Coin processor

Abstract

To reduce the risk of jammed media.SOLUTION: A coin processor includes: a cover unit with a coin slot that allows a single coin to pass through; a coin ejector located below the coin slot that separates and ejects coins fed into the coin slot; an open / close unit that opens and closes the coin slot; a detection unit located upstream of the coin ejector that detects the passage of the coins fed into the coin slot; and a control unit that controls the opening and closing of the coin slot by the open / close unit based on the results of the detection by the detection unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a coin processing device. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, payment machines that perform payment processing are installed at the checkout counters of retail stores such as supermarkets and drug stores. Self-service / semi-self-service payment machines that are operated by customers themselves are also becoming more popular. Payment machines can include banknote processing devices that have a function of depositing and dispensing banknotes and coin processing devices that have a function of depositing and dispensing coins.

[0003] The coin processing device has a coin slot into which coins are inserted, a coin feeding section that feeds out the inserted coins one by one, a transport section that transports the coins, a recognition section that identifies the denomination and authenticity of the coins, a coin storage section that stores coins by denomination, a coin dispensing tray to which coins are transported to be returned to or dispensed from the user, etc. For example, with regard to such coin processing devices, Patent Document 1 discloses a coin processing device having a function for dealing with coin jams, and Patent Document 2 discloses a coin processing device that is compatible with a plurality of types of medium insertion methods.

[0004] The coin processing device may also be provided with a coin slot shutter that opens and closes the coin slot, and a detection unit that detects the passage of a coin inserted into the coin slot. When the detection unit detects the passage of a coin, the coin dispensing unit starts the coin dispensing operation. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2023-7572 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2016-76023 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Depending on how coins are inserted into the above-mentioned coin processing device, a media jam, which is a blockage of coins, is likely to occur. For example, when a large number of coins are inserted into the coin processing device, the possibility of a media jam occurring within the coin processing device increases. In this regard, the recognition unit counts the number of coins, but the recognition unit is located downstream of the coin dispensing unit. Therefore, when a large number of coins has been inserted based on the counting result by the recognition unit, there is a possibility that more coins than the number counted by the recognition unit have already been inserted into the coin processing device, and coins have accumulated in the coin dispensing unit. In this way, there is a risk of a media jam occurring when the coin processing device attempts to process all of the coins accumulated in the coin dispensing unit.

[0007] When a media jam occurs, the coin that caused the jam must be manually removed. Therefore, if media jams occur frequently, the advantage of self-service / semi-self-service payment machines, that is, no operator intervention is required or operator intervention is reduced, is lost.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of reducing the risk of a medium jam occurring. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a coin processing device comprising: a cover section having a coin insertion port that allows the passage of a single coin; a coin dispensing section located below the coin insertion port and separating and dispensing coins inserted into the coin insertion port; an opening / closing section that opens and closes the coin insertion port; a detection section located upstream of the coin dispensing section that detects the passage of a coin inserted into the coin insertion port; and a control section that controls the opening and closing of the coin insertion port by the opening / closing section based on the result of detection by the detection section.

[0010] The control unit may cause the opening / closing unit to close the coin deposit port when a cumulative value of detection by the detection unit after the opening / closing unit most recently opened the coin deposit port reaches a threshold value, and the cumulative value may correspond to the number of coins deposited into the coin deposit port.

[0011] The threshold value may be a fixed value set in advance.

[0012] The control unit may obtain a total payment amount for products from a product registration device, and set the threshold value based on the total payment amount.

[0013] The control unit may identify a minimum number of coins required to pay the total payment amount, and set a value corresponding to a number exceeding the minimum number as the threshold value.

[0014] The control unit may set the threshold value according to an identification result of a user who inserts a coin.

[0015] When the cumulative value reaches a threshold value, the control unit may control a return process of coins equal to the total amount of coins inserted into the coin insertion slot after the opening / closing unit most recently opened the coin insertion slot.

[0016] When the cumulative value reaches a threshold value, the control unit may control the return process so that the number of coins of a particular denomination inserted into the coin insertion port after the opening / closing unit most recently opened the coin insertion port is equal to the number of coins of a particular denomination returned.

