
The coin identification device includes:
a conveying guide that forms a conveying path along which the coins are conveyed in a conveying direction, the conveying guide having a guide surface that guides the coins and a reference surface that regulates a movement range of the coins in a width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction on the guide surface;
A sensor for detecting information of the coin;
a first biasing unit that biases the coin in the width direction toward the reference surface;
a second biasing section provided on the downstream side or upstream side of the first biasing section in the conveying direction and biasing the coin at least toward the reference surface ;
The second biasing portion is
A flexible member having flexibility between one end and the other end;
a holding portion that holds the other end of the flexible member that is located farther from the guide surface;
Equipped with
The distance between the one end of the flexible member and the guide surface is smaller than the thickness of a minimum thickness coin that is the smallest among the coins.
A currency handling device characterized by :

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