JPH0321954B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a method for determining the occurrence of a failure in a device installed in a financial institution or the like that performs banknote deposit processing based on operations by a customer.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, bill depositing and dispensing machines installed in financial institutions and the like have been known as devices for depositing bills through operations by customers.

In such a device, an identification information detection means consisting of various sensors that detect identification information necessary for performing a deposit transaction from a banknote, and an identification information detection means for each banknote based on the identification information from this identification information detection means. It is equipped with a banknote identification control unit that identifies counterfeit banknotes, denominations, etc., which separates banknotes inserted into the deposit slot or deposit/withdrawal slot by customers one by one, and checks the authenticity, denomination, etc. of the separated banknotes. Only banknotes that are identified as genuine and whose denomination has been determined are accepted after identification, and counterfeit banknotes or banknotes whose denomination, etc., are not determined are returned to the customer as an identification error.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the conventional technology has the following problems.

In other words, most of the banknotes that customers insert into this type of device for deposit have been in general circulation and have gone through a lot of manual labor, so they often contain defective banknotes that are highly worn out. Since it is difficult to identify the authenticity, denomination, etc. of such defective banknotes, it causes identification errors.

On the other hand, there are various mechanisms inside the device to process banknotes, and among these, there is a separation mechanism and conveyance means that separate banknotes one by one between the deposit slot or deposit/withdrawal slot and the identification information detection means, or the identification information detection means. Identification errors also occur when the information detection means fails.

Therefore, when an identification error occurs in conventional devices, it is not possible for the device itself to determine whether the cause is a defective banknote or a malfunction on the device side, and in the end, the staff must control the operation of the device. Since the system must be stopped to investigate the cause of the identification error, there is a problem in that the operating efficiency of the system is reduced and customers are also inconvenienced.

The present invention was made to solve such problems, and therefore, the present invention focuses on the fact that when the device fails, banknotes that are identified as errors occur continuously, and by monitoring this, It is an object of the present invention to realize a failure determination method that can reliably determine a failure on the equipment side, prevent a decrease in the operating efficiency of the equipment, and eliminate inconvenience to customers.

[Means to solve the problem]

To achieve this objective, the present invention includes a defective banknote counter that counts the number of banknotes that are consecutively determined to have an identification error by a banknote recognition control unit of the device;
The apparatus is equipped with a defective transaction counter that counts the number of defective transactions when the value of the defective transaction counter reaches a preset limit number.

[Effect]

The present invention having the above-mentioned means includes counting the number of banknotes that are consecutively determined to have identification errors by the banknote identification control unit in a deposit transaction using a defective banknote counter, and setting the value of the defective banknote counter to a preset limit. When the number of coins is reached, the transaction is counted as a defective transaction by a defective transaction counter, and when the value consecutively counted by the defective transaction counter reaches a preset limit number of times, it is determined that the device has failed.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the failure determination method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the main components of a bill depositing and dispensing machine to which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is applied. It is a diagram.

First, FIG. 2 will be explained.

In the figure, 1 is the customer service department, which includes various operation buttons for customers to input information necessary for deposit transactions, etc., and a CRT that displays operation instruction guidance and input information to guide customer operations, etc. The device is equipped with a display means, a deposit slot or deposit/withdrawal slot for customers to insert banknotes for deposit, and an indicator lamp to indicate whether the device is in operation or not.

Reference numeral 2 denotes an identification information detection means, which consists of various sensors that detect information necessary for identifying the authenticity and denomination of the banknotes from the banknotes. The identification information is transferred to the banknote identification control unit 3 by passing through the identification information detection means 2 one by one through a separation mechanism section, a conveyance section, etc.

This banknote identification control unit 3 is composed of logic circuits such as amplifiers of sensors forming the identification information detection means 2 and a microcomputer, and receives identification information from the identification information detection means 2 to determine the authenticity of the banknote. In addition to identifying denominations and counting each denomination, if the banknotes to be identified are identified as genuine banknotes with a confirmed denomination, the counter 4 of the defective banknotes under control is reset, and counterfeit banknotes are counted. Defective banknotes whose notes or denominations cannot be confirmed are treated as identification errors, and the consecutive number of such banknotes is counted by a defective banknote counter 4, and when the value of this defective banknote counter 4 reaches a preset limit number n1, it is recognized as _{an identification error} . It has a function of notifying the main control unit 5 of the following information.