[0017] The control unit may control a display process of a message indicating that, when the cumulative value reaches a threshold value, the number of inserted coins has exceeded the number of coins that can be inserted and therefore acceptance of inserted coins will be stopped.

[0018] The control unit may generate an indication showing the change in the accumulated value.

[0019] The control unit may generate a display for drawing the customer's attention when the cumulative value reaches an auxiliary threshold value that is smaller than the threshold value.

[0020] The control unit may cause the opening / closing unit to close the coin insertion slot when the pace of detection by the detection unit exceeds an upper limit pace. Effect of the Invention

[0021] According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to reduce the risk of a medium jam occurring. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of a settlement machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a right side view of the coin processing device 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of a coin insertion prompting screen that prompts the user to insert coins. [Figure 4] 6 is a flowchart showing an operation in a first control example. [Diagram 5] 13 is a table showing specific examples of upper limit numbers and thresholds corresponding to total payment amounts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functional configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0024] <Configuration of currency handling device> An embodiment of the present invention relates to a settlement machine having a coin processing device for processing coins and a banknote processing device for processing banknotes. First, a schematic configuration of a settlement machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of a settlement machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the settlement machine 1 is formed in a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape overall. The settlement machine 1 is mainly composed of a banknote processing device 2 that handles banknotes, a coin processing device 4 that handles coins, a control unit 8, a display operation unit 11, and a receipt printer 12. The banknote processing device 2 and the coin processing device 4 are housed in a housing 6 that is formed in the shape of a hollow rectangular parallelepiped. The settlement machine 1 is also connected via a network to a server 90 that manages various information.

[0026] This settlement machine 1 may be a self-service or semi-self-service device operated by a customer when paying for products that the customer wishes to purchase at a settlement station (a so-called cash register) in a retail store such as a supermarket or a convenience store. In the following description, the side of the settlement machine 1 that the customer faces is referred to as the front side, the opposite side is referred to as the rear side, and the left and right sides as viewed from the customer facing the front side are respectively defined as the left side and right side, with upper side and lower side further defined.

[0027] In addition, a product registration device 80 is connected to the settlement machine 1. The product registration device 80 has, for example, a scanner that reads product information from a barcode formed on the product, and calculates the total payment amount for one or more products based on the product information read by the scanner. The product registration device 80 outputs the name and price of each product, the total payment amount, etc. to the settlement machine 1. Note that the function of calculating the total payment amount may be implemented in the settlement machine 1.

[0028] The control unit 8 is provided inside the housing 6, and has a CPU (Central Processing unit), a ROM (Read-Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. (not shown). The control unit 8 performs various processes by executing predetermined programs read from the ROM etc. by the CPU, and generally controls the settlement machine 1. For example, the control unit 8 can control the transport of banknotes in the banknote processing device 2, the transport of coins in the coin processing device 4, the display screen of the display operation unit 11, etc.

[0029] The banknote processing device 2 takes in banknotes inserted by customers through a banknote deposit port 9 and stores them in an internal banknote storage vault (not shown). The banknote processing device 2 also pays out banknotes instructed by the control unit 8 from the banknote storage vault and dispenses them from a banknote withdrawal port 10 as change.

[0030] The coin processing device 4 has a cover section 141 in which a coin insertion port 142, which is a slit that allows the passage of a single coin, is formed. The coin processing device 4 takes in coins inserted into the coin insertion port 142 and stores them in the internal coin storage section 30 (see FIG. 2). The coin processing device 4 also pays out coins from the coin storage section 30 instructed by the control section 8, and dispenses them to the coin dispensing tray 28 as change.

[0031] Incidentally, like general coins, coins are made of metals such as nickel, copper, aluminum, etc., or alloys thereof, or combinations thereof, and are formed into a thin plate shape. In the following, the thickest coin among the coins expected to be inserted into the coin processing device 4 will also be referred to as the thickest coin, and the thinnest coin will also be referred to as the thinnest coin. The coins expected to be inserted into the coin processing device 4 may be coins that can be stored in the coin processing device 4, or may include coins that cannot be stored in the coin processing device 4 and may be inserted by mistake. The slit width of the coin insertion port 142 described above may be greater than the thickness of the thickest coin and less than the thickness of two of the thinnest coins.

