Banknote handling equipment

Abstract

To reduce a waiting time of a user of a bill processing device.SOLUTION: Provided is a bill processing device including: a dispensing unit that dispenses a bill to a user; a discrimination unit that discriminates a bill to be transported in the bill processing device; a first storage unit that stores bills; a second storage unit that stores bills; a temporarily holding unit that temporarily holds the bill discriminated by the discrimination unit; and a control unit that controls transportation of a bill in response to a dispensing instruction to the dispensing unit. The second storage unit can be operated in a recycling state in which the bills can be delivered to the dispensing unit and a deposit dedicated state in which the bills are not delivered to the dispensing unit. The control unit controls delivery of bills from the first storage unit in a first transaction mode and controls transportation of the bills such that a bill among the delivered bills that has been discriminated as being abnormal by the discrimination unit is transported to the second storage unit in the deposit dedicated state without passing through the temporarily holding unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

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

[0002] In recent years, banknote processing devices have become known that are installed in various locations, such as financial institution branches, train stations, and convenience stores. Users can use such banknote processing devices to perform transactions such as depositing and withdrawing banknotes. The banknote processing device has a validator that determines whether banknotes are normal or not. Rejected banknotes, which are banknotes that are determined to be abnormal by the validator, are stored in a reject storage unit within the banknote processing device.

[0003] In such banknote processing devices, various technologies for handling rejected banknotes have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which rejected banknotes that have been identified are stored in a temporary storage section, and then transported to a classification section again, where banknotes that have been identified as rejected banknotes are reclassified, thereby reducing the incidence of rejected banknotes. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-16133 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Meanwhile, banknote processing devices have multiple storage units that store banknotes. Banknote processing devices may perform an automatic reconciliation process that automatically determines the balances of the multiple storage units. Here, the rejected storage unit does not feed out banknotes or store new banknotes during the period from when the automatic reconciliation process is performed until the balance of stored banknotes is manually determined by an attendant, so as to prevent any changes to the balance. Therefore, it is conceivable that rejected banknotes among the banknotes fed from the storage units during this period may be temporarily stored in a storage unit other than the storage unit from which the rejected banknotes were fed.

[0006] Regarding the storage of such rejected banknotes, conventional banknote processing devices do not have a mechanism for directly transporting rejected banknotes dispensed from a storage unit from the validation unit to another storage unit. Therefore, a method is conceivable for banknote processing devices to temporarily store rejected banknotes dispensed from a storage unit and then transport them to another storage unit. However, with this method, when transporting rejected banknotes dispensed from a storage unit to another storage unit, the banknotes must go through the temporary storage unit, which may result in waiting times for users.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved banknote processing device that can reduce waiting time for users. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a banknote processing device comprising: a dispensing unit that dispenses banknotes to a user; a discrimination unit that discriminates banknotes transported within the banknote processing device; a first storage unit that stores banknotes; a second storage unit that stores banknotes; a temporary holding unit that temporarily holds banknotes discriminated by the discrimination unit; and a control unit that controls transport of banknotes in response to a dispensing instruction to the dispensing unit; a reject storage unit that stores banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the identification unit; Equipped with the second storage unit operates in a deposit-only state in which it does not feed the banknotes to the dispensing unit in a first transaction mode, and operates in a recycle state in which it can feed the banknotes to the dispensing unit in a second transaction mode; The control unit The aforementionedIn a first transaction mode, the device controls the feeding of banknotes from the first storage unit, and controls the transport of the banknotes so that banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the identification unit among the fed banknotes are transported to the second storage unit that is in the deposit-only state without passing through the temporary holding unit; in the second transaction mode, the transport of the banknotes is controlled so that the banknotes are transported from the first storage unit and the second storage unit in the recycling state to the dispensing unit; in the second transaction mode, the transport of the banknotes is controlled so that banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the discrimination unit among the banknotes fed from the first storage unit and the second storage unit are transported to the reject storage unit; in the first transaction mode, a transport path from the first storage unit to the discrimination unit among transport paths for transporting the banknotes fed from the first storage unit to the dispensing unit does not overlap with a transport path from the discrimination unit to the second storage unit among transport paths for transporting the banknotes fed from the first storage unit to the second storage unit; A banknote processing device is provided.