The main control section 5 is composed of a logic circuit such as a microcomputer, and controls the identification information detection means 2 via the customer service section 1 and the banknote recognition control section 3, as well as controlling each part of the device. If the value of the defective banknote counter 4 is less than the limit number _n1 based on the notification from the banknote identification control unit 3, the main control unit 5 determines that the identification error is due to a defective banknote and puts the banknote under control. A certain defective transaction counter 6 is reset, and when the value continuously counted by the defective banknote counter 4 reaches the limit number _n1 , the defective transaction counter 6 counts the number of transactions, and
When the value continuously counted by the defective transaction counter 6 reaches the preset limit number _n2 , it is determined that the device is malfunctioning and the customer service department 1 is instructed to display a suspension;
It also has the function of notifying staff of the occurrence of a malfunction.

Next, the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be explained using FIG. 2.

First, to determine whether there is an identification error, the identification information of the banknotes is detected one by one through the identification information detection means 2, and based on the identification information, the banknote identification control unit 3
This shows a stage in which the banknote identification control unit 3 determines whether or not an identification error has occurred in each banknote as a result of identifying authenticity, denomination, etc.

Further, "defective banknote counter = n ₁ ?" indicates a step in which the main control unit 5 determines whether the consecutive number of banknotes that have been determined to have an identification error has reached the value of the limit number n ₁ .

That is, when banknote identification errors occur continuously in one transaction, the identification information detection means 3 counts "+1" in the defective banknote counter 4 each time the identification error occurs, and also increases the value of the defective banknote counter 4. If it is less than the limit number _n1 , it is assumed that an identification error has occurred due to a defective banknote and the deposit process is continued, and the limit number n1 is determined.
When n becomes ₁ , the main control unit 5 is notified of this.

Next, "Bad transaction counter = n ₂ ?" is determined at the stage where the main control unit 5 is determining the relationship between the operating state of the device in the transaction currently being executed and the operating state of the device in the transaction before this transaction. Yes, if the number of defective transactions is less than the limit number _n2 , it is assumed that an identification error has occurred due to a defective banknote, and the banknote identification control unit 3 resets the defective banknote counter 4.If the number of defective transactions is less than the limit number _n2 , the banknote identification is determined to be due to a failure of the device. It is assumed that an error has occurred and the operation of the device is stopped, and a notification means (not shown) notifies the staff that a failure has occurred.

That is, the main control section 5 detects the defective banknote counter 4 based on the notification from the identification information detection means 3 as described above.
When the value reaches the limit number _n1 , the defective transaction counter 6 counts "+1" and it is determined whether the value of the defective transaction counter 6 has reached the limit number _n2 . When the value continuously counted by the defective transaction counter 6 reaches the limit number of times _n2 , it is determined that the device is malfunctioning, and the staff is notified of the occurrence of the malfunction and the fault recovery process is executed. do it like this.

Therefore, if the bill inserted by the customer is not defective and the device is operating normally, the following steps are performed: "Passing bill" - "Is it an identification error?" - "Resetting the defective bill counter" - "Normal processing" If there are any unprocessed banknotes, execute "Passing banknotes" again through route a, and when there are no unprocessed banknotes, "Reset bad banknote counter" - "Did this transaction increase the bad transaction counter by 1" - " Route b of “Bad Transaction Counter Reset”
to prepare for the next transaction processing. The purpose of "defective banknote counter reset" immediately after the above-mentioned "identification error" is to count the number of defective banknotes in which the defective banknote counter 4 has continuously caused an identification error.

In addition, the route c that leads to "Are there unprocessed banknotes?" via "Passing of banknotes" - "Is it an identification error?" - "Defective banknote counter + 1" - "Defective banknote counter = n ₁ " indicates that the device is operating normally. In this case, it is determined that a defective banknote was received during the transaction.