[0032] The display operation unit 11 is configured as a so-called touch panel in which a touch sensor is combined with the surface of a display panel having a display function, such as a liquid crystal panel or an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) panel. This display operation unit 11 displays various display screens such as the product name and price input from the product registration device 80 under the control of the control unit 8. In addition, the display operation unit 11 detects a touch operation by a customer and notifies the control unit 8 of a detection signal of the touch operation. The control unit 8 increases or decreases the quantity of products and corrects the price in response to the detection signal of the touch operation.

[0033] The receipt printer 12 prints the details of the transaction on a paper medium and discharges the paper medium with the transaction details printed on it as a receipt. The receipt printer 12 may have a configuration similar to that of a general thermal printer. For example, the receipt printer 12 may have a holder that holds a roll of thermal paper wound in a roll, a transport mechanism that transports the thermal paper pulled out from the roll, and a thermal head that uses heat to print characters, figures, and the like on the thermal paper.

[0034] <Configuration of the coin handling device> The above describes the schematic configuration of the settlement machine 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. One embodiment of the present invention relates particularly to the coin processing device 4 of the settlement machine 1. Hereinafter, the configuration of the coin processing device 4 will be specifically described.

[0035] Fig. 2 is a right side view of the coin processing device 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 2, from the viewpoint of clarity of the drawing, the configuration inside the housing 6 is appropriately omitted or simplified to depict the configuration of the coin processing device 4, and the coin transport path is typically indicated by a dashed line.

[0036] As shown in Figure 2, the coin processing device 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention has a coin deposit section 14, a coin discharge section 15, a coin validation section 16, a deposit transport section 17, a reject hole 18, a reject chute 20, a receiving hole 19, a denomination-specific chute 21, a deformed reject hole 118, a deformed reject chute 120, a coin storage section 30, a horizontal withdrawal transport section 22, a collection box 24, a lift transport section 26 and a coin withdrawal tray 28.

[0037] The coin deposit unit 14 is provided near the front end of the upper surface of the housing 6, and is the portion where customers deposit coins. This coin deposit unit 14 has a cover portion 141 in which a coin deposit port 142 through which coins are deposited is formed, a deposit chute 143 located below the cover portion 141 and through which coins deposited in the coin deposit port 142 pass, and a coin payout unit 144 to which coins reach via the deposit chute 143.

[0038] The coin payout unit 144 is located below the coin insertion slot 142, and has a rotating disk 145 at its bottom. The coin payout unit 144 moves coins to the outer periphery by centrifugal force generated when the rotating disk 145 rotates, separates and pays out the coins one by one, and delivers the coins to the coin sending unit 15.

[0039] The coin deposit unit 14 also has a deposit slot shutter 146 and a coin deposit detection unit 147. The deposit slot shutter 146 is an example of an opening / closing unit that opens and closes the coin deposit slot 142, and is provided between the coin deposit slot 142 and the deposit chute 143. The deposit slot shutter 146 moves, for example, between a position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 where the coin deposit slot 142 is opened, and a position shown by a dashed line where the coin deposit slot 142 is closed, based on the control of the control unit 8.

[0040] The coin insertion detection unit 147 is an example of a detection unit provided between the coin insertion slot 142 and the deposit chute 143. The coin insertion detection unit 147 detects the passage of a coin inserted into the coin insertion slot 142. For example, the coin insertion detection unit 147 may be composed of a light-emitting unit and a light-receiving unit that form an optical axis. In this case, when a coin passes between the light-emitting unit and the light-receiving unit, the optical axis is blocked by the coin, and the light-receiving unit does not receive the light emitted by the light-emitting unit. For this reason, the coin insertion detection unit 147 may detect the fact that the light-receiving unit is not able to receive the light emitted by the light-emitting unit as the passage of a coin.

[0041] The coin sending unit 15 has rollers that are spaced apart in the vertical direction and face each other. When the coin sending unit 15 receives coins from the coin feeding unit 144, it rotates the rollers at a predetermined timing and sequentially delivers the coins to the pin belt of the deposit transport unit 17. The pin belt transports the coins to the coin validation unit 16.