[0012] The control unit may transition the transaction mode of the banknote processing device from the second transaction mode to the first transaction mode after performing a process to determine the balances in the first storage unit and the second storage unit.

[0013] The control unit may control the transport of the banknotes so that the second storage unit is emptied when the transaction mode of the banknote processing device is shifted from the second transaction mode to the first transaction mode.

[0014] The control unit may be configured to control the second storage unit to be operated in the deposit-only state when the transaction mode of the banknote processing device is the first transaction mode.

[0015] The control unit may transition the transaction mode of the banknote processing device from the first transaction mode to the second transaction mode after the balance in the rejected banknote storage unit is determined.

[0016] When the control unit transitions the transaction mode of the banknote processing device from the first transaction mode to the second transaction mode, the control unit may control the transport of the banknotes stored in the second storage unit so that the banknotes are transported to the first storage unit or the reject storage unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the waiting time of users of banknote processing devices. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1]1 is a schematic diagram showing the internal configuration of a banknote processing device 10. FIG. [Figure 2] 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the banknote processing device 10. FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a reference example of the flow of banknotes in a dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 is in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode. [Figure 4] 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of banknotes in a dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 is in an unmanned inspection operation mode according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 5] 1 is a flowchart showing a transaction mode transition between an unmanned inspection operation mode and a normal transaction mode in the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart showing a dispensing process in a normal transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a dispensing process in an unmanned reconciliation operation mode of the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the flow of banknotes when emptying the banknote cassette 4d in the automatic reconciliation process, in the case where the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are not identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the flow of emptying the banknote cassette 4d when the banknote processing device 10 performs an automatic reconciliation process in the case where the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the flow of emptying the banknote cassette 4d when the banknote processing device 10 performs an automatic reconciliation process in the case where the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of rejected banknotes fed from the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c when the banknote processing device 10 is in the normal transaction mode. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and drawings, components having substantially the same functional configurations are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations will be omitted.

[0020] In addition, in this specification and drawings, multiple components having substantially the same functional configuration may be distinguished by adding different letters to the same reference numeral. However, if there is no need to particularly distinguish between multiple components having substantially the same functional configuration, only the same reference numeral will be used to distinguish each of the multiple components.

[0021] <1. Configuration of banknote processing device> An example of the configuration of a banknote handling machine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0022] The banknote processing device 10 is a user-operated terminal that processes banknotes, such as deposits and withdrawals, based on operations by users of a financial institution. The banknote processing device 10 is installed in a variety of facilities, such as financial institution branches, convenience stores, train stations, hotels, hospitals, amusement parks, restaurants, and office buildings.

[0023] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the internal configuration of a banknote processing device 10. As shown in Fig. 1, the banknote processing device 10 includes a depositing / dispensing unit 1, a discrimination unit 2, a temporary holding unit 3, banknote cassettes 4a to 4d, a reject storage unit 5, a transport path 6, and a branch point 7.

[0024] The depositing / withdrawing unit 1 functions as a depositing unit that separates banknotes deposited by a user during a depositing process, and as a dispensing unit that dispenses banknotes to a user during a dispensing process. The depositing / withdrawing unit 1 has a shutter. When the shutter is opened, the user can receive the banknotes dispensed to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1.

[0025] The validator 2 validates banknotes transported within the banknote processing device 10. The validator 2, for example, validates banknotes deposited by users and banknotes to be dispensed to users. The validator 2 validates the denomination, authenticity, fitness, and running state of banknotes transported through the transport path 6.