Furthermore, although the device is operating normally, at the stage where the inserted banknote is determined to be defective, the following information is displayed: ``Passing of banknote'' - ``Is it an identification error?'' - ``Defective banknote counter +
1” - “Bad banknote counter = n ₁ ” - “Did this transaction increase the bad transaction counter +1?” - “Bad transaction counter +
1" - "Defective transaction counter = _n2 " - "Defective banknote counter reset" - "Are there any unprocessed banknotes?" or "Defective banknote counter = _n1 " - "Did this transaction increase the Defective transaction counter by 1?" After passing through g, "Reset bad banknote counter" - "Are there any unprocessed banknotes?"
If there are unprocessed banknotes, each process is executed again from "passage of banknotes" through route f, and if there are no unprocessed banknotes, the process is prepared for the next transaction process through route d.
That is, even if the number of consecutive bills with identification errors is the limit number _n1 , if the number of consecutive bad transactions is less than the limit number _n2 , it is determined that the banknote is defective and preparations are made for the next transaction.

Note that the next step after the above-mentioned "defective banknote counter=n ₁ " is "Did this transaction increment the defective transaction counter by 1" to limit the count by the defective transaction counter 6 to only once per transaction. Moreover, when each process is executed from "passage of banknotes" through route f once, a case may be considered in which route c is routed. In this case, it is necessary to carry over the count value of the defective transaction counter 6 to the next transaction, so the count value of the defective transaction counter 6 must be carried over to the next transaction.
From ``Did you do 1?'', the process goes through route h and prepares for the next transaction process. In other words, the process proceeds to the next transaction without resetting the defective transaction counter 6.

On the other hand, if the inserted banknote is not a defective banknote and the device is out of order, "Passing of banknote" - "Is it an identification error?" - "Bad banknote counter + 1" - "Bad banknote counter = n ₁ " - " The route e is "Bad Transaction Counter + 1" - "Bad Transaction Counter = n ₂ " - "Failure Processing".

In other words, the number of consecutive sheets with identification errors is the limit number n ₁
is reached, and the number of consecutive bad transactions at that time is the limit number of transactions.
If n becomes ₂ , it is determined that the device is malfunctioning.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the banknote identification control section 3 and the main control section 5 are provided with separate logic circuits such as microcomputers, but it is also possible to integrate them into one depending on the configuration of the device. Alternatively, the defective banknote counter 4 can be placed under the control of the main control section 5.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, an apparatus is provided with a defective banknote counter and a defective transaction counter, and the defective banknote counter counts the number of banknotes that are consecutively determined to have an identification error by the banknote identification control unit of the apparatus. At the same time, when the value of this defective banknote counter reaches a preset limit number, the transaction is counted as a defective transaction by the defective transaction counter, and the value continuously counted by this defective transaction counter reaches the preset limit number of times. Since the device is determined to be malfunctioning when this occurs, it is possible to distinguish between identification errors due to defective banknotes and identification errors due to device malfunction.This judgment can be made by the device itself, so when the device malfunctions, It becomes possible to perform fault recovery by stopping the operation of the device only, thereby preventing a decrease in the operating efficiency of the device and also eliminating inconvenience to customers.

Furthermore, since the present invention is a failure determination method that utilizes the banknote recognition function of the identification information detection means and the banknote recognition control unit, it has the advantage that it can be used in various cash processing devices having a banknote recognition function.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the failure determination method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the main components of a bill depositing and dispensing machine to which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is applied. It is a diagram. 1: Customer service department, 2: Banknote identification unit, 3: Banknote identification control unit, 4: Defective banknote counter, 5: Main control unit,
6: Bad transaction counter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Identification information detection means for detecting identification information necessary for performing deposit transactions from banknotes; and identification information such as authenticity, denomination, etc. for each banknote based on the identification information from the identification information detection means. The banknote identification control unit separates the banknotes inserted into the deposit slot or the deposit/withdrawal slot by the customer one by one, identifies the authenticity and denomination of the separated banknotes, and identifies the banknotes. Only banknotes that are identified as genuine and have a confirmed denomination are accepted.
This is a failure determination method for a device that returns counterfeit bills or bills whose denomination is not confirmed to the customer as an identification error, and the device is equipped with a defective bill counter and a defective transaction counter, and the bill identification control unit continuously returns the bills to the customer. The number of banknotes determined to have an identification error is counted by a defective banknote counter, and when the value of this defective banknote counter reaches a preset limit number, the transaction is counted as a defective transaction by the defective transaction counter, and this defective transaction is A failure determination method characterized in that a device is determined to have failed when a value continuously counted by a counter reaches a preset limit number of times.