[0042] The coin validator 16 has various sensors (not shown) that recognize the characteristics of the coin, such as an image sensor or a magnetic sensor. The coin validator 16 recognizes the characteristics of the coin transported from the coin delivery unit 15, and performs validation of the coin, such as its authenticity, denomination, and fitness, based on the characteristics, and notifies the control unit 8 of the obtained validation results. The control unit 8 determines the destination of the coin based on the validation results.

[0043] The deposit transport section 17 is provided with a reject hole 18, a deformed reject hole 118, and a plurality of receiving holes 19. The reject hole 18 is a section for sorting out coins that have been determined to be unauthentic based on the coin identification result by the coin identification section 16, or foreign objects such as coins of other countries that are not subject to handling and medals of amusement facilities (hereinafter these are also referred to as rejected coins) during the storage process in which coins dispensed from the coin dispensing section 144 are stored in the coin storage section 30. Each receiving hole 19 is a section for sorting coins that have been determined to be authentic (hereinafter these are also referred to as genuine coins) by denomination, and each receiving hole 19 is assigned one of six denominations, namely 500 yen, 100 yen, 50 yen, 10 yen, 5 yen, and 1 yen.

[0044] With this configuration, the deposit transport unit 17 transports the coins received from the coin validator 16 along the transport path, while sorting the coins under the control of the controller 8. Specifically, the deposit transport unit 17 ejects rejected coins that have been determined to be not genuine from the reject hole 18, while ejecting genuine coins that have been determined to be genuine from the receiving hole 19 corresponding to their denomination.

[0045] A reject chute 20 is provided below the reject hole 18, which guides the ejected coins downward while advancing them. A denomination-specific chute 21 is provided below each receiving hole 19, which guides the ejected coins downward while advancing them. A coin storage unit 30 is provided below each denomination-specific chute 21. Like each receiving hole 19, each coin storage unit 30 is assigned a denomination.

[0046] In addition, a deformed reject chute 120 that guides the deformed coin downward while advancing is provided below the deformed reject hole 118. The deposit transport unit 17 may be provided with a deformed coin detection unit that detects such deformed coins (warped coins and bent coins).

[0047] The coin storage unit 30 has a hollow three-dimensional shape that is a predetermined polygon when viewed from the front and a rectangle when viewed from the right, and has an opening on the top. Therefore, each coin storage unit 30 stores coins of a certain denomination that fall from the denomination-specific chute 21 into the internal storage space from the opening while maintaining the state where they are separated by denomination. In addition, the coin storage unit 30 is provided with a discharge mechanism that discharges coins one by one from the storage space to the horizontal dispensing transport unit 22.

[0048] The horizontal dispensing conveying section 22 is provided below the reject chute 20 and the coin storage section 30. The horizontal dispensing conveying section 22 is disposed in a range from the rear end of the coin storage section 30 located at the rearmost side to the lift conveying section 26 in the front-rear direction. The horizontal dispensing conveying section 22 is composed of a pulley 42 having a rotation axis along the left-right direction and disposed at the front-rear end, and a storage section conveying belt 40 which is an endless belt stretched so as to extend in the front-rear direction along the periphery of the pulley 42 in the substantially horizontal direction. The storage section conveying belt 40 is an example of a conveying belt, and the part of the storage section conveying belt 40 above the pulley 42 functions as a conveying surface on which coins are placed. The horizontal dispensing conveying section 22 rotates the pulley 42 counterclockwise in FIG. 2 based on the control of the control section 8. Therefore, the horizontal dispensing conveying section 22 moves the conveying surface of the storage section conveying belt 40 toward the lift conveying section 26.

[0049] 2, the collection box 24 is provided below and in the vicinity of the front end of the horizontal dispensing transport unit 22. The collection box 24 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with an open top, and stores rejected coins and coins dispensed from the coin storage unit 30 in the collection process.

[0050] The lift transport unit 26 is provided on the upper side near the front end of the horizontal dispensing transport unit 22. The lift transport unit 26 holds coins and transports them upward toward the coin dispensing tray 28 or the coin feeding unit 144.