[0026] The escrow unit 3 temporarily holds banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2. The banknotes held in the escrow unit 3 are transported to banknote cassettes 4a to 4d, etc. via the validation unit 2, where the deposited banknotes are recorded in an account and the transaction is completed. The escrow unit 3 may also be used when transferring banknotes between the banknote cassettes 4a to 4d.

[0027] The banknote cassettes 4a to 4d are storage units that store banknotes deposited by users, banknotes to be withdrawn, and banknotes separated from other banknote cassettes 4. The banknote cassettes 4 may be operable in a recycling state, a deposit-only state, or a replenishment-only state. The state of each banknote cassette 4 may be changeable according to settings, or may be controlled by the control unit 15 based on predetermined conditions.

[0028] Banknote cassettes 4 in the recycling state are able to feed stored banknotes to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1. Banknote cassettes 4 in the recycling state each store banknotes of the same denomination. The denomination of banknotes stored in banknote cassettes 4 in the recycling state may be different for each banknote cassette 4, or may be the same denomination. For example, when banknote cassettes 4a to 4d are in the recycling state, banknote cassettes 4a and 4c may be banknote cassettes for 10,000 yen notes, and banknote cassettes 4b and 4d may be banknote cassettes for 1,000 yen notes.

[0029] A banknote cassette 4 in a deposit-only state will not feed stored banknotes to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1. A banknote cassette 4 in a deposit-only state may store banknotes of different denominations within the same banknote cassette 4.

[0030] Banknotes stored in a banknote cassette 4 in the replenishment-only state are used to replenish other banknote cassettes 4 in the recycling state. Furthermore, a banknote cassette 4 in the replenishment-only state does not feed out stored banknotes to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1.

[0031] The banknote cassette 4 is designed to be detachable from the banknote processing device 10. An attendant can remove the banknote cassette 4 and individually replace it with another banknote cassette 4 loaded with banknotes.

[0032] The reject storage unit 5 stores rejected banknotes that have been discriminated as abnormal by the discriminator 2 during a withdrawal process or a deposit process.

[0033] The conveyance path 6 is configured to convey banknotes. The conveyance path 6 can convey banknotes to their intended destinations by rotating a DC servo motor, a pulse motor, or the like under the control of the control unit 15.

[0034] The branch point 7 is a branch point of the conveyance path 6. A switching blade is provided at the branch point 7, and the destination of the banknotes can be switched by rotating the switching blade.

[0035] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the banknote processing device 10. The operation and display unit 14 functions as an operation unit that detects an instruction to execute a process from an operator, and as a display unit that displays a screen that guides the operator to perform an operation. For example, the operation and display unit 14 displays a process selection screen that allows the operator to select a process to be executed by the banknote processing device 10. The operator issues an instruction to execute a process by selecting a process selection button displayed on the process selection screen. The function of the display unit is realized by, for example, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display device, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) device. The function of the operation unit is realized by, for example, a touch panel. The functions of the display unit and the operation unit may be configured separately.

[0036] The control unit 15 controls the operation of each of the above-mentioned components when the banknote processing device 10 executes processing. For example, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes related to operations such as depositing, stacking, dispensing, and moving banknotes by controlling the transport path 6 and blades attached to the branching point 7. The control unit 15 also controls the execution of processing instructed by an operator operating the operation display unit 14. For example, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes in response to a dispensing instruction to the depositing / dispensing unit 1.

[0037] The control unit 15 also controls the transition of transaction modes of the banknote processing device 10. For example, the control unit 15 controls the transition of transaction modes of the banknote processing device 10 between an unattended reconciliation operation mode and a normal transaction mode. The unattended reconciliation operation mode is an example of a first transaction mode, and the normal transaction mode is an example of a second transaction mode. Below, the dispensing process in each transaction mode will be explained in detail. The control unit 15 may control the transition of transaction modes of the banknote processing device 10 based on operations by an operator on the operation display unit 14, or may control the transition of transaction modes of the banknote processing device 10 based on predetermined conditions.

