Low power coin discrimination apparatus

• US 4,848,556 A
• Filed: 01/07/1988
• Issued: 07/18/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qonaar Corporation (Kroehler Furniture Manufacturing Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qonaar Corporation (Kroehler Furniture Manufacturing Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Govind, Pester, Andrew L., Stern, Carl M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rolla, Joseph J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ammeen, Edward S.
• Application Number:
  US07/144,610
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 194/212, 194/216, 194/227, 194/302, 194/317, 194/327, 194/331, 194/332, 194/334, 194/338, 194/339, 194/348, 194/342, 194/350, 177/51, 73/12, 73/163, 356/379, 356/380, 356/398, 364/567, 364/568, 209/592
• US Class Current: 194/212
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 5/02 Testing the dimensions, e.g. thickness, diameter; Testing the deformation
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 5/04 Testing the weight
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 1/048 with means for damping coin motion

Abstract

A low power coin discriminator detects and identifies the denomination of a coin to activate a parking meter, telephone, or vending machine device. Initially the device is in a low power, dormant state. Insertion of a coin into the discrimator trips a switch which produces a wake-up pulse which turns on a microprocessor. The coin falls upon a piezoelectric element, a signal from which causes the microprocessor to activate a photoelectric sensor. The coin moves through the photoelectric sensor which determines the net cross-sectional area of the coin. The microprocessor samples the output of the photoelectric sensor to detect the minimum light incident upon the sensor at the point of maximum eclipse of the light beam. The microprocessor also samples the output of an integrator which integrates the output of the piezoelectric element to produce a numerical value proportional to the mass of the coin. If the output of the photoelectric sensor indicates that the coin is within acceptable limits then the measured mass of the coin is also compared to the corresponding limits. If the coin is deemed to be valid, its denomination is recorded in a conventional manner. Once the discrimination process is complete the circuit automatically returns to its original low power, domant state.

Claims

1. An apparatus for discrimination of coin objects, including legal currency, tokens and slugs, of regular and irregular shape comprising:

drop means for causing a coin to fall through a predetermined distance;

a piezoelectric means for receiving the impact of said coin after it has fallen through said predetermined distance;

coin mass detecting means connected to said piezoelectric means for determining the mass of said coin from the impact of said coin on said piezoelectric means, said detecting means including means for rejecting said coin if the mass thereof as determined by the coin mass detecting means does not fall within predetermined limits.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

optical means for determining the area of said coin, said area including the area of irregular peripheral projections for non-circular coins and excluding the area of holes or like apertures in the coins whereby the actual area of the coin is accurately measured.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said apparatus is incorporated into a parking meter.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

vending means associated with said coin discrimination apparatus for vending articles in response to the detection of valid coins.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

telephone means connected to said coin discrimination apparatus for providing telephone services in response to the detection of valid coins.

6. An apparatus for discrimination of coin objects, including legal currency, tokens and slugs, of regular and irregular shape comprising:

drop means for causing a coin to fall through a predetermined distance;

a piezoelectric means for receiving the impact of said coin after it has fallen through said predetermined distance;

optical means for determining the area of said coin, said area including the area of irregular peripheral projections for non-circular coins and excluding the area of holes or like apertures in the coins whereby the actual area of the coin is accurately measured;

coin mass detecting means connected to said piezoelectric means for determining the mass of said coin from the impact of said coin on said piezoelectric means, said detecting means including means for rejecting said coin if the mass thereof as determined by the coin mass detecting means does not fall within predetermined limits;

a power supply means for supplying a voltage V_D to said apparatus when said apparatus is in a dormant state and for supplying voltage V_A to said apparatus when said apparatus is in an active state; and

,

circuit energizing means responsive to the presence of said coin in said apparatus for causing said apparatus to assume an active state by applying the voltage V_A to said apparatus in response to the introduction of said coin in said apparatus, said active voltage V_A being greater than said dormant voltage V_D.

7. An apparatus for discrimination of coin objects, including legal currency, tokens and slugs, of regular and irregular shape comprising:

drop means for causing a coin to fall through a predetermined distance;

a piezoelectric means for receiving the impact of said coin after it has fallen through said predetermined distance;

optical means for determining the area of said coin, said area including the area of irregular peripheral projections for non-circular coins and excluding the area of holes or like apertures in the coins whereby the actual area of the coin is accurately measured;

said optical area determining means includes;

optical scanning means for scanning said coin and producing an output proportional to the area of said coin and,

microprocessor means connected to said optical scanning means for digitally sampling the output from said optical scanning means and storing a value proportional to the maximum excursion of said signal when said coin is scanned by said optical scanning means;

coin mass detecting means connected to said piezoelectric means for determining the mass of said coin from the impact of said coin on said piezoelectric means, said detecting means including means for rejecting said coin if the mass thereof as determined by the coin mass detecting means does not fall within predetermined limits.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said coin mass detecting means includes:

integrating means for integrating an output from said piezoelectric means and producing a signal proportional to the mass of said coin.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

coin shock absorbing means for contacting said piezoelectric means and for absorbing some of the shock from said coin as said coin drops on said piezoelectric means.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:

switch means responsive to the insertion of a coin into said apparatus for producing a wake-up signal to preactivate said microprocessor means.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the impact of a coin on said piezoelectric means produces a wake-up signal to preactivate said microprocessor means.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:

first clock means for supplying clock pulses to said microprocessor means when said apparatus is in said dormant state.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising:

second clock means for supplying clock pulses to said microprocessor means when said apparatus is in a preactive state and said active state and wherein a frequency of said second clock means is higher than a frequency of said first clock means.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising:

analog-to-digital converter means controlled by said microprocessor means for determining information by sampling outputs from said coin mass detecting means and said optical area determining means and forwarding said information to said microprocessor means.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising:

memory means connected to said microprocessor means for storing information relative to the identification of valid coins.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

liquid crystal display means for producing a visual output representative of the identification of a valid coin.