[0051] The coin dispensing tray 28 is provided on the front side of the housing 6, above the storage unit conveyor belt 40. The coin dispensing tray 28 is an example of a coin conveyor destination. The top side of the coin dispensing tray 28 is open, and the customer can access the coin dispensing tray 28 from the front side. The coin dispensing tray 28 stores coins to be used as change or coins to be returned, which are conveyed from the lift conveyor unit 26.

[0052] <Control example> The configuration of the coin processing device 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention has been described above. The coin processing device 4 is applied with a function of controlling the opening and closing of the coin insertion slot 142 by the insertion slot shutter 146 based on the result of detection by the coin insertion detection unit 147 in one transaction. Below, several specific examples of such control are described.

[0053] (First control example) As a first control example, the control unit 8 causes the coin slot shutter 146 to close the coin slot 142 when a cumulative value of detection by the coin insertion detection unit 147 after the coin insertion slot 142 was most recently opened reaches a threshold value. The above-mentioned cumulative value may be a cumulative light blocking time, which is a cumulative length of time during which the optical axis of the coin insertion detection unit 147 is blocked. The cumulative light blocking time roughly corresponds to the number of coins inserted into the coin slot 142. For this reason, it can be said that the control unit 8 referring to the cumulative light blocking time is indirectly referring to the number of inserted coins. Furthermore, in the first control example, a preset fixed value is used as the above-mentioned threshold value.

[0054] The control unit 8 causes the coin slot shutter 146 to close the coin slot 142 based on the fact that the accumulated light blocking time has reached the threshold, and then causes a message to be displayed on the display operation unit 11. The message may be a message indicating that the acceptance of inserted coins will be stopped because the number of inserted coins has exceeded the number of insertable coins.

[0055] Furthermore, the control unit 8 controls the return process of coins equal to the total amount of coins inserted into the coin insertion slot 142. For example, the control unit 8 may control the return process of storing coins inserted into the coin insertion slot 142 in the coin storage unit 30, and dispensing coins equivalent to the total amount of coins inserted into the coin insertion slot 142 from the coin storage unit 30 to the coin dispensing tray 28. Here, the control unit 8 may control the return process so that the number of coins of each denomination inserted into the coin insertion slot 142 is equal to the number of coins of each denomination returned. Alternatively, the control unit 8 may control the return process so that the number of coins returned is minimized.

[0056] The control unit 8 may generate an indication showing the change in the accumulated light blocking time when the coin insertion slot 142 is open and coin insertion is being accepted. For example, the control unit 8 may generate an indicator showing the ratio of the accumulated light blocking time to a threshold value, and cause the display operation unit 11 to display the indicator. A specific example of the indicator will be described below with reference to FIG. 3.

[0057] Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of a coin insertion guidance screen that guides the user to insert coins. As shown in Fig. 3, the coin insertion guidance screen includes an indicator 70. The indicator 70 includes a line 72 indicating the number of coins that can be inserted corresponding to the threshold value, and a rod-shaped object 74 that extends toward the line 72 as the accumulated light blocking time increases. When the rod-shaped object 74 reaches the line 72, that is, when the accumulated light blocking time reaches the threshold value, the coin insertion port shutter 146 closes the coin insertion port 142 under the control of the control unit 8.

[0058] By inserting coins while watching such indicator 70, the customer can grasp how many more coins need to be inserted before the coin insertion slot 142 is closed. Therefore, the customer can adjust the number of coins inserted so as to avoid closing of the coin insertion slot 142. In addition, when the coin insertion slot 142 is closed, the customer is less likely to have the sense that the coin insertion slot 142 has been suddenly closed.

[0059] As another method, the control unit 8 may generate a display for calling the customer's attention when the accumulated light blocking time reaches an auxiliary threshold value that is smaller than the threshold value. The display may be, for example, a message such as "Please refrain from inserting a large amount of coins" or "The upper limit of the number of coins that can be inserted is approaching." Such a display can also have the same effect as the display of the indicator 70.

[0060] Next, the operation in the first control example will be summarized with reference to FIG.

[0061] Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation in the first control example. As shown in Fig. 4, when the registration of all the products using the product registration device 80 is completed, the display operation unit 11 of the settlement machine 1 displays the total payment amount under the control of the control unit 8 (S304).