[0038] The control unit 15 also counts the value and number of banknotes validated by the validation unit 2. The control unit 15 determines the balance of banknotes in an empty banknote cassette 4, for example, by counting the number of banknotes that have been validated as normal by the validation unit 2 and stored in that banknote cassette 4.

[0039] <2. Various processes performed by the banknote processing device> Next, various processes executed by the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0040] (Withdrawal process in normal transaction mode) In the normal transaction mode, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4 in the recycling state are transported to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1. Furthermore, in the normal transaction mode, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that banknotes that have been fed from the banknote cassette 4 in the recycling state and that have been identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2 are transported to the reject storage unit 5. Specifically, when a user operates the operation display unit 14 to instruct a dispensing process, the banknotes stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4d in the recycling state are separated one by one according to the amount specified by the user. The separated banknotes are transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7d to 7g and 7a.

[0041] Then, banknotes that are valid as a result of validation by the validator 2 are passed through branch points 7b and 7c and stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1. On the other hand, rejected banknotes that are valid as a result of validation by the validator 2, that is, banknotes that cannot be paid to the user, are passed through branch points 7b and 7h and stored in the reject storage unit 5. When banknotes of the amount specified by the user are stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1, the control unit 15 controls the shutter of the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 so that the user can receive the banknotes stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1.

[0042] (Automatic screening process) When the banknote processing device 10 is in the normal transaction mode, the banknote processing device 10 may perform an automatic reconciliation process to determine the balances of the banknote cassettes 4a to 4d. For example, the banknote processing device 10 performs the automatic reconciliation process at a time when no transactions are being carried out with users, such as after business hours.

[0043] In the automatic reconciliation process, first, all banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4d are transported to banknote cassettes 4a to 4c or the reject storage unit 5, and banknote cassette 4d is emptied. Specifically, the banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4d are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7d to 7g and 7a. Normal banknotes that are validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the escrow unit 3 via branch points 7b and 7c. On the other hand, rejected banknotes that are validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the reject storage unit 5 via branch points 7b and 7h. After all banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4d have been stored in the escrow unit 3 or the reject storage unit 5, the normal banknotes stored in the escrow unit 3 are stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c for each denomination via branch points 7c, 7b, 7a, and 7d to 7f.

[0044] Next, the banknotes stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c are counted. Specifically, first, the banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4a are separated one by one, and the separated banknotes are transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7d to 7g and 7a. Normal banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in banknote cassette 4d via branch points 7b, 7h, and 7g. On the other hand, rejected banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the reject storage unit 5 via branch points 7b and 7h. Note that, although an example has been shown in which normal banknotes that have been fed from banknote cassette 4a and validated as normal by the validation unit 2 are stored in banknote cassette 4d without passing through the escrow unit 3, they may also be stored in banknote cassette 4d via the escrow unit 3.

[0045] After the temporary holding unit 3 is emptied, normal banknotes that have been fed from banknote cassette 4a and stored in banknote cassette 4d are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7g, 7h, and 7b. Normal banknotes then pass through branch points 7a and 7d and are stored again in banknote cassette 4a. The control unit 15 counts the banknotes that have been transported to the validation unit 2 and stored in banknote cassette 4a. The control unit 15 also counts the banknotes stored in banknote cassettes 4b and 4c in a manner similar to the method used to count the banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4a.

[0046] After the automatic reconciliation process is completed, the control unit 15 shifts the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 from the normal transaction mode to the unattended reconciliation operation mode. After the balance in the reject storage unit 5 is determined, the control unit 15 shifts the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 from the unattended reconciliation operation mode to the normal transaction mode.

