Coin processor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10964149-B2
Application number	US-201816043839-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2018
Priority date	Sep 12, 2017
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

This coin processor includes a sorting portion sorting coins, a coin container containing coins, a first coin outlet employed at least for discharging coins for refund payment, a second coin outlet employed at least for discharging coins for change, and a control portion discharging coins of a prescribed type reaching at least a prescribed number substantially filling up the coin container from the coin container to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet when the number of coins of the prescribed type contained in the coin container reaches at least the prescribed number.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A coin processor comprising;
a sorting portion sorting coins received from a coin inlet according to a plurality of types of coins;
coin containers containing the coins sorted through the sorting portion according to the plurality of types of coins;
a first coin outlet employable at least for discharging coins for refund payment;
a second coin outlet employable at least for discharging coins for change;
a control portion performing overflow control of discharging overflow coins to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet when coins of a prescribed type reach at least a prescribed number to substantially fill up one of the coin containers; and
a coin checking portion determining a type of each of coins received in the coin inlet and whether or not the coins received in the coin inlet are fake coins, when performing discharging operation of discharging the overflow coins;
an openable/closable introduction gate having an introduction hole and configured to be mountable on a lower end of the first coin outlet, and
a box-type reservation portion configured to be mountable on the first coin outlet from below the introduction gate for receiving coins reaching at least the prescribed number and reserving the coins therein through the first coin outlet and the introduction hole when the introduction gate is in an open state,
wherein the control portion is configured to perform control of discharging a coin for refund oavment to the first coin outlet in a state where the introduction gate is closed while discharging coins reaching at least the prescribed number into the reservation portion through the first coin outlet and reserving the coins in the reservation portion in a state where the introduction gate is opened.

2. The coin processor according to claim 1 , wherein
the control portion is configured to perform discharging operation of discharging the coins of the type reaching at least the prescribed number from the coin container to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet and to perform control of discharging coins for refund payment and coins for change to the other of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet.

3. The coin processor according to claim 1 , further comprising a discharged coin counting sensor counting a number of coins discharged to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet,
wherein the control portion is configured to perform control of managing a total number of discharged coins indicating a sum of the number of coins discharged to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet at every discharging operation on a basis of the number of coins delivered from one of the coin containers and the number of discharged coins counted by the discharged coin counting sensor when performing the discharging operation.

4. The coin processor according to claim 3 , further comprising a delivered coin counting sensor counting a number of coins delivered from one of the coin containers,
wherein the control portion is configured to perform control of delivering coins reaching at least the prescribed number from one of the coin containers when performing the discharging operation, and
to perform control of subtracting one from the number of coins contained in one of the coin containers and adding one to a total number of coins discharged to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet while confirming whether or not a total number of delivered coins counted by the delivered coin counting sensor and a total number of discharged coins counted by the discharged coin counting sensor coincide with each other every time when the discharged coin counting sensor counts a single coin.

5. The coin processor according to claim 3 , further comprising delivered coin counting sensors counting a number of coins delivered from the coin containers according to the plurality of types thereof,
wherein the control portion is configured to perform control of collectively delivering coins of the plurality of types reaching at least the prescribed number from the coin containers to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet if the plurality of types of coins reaches the prescribed number when performing the discharging operation, and
to perform control of collectively decreasing the number of coins of the plurality of types delivered from the coin containers and collectively increasing a total number of coins discharged to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet when a total number of delivered coins counted by the delivered coin counting sensor and the total number of discharged coins counted by the discharged coin counting sensor coincide with each other.

6. The coin processor according to claim 4 , further comprising a residual coin sensor sensing presence or absence of coins remaining in one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet receiving the coins of the type reaching at least the prescribed number,
for resetting the total number of discharged coins discharged to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet and counted by the discharged coin counting sensor to zero when the residual coin sensor senses absence of coins remaining in one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet.

7. The coin processor according to claim 1 , wherein
the control portion is configured to perform control of discharging coins exceeding an upper limit of coins of the prescribed type containable in one of the coin containers to the other of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet without passing through the coin container when receiving coins in excess of the upper limit.

8. The coin processor according to claim 1 , further comprising a mountable lid portion on one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet receiving the coins of the type reaching at least the prescribed number.

9. The coin processor according to claim 8 , wherein
the lid portion is configured to be closed in a use state where a customer counts money and is configured to be opened or demounted in a use state where a distributor counts money.

10. The coin processor according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control portion is configured to perform control of discharging coins determined through the coin checking portion as fake coins to the other of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet if the coin checking portion determines that the received coins are fake coins when performing the discharging operation of discharging coins reaching at least the prescribed number from one of the coin containers to one of the first coin outlet and the second coin outlet.

11. The coin processor according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a temporary holding portion temporarily holding a coin received from the coin inlet and conveying the coin to the sorting portion or the first coin outlet,
a contained coin switching gate provided on the temporary holding portion for switching a coin conveyance destination path to either the sorting portion or the first coin outlet,
a paid coin conveying portion conveying a coin delivered from one of the coin containers to the second coin outlet or the temporary holding portion, and
a paid coin switching gate provided on the paid coin conveying portion for switching a coin conveyance destination path to either the second coin outlet or the temporary holding portion,
wherein the control portion is configured to perform control of switching the coin conveyance destination path to the temporary holding portion with the paid coin switching gate, switching the coin conveyance destination path to the first coin outlet with the contained coin switching gate and discharging

Assignees

• Fuji Electric Co Ltd

Inventors

• Niizuma Nobuyuki

Classifications

• G07D1/06

  dispensing the difference between a sum paid and a sum charged · CPC title

• G07D2201/00

  Coin dispensers · CPC title

• G07F1/04

  Coin chutes · CPC title

• G07D3/16 Primary

  in combination with coin-counting · CPC title

• G07D5/00

  Testing specially adapted to determine the identity or genuineness of coins, e.g. for segregating coins which are unacceptable or alien to a currency · CPC title