[0062] Next, the control unit 8 controls the coin slot shutter 146 to open the coin slot 142 (S308). After that, the customer starts inserting coins into the coin slot 142.

[0063] The control unit 8 calculates the accumulated light blocking time by accumulating the light blocking time of the coin insertion detection unit 147 after the coin insertion slot 142 is opened in S308 (S312). Then, the control unit 8 determines whether the accumulated light blocking time has reached a threshold value (S316).

[0064] If it is determined in S316 that the accumulated light blocking time has reached the threshold value (S316 / Yes), the control unit 8 causes the slot shutter 146 to close the coin slot 142 (S320). Thereafter, the control unit 8 causes the display operation unit 11 to display a message indicating that the number of inserted coins has exceeded the number of coins that can be inserted and therefore acceptance of inserted coins will be stopped (S324). Furthermore, the control unit 8 controls the return process of coins equal to the total amount of coins inserted into the coin slot 142 (S328), and the operation ends.

[0065] If it is determined in S316 that the cumulative light blocking time has not reached the threshold value (S316 / No), the control unit 8 determines whether or not coin insertion is complete (S332). For example, the control unit 8 determines that coin insertion is complete when the customer performs an operation on the display operation unit 11 indicating completion of coin insertion. If it is determined that coin insertion is not complete (S332 / No), the process from S312 is repeated.

[0066] If it is determined that coin insertion is complete (S332 / Yes), the control unit 8 controls the storage of the coins in the coin storage unit 30 and the return process of the change (S336). Furthermore, the receipt printer 12 prints and ejects a receipt showing the details of the transaction under the control of the control unit 8 (S340), and the operation ends.

[0067] According to the first control example described above, the control unit 8 refers to the accumulated light blocking time, and when a number of coins equal to or greater than the threshold value are inserted into the coin insertion slot 142, it is possible to stop the acceptance of coins without waiting for the coin validator 16 to count the number of coins. In other words, according to the first control example, it is possible to detect and deal with the fact that a large number of coins have been inserted into the coin processing device 4 at an earlier stage. As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of medium jams in the coin processing device 4.

[0068] Furthermore, the control unit 8 causes the display operation unit 11 to display a message indicating that the acceptance of inserted coins will be stopped because the number of inserted coins has exceeded the number of coins that can be inserted. With this configuration, the customer can understand the reason why the coin insertion slot 142 has been closed. Therefore, for example, it is expected that the customer will try to insert fewer coins the next time he inserts coins.

[0069] In the first control example, a preset fixed value is used as the threshold value. For example, by setting the threshold value to a light blocking cumulative time corresponding to the number of inserted coins at which the probability of a medium jam occurring in the coin processing device 4 exceeds an allowable value, the occurrence of a medium jam can be effectively suppressed.

[0070] Moreover, in the first control example, the control unit 8 controls the return process of coins equal to the total value of coins inserted into the coin insertion slot 142. Here, when the control unit 8 controls the return process so as to minimize the number of returned coins, it is possible to shorten the time for the return process and reduce the risk of medium jamming during the return process. When the control unit 8 controls the return process so as to make the number of coins per denomination inserted into the coin insertion slot 142 equal to the number of coins per denomination returned, it is possible to avoid an increase in the number of coins stored in the coin storage unit 30.

[0071] (Second control example) In the first control example, a fixed value is used as the threshold value for the accumulated light-blocking time, but in the second control example, the threshold value for the accumulated light-blocking time is dynamically set according to the total payment amount. Specifically, the control unit 8 identifies the minimum number of coins required to pay the total payment amount, and sets a value corresponding to a number exceeding the identified minimum number as the threshold value. The second control example will be described below.

[0072] Regarding the second control example, the manufacturer of the settlement machine 1 sets in advance in the control unit 8 the time it takes for one coin to block the light axis of the coin insertion detection unit 147 as the unit light blocking time. It is desirable to set the unit light blocking time based on an evaluation of the light blocking time when a coin is actually inserted into the settlement machine 1. For example, the unit light blocking time may be set to 20 ms.