17. An apparatus for discrimination of coin-like objects, including legal currency, tokens, and slugs, of regular and irregular shape comprising:

a piezoelectric means for receiving the impact of a coin;

a coin mass detecting means connected to said piezoelectric means for determining the mass of said coin from the impact of said coin on said piezoelectric means, said coin mass detecting means including an integrating means for integrating an output of said piezoelectric means and producing an output proportional to the mass of said coin;

optical area detecting means for determining the area of said coin after it contacts said piezoelectric means, said optical area detecting means including an optical scanning means for scanning said coin and producing an output proportional to the area of said coin, said area including the area of irregular peripheral projections for non-circular coins and excluding the area of holes or like apertures in the coins whereby the actual area of the coin is accurately measured; and

,

microprocessor means connected to said coin mass detecting means and said optical area detecting means for comparing the outputs from said coin mass detecting means and said optical area detecting means with predetermined value ranges of coin mass and coin area to determine if said coin is valid.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further including:

power supply means for supplying a voltage V_D to said apparatus when said apparatus is in a dormant, lower power consumption state and for supplying a voltage V_A to said apparatus when said apparatus is in an active, coin discrimination state, said voltage V_A being greater than said voltage V_D ; and

,

means for detecting the presence of said coin in said apparatus prior to the scanning of said coin by said optical scanning means and for applying said voltage V_A to said apparatus and for disconnecting said voltage V_D from said apparatus.

19. An apparatus for discrimination of coin objects, including legal currency, tokens and slugs, of regular and irregular shape comprising:

a piezoelectric means for receiving the impact of a coin;

a coin mass detecting means connected to said piezoelectric means for determining the mass of said coin from the impact of said coin on said piezoelectric means, said coin mass detecting including an integrating means for integrating an output from said piezoelectric means and producing an output voltage P proportional to the mass of said coin;

optical area detecting means for determining the area of said coin after it contacts said pieezoelectric means, said optical area detecting means including an optical scanning means for scanning said coin and producing an output V_P proportional to the area of said coin, said area including the area of irregular peripheral projections for non-circular coins and excluding the area of holes or like apertures in the coins whereby the actual area of the coin is accurately measured; and

,

microprocessor means connected to said optical area detecting means and said coin mass detecting means for producing a ratio A characteristic of a coin wherein ##EQU3## where V_O =the voltge from said optical area detecting means prior to the activation of said optical area detecting means; and

,

V_M =the minimum voltage output from said optical area detecting means after the activation of said optical area detecting means; and

V_P =the absolute maximum voltage output from said optical area detecting means as a result of the passage of said coin,

wherein said microprocessor means compares the value of ratio A and output P with value ranges representative of valid coins to determine if said coin is valid.

20. A coin discrimination apparatus comprising:

coin receiving means including a first slot for receiving a coin;

coin translating means for moving said coin from said coin receiving means to a coin dropping area;

chute means for receiving said coin from said coin dropping area and for causing said coin to fall a predetermined distance;

coin mass detecting means located in said chute means for receiving the impact of said coin after it has fallen said predetermined distance; and

,

integrating means attached to said coin mass detecting means for integrating an output of said coin mass detecting means and for producing a voltage proportional to the mass of said coin; and

means for rejecting said coin if the mass thereof as determined by the coin mass detecting means does not fall within predetermined limits.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

optical area detecting means for determining the area of said coin after it contacts said coin mass detecting means; and

,

microprocessor means connected to said optical area detecting means for comparing an output from said optical area detecting means with predetermined values of coin area to determine if said coin is valid.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said coin translating means includes:

a handle means for a user to translate the coin;

a box-like means for receiving said coin from said coin receiving means; and

,

extension means for connecting said handle means to said box-like means.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said coin receiving means includes:

a front face having said first coin receiving slot therein and further including a second slot for receiving said extension means between said handle means and said box-like means of said coin translating means; and

,

a base means at substantially right angles to said front face of said coin receiving means for forming a ledge,

wherein movement of said handle means causes said box-like means to translate said coin from said first slot area to said coin dropping area which is located at an edge of said base means.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the base means of said coin receiving means includes grid-like apertures therein for allowing moisture to pass therethrough.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein said coin translation means further includes:

spring means for biasing said handle means

a flange means connected to said handle means for normally blocking said second slot under the influence of said spring means.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 further including:

a switch means for producing a wake-up signal for said microprocessor means attached to said apparatus,

wherein the translation of said handle means to cause said coin to drop down said chute means causes said box-like means to contact and activate said switch means producing said wake-up signal for said microprocessor means.