[0073] During actual operation, the control unit 8 determines the minimum number of coins required to pay the total payment amount. For example, the control unit 8 uses an algorithm called the "greedy method" to find the required number of coins in ascending order of denominations, and determines the total number of coins of each denomination as the minimum number. The control unit 8 subtracts the amount that can be paid with banknotes from the total payment amount, and determines the minimum number of coins required to pay the amount after the subtraction.

[0074] Furthermore, the control unit 8 calculates the upper limit number by adding the minimum number and the surplus number. For example, if the surplus number is 20, the control unit 8 calculates the upper limit number by adding "20" to the minimum number. Alternatively, the control unit 8 may multiply the minimum number by a coefficient greater than 1 to calculate the upper limit number.

[0075] Next, the control unit 8 sets the result of multiplying the unit light blocking time by the upper limit number as a threshold value for the accumulated light blocking time.

[0076] FIG. 5 is a table showing specific examples of the maximum number of bills and thresholds corresponding to the total payment amount. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, when the total payment amount is "256" yen, the minimum number of bills is "5". The breakdown of this minimum number of "5" bills is "2 100 yen bills, 1 50 yen bill, 1 5 yen bill, and 1 1 yen bill." If the number of surplus bills is "20", the maximum number of bills becomes "25" by calculating "5 + 20". Furthermore, the threshold value becomes "500" ms by multiplying the unit light blocking time "20" ms by the maximum number of bills "25".

[0077] On the other hand, for a total payment of 999 yen, the minimum number of bills is 15. The breakdown of this minimum number of bills is 1 500 yen bill, 4 100 yen bills, 1 50 yen bill, 4 10 yen bills, 1 5 yen bill, and 4 1 yen bills. If the number of surplus bills is 20, the upper limit number of bills is 35, calculated by 15 + 20. Furthermore, the threshold value is 700 ms, calculated by multiplying the unit light blocking time of 20 ms by the upper limit number of bills, 35.

[0078] According to the second control example described above, the threshold value for the accumulated light blocking time is dynamically set according to the total payment amount, so that it is possible to close the coin slot 142 at an appropriate timing according to the total payment amount. As a result, the risk of medium jamming can be further reduced.

[0079] (Third control example) In the third control example, a threshold value for the accumulated light blocking time is dynamically set depending on the customer. To realize this third control example, the server 90 stores a database that stores customer information for each customer's identification information. The customer information may include, for example, a history of whether or not the customer has inserted coins that would cause the accumulated light blocking time to exceed the threshold value (inserting a large amount of coins).

[0080] When a customer uses the settlement machine 1, the settlement machine 1 acquires the customer's identification information and transmits the customer's identification information to the server 90. The server 90 searches for customer information corresponding to the identification information received from the settlement machine 1 and transmits the customer information to the settlement machine 1. Note that the settlement machine 1 may acquire, for example, the card number of a point card presented by the customer as the customer's identification information.

[0081] The control unit 8 dynamically sets the threshold value for the accumulated light blocking time in accordance with the customer information received from the server 90. For example, the control unit 8 may set a threshold value applied to a customer who has inserted a large amount of coins in the past that is smaller than a threshold value applied to a customer who has not inserted a large amount of coins in the past. Alternatively, the control unit 8 may set a smaller threshold value the more times a customer has inserted a large amount of coins in the past.

[0082] Furthermore, if the cumulative light blocking time during the current transaction exceeds the threshold and the coin slot shutter 146 is caused to close the coin slot 142, the settlement machine 1 transmits the customer's identification information and information indicating that a large amount of coins has been inserted to the server 90. The server 90 updates the stored database based on the information received.

[0083] According to the third control example described above, the number of coins that can be inserted by a customer who has inserted a large amount of coins in the past is more limited than the number of coins that can be inserted by other customers, thereby making it possible to effectively reduce the occurrence of media jams.

[0084] (Fourth control example) In the fourth control example, the control unit 8 controls the opening and closing of the coin slot 142 by the slot shutter 146 according to the pace at which the coin insertion detection unit 147 detects the passage of coins (i.e., the pace at which the customer inserts coins). For example, if the rate at which coins are inserted exceeds the rate at which coins are dispensed from the coin dispensing unit 144, the number of coins accumulated in the coin dispensing unit 144 increases, which is considered to increase the risk of a medium jam occurring.

[0085] For this reason, the control unit 8 may cause the slot shutter 146 to close the coin slot 142 when the rate at which the coin insertion detection unit 147 detects the passage of coins exceeds an upper limit rate. More specifically, the control unit 8 may cause the slot shutter 146 to close the coin slot 142 when the number of times at which the coin insertion detection unit 147 detects the passage of coins within a unit time exceeds an upper limit number of times. After closing the coin slot 142, the control unit 8 may control the return process described in the first to third control examples, or may wait for a predetermined time and then open the coin slot 142 to allow the customer to continue inserting coins.

[0086] According to the fourth control example, the amount of coins that accumulate in the coin feeding unit 144 can be limited, so that the occurrence of medium jams can be suppressed.

[0087] <Supplementary Information> Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such an example. It is clear that a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can conceive of various modified or altered examples within the scope of the technical ideas described in the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0088] For example, each step in the processing of the settlement machine 1 in this specification does not necessarily have to be processed in chronological order according to the order described in the flowchart. For example, each step in the processing of the settlement machine 1 may be processed in an order different from the order described in the flowchart, or may be processed in parallel.

[0089] It is also possible to create a computer program for causing hardware such as the CPU, ROM, and RAM built into the settlement machine 1 to perform functions equivalent to those of the above-mentioned components of the settlement machine 1. A non-transitory storage medium on which the computer program is stored is also provided. [Explanation of symbols]

[0090] 1 Payment machine 2. Banknote processing device 4 Coin processing device 8. Control Unit 11 Display operation section 12 Receipt Printer 14 Coin Deposit Section 141 Cover part 142 Coin slot 143 Deposit Shoot 144 Coin Payout Unit 146 Inlet shutter 147 Coin insertion detector 15 Coin sending section 16 Coin Identification Department 28 Coin Dispensing Tray 30 Coin storage section 80 Product registration device 90 Servers

Claims

1. A cover portion having a coin insertion port for allowing a single coin to pass through; a coin feeding section located below the coin insertion slot, which separates and feeds out coins inserted into the coin insertion slot; An opening / closing unit that opens and closes the coin insertion slot; A detection unit located upstream of the coin feeding unit and configured to detect the passage of a coin inserted into the coin insertion slot; A control unit that controls the opening and closing of the coin insertion slot by the opening / closing unit based on a result of the detection by the detection unit; A coin processing device comprising:

2. The coin processing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the opening / closing unit to close the coin insertion port when a cumulative value of detection by the detection unit after the opening / closing unit most recently opened the coin insertion port reaches a threshold value, and the cumulative value corresponds to the number of coins inserted into the coin insertion port.

3. The coin processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the threshold value is a fixed value set in advance.

4. The coin processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit acquires a total payment amount of products from a product registration device, and sets the threshold value based on the total payment amount.

5. The coin processing device according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit specifies a minimum number of coins required to pay the total payment amount, and sets a value corresponding to a number exceeding the minimum number as the threshold value.

6. The coin processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit sets the threshold value according to an identification result of a user who inserts coins.

7. The coin processing device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein when the cumulative value reaches a threshold value, the control unit controls a return process of coins equal to the total amount of coins inserted into the coin insertion slot after the opening / closing unit most recently opened the coin insertion slot.

8. The coin processing device according to claim 7, wherein the control unit controls the return process so that, when the cumulative value reaches a threshold value, the number of coins of a particular denomination inserted into the coin insertion port after the opening / closing unit most recently opened the coin insertion port is equal to the number of coins of a particular denomination returned.

9. The coin processing device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the control unit controls the display process of a message indicating that acceptance of coin insertion will be stopped because the number of inserted coins has exceeded the number of coins that can be inserted when the cumulative value reaches a threshold value.

10. The coin processing device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the control unit generates a display showing a change in the cumulative value.

11. The coin processing device according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the control unit generates a display for drawing the attention of a customer when the cumulative value reaches an auxiliary threshold value that is smaller than the threshold value.

12. The coin processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit causes the opening / closing unit to close the coin insertion slot when the pace of detection by the detection unit exceeds an upper limit pace.

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