[0047] (Identifying issues) Here, from the time the automatic reconciliation process is executed until the balance of banknotes stored in the rejected banknote storage unit 5 is manually confirmed by an attendant, the rejected banknote storage unit 5 does not feed out banknotes or store new banknotes, in order to prevent any changes to the balance. Therefore, during this time, when a user issues a withdrawal instruction by operating the operation display unit 14, it is conceivable that rejected banknotes among those fed from the banknote cassette 4 will be temporarily stored in an empty banknote cassette 4 separate from the banknote cassette 4 from which the rejected banknotes were fed.

[0048] Here, a reference example in which rejected banknotes are temporarily stored in a banknote cassette 4 different from the banknote cassette 4 from which the rejected banknotes were fed will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a reference example of the flow of banknotes during a dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 is in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode.

[0049] Here, a reference example will be described in which rejected banknotes fed from the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c are stored in the banknote cassette 4d during a dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 is in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode. When the operation and display unit 14 detects a user's instruction to execute a dispensing process, the banknotes stored in each of the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7d to 7f and 7a, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 3. Normal banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2 are stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 via branch points 7b and 7c. On the other hand, rejected banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the escrow unit 3 via branch points 7b and 7c.

[0050] Then, when banknotes in the amount of money to be dispensed specified by the user are stacked in the depositing / withdrawing unit 1, the rejected banknotes held in the temporary holding unit 3 are stored in the banknote cassette 4d via branch points 7c, 7b, 7a, and 7d to 7g, as shown in the left diagram of Fig. 3. When all the rejected banknotes held in the temporary holding unit 3 are stored in the banknote cassette 4d, the control unit 15 controls the shutter of the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 so that the user can receive the banknotes stacked in the depositing / withdrawing unit 1, as shown in the right diagram of Fig. 3.

[0051] According to the method described using Fig. 3, the user cannot collect the banknotes stacked in the depositing / dispensing unit 1 until the rejected banknotes held in the escrow unit 3 are transported to the banknote cassette 4d. Here, it is also conceivable that the control unit 15 controls the shutter of the depositing / dispensing unit 1 so that the user can collect the banknotes stacked in the depositing / dispensing unit 1 before the banknotes held in the escrow unit 3 are transported to the banknote cassette 4d. However, the banknote processing device 10 cannot perform other processes until the rejected banknotes held in the escrow unit 3 are transported to the banknote cassette 4d. Therefore, in this case, the banknote processing device 10 will not accept an instruction to execute a process from the user until the rejected banknotes held in the escrow unit 3 are transported to the banknote cassette 4d.

[0052] 3, the time it takes for rejected banknotes stored in the escrow unit 3 to be transported to the banknote cassette 4d means that users have to wait. Furthermore, this method may cause jams or stacking problems within the escrow unit 3 by transporting rejected banknotes that have been abnormally validated by the validation unit 2 or that are in poor condition to the escrow unit 3.

[0053] Therefore, it may be possible to transport rejected banknotes fed from one banknote cassette 4 directly from the validation unit 2 to another banknote cassette 4. Below, we will explain the dispensing process in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode of the banknote processing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is capable of transporting rejected banknotes fed from one banknote cassette 4 directly from the validation unit 2 to another banknote cassette 4.

[0054] (Withdrawal processing in unmanned inspection operation mode) In this embodiment, an example will be described in which rejected banknotes are stored in the banknote cassette 4d during a dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 is in the unattended reconciliation operation mode. The banknote cassette 4d is a first storage unit that can be operated in a recycle state and a deposit-only state. When the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 is the unattended reconciliation operation mode, the control unit 15 operates the banknote cassette 4d in a deposit-only state. Furthermore, the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c are second storage units that are in the recycle state even in the unattended reconciliation operation mode.

[0055] First, in order to enable rejected banknotes to be stored in the banknote cassette 4d, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknote cassette 4d is empty when transitioning the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 from the normal transaction mode to the unmanned reconciliation operation mode. Here, the control unit 15 transitions the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 from the normal transaction mode to the unmanned reconciliation operation mode after performing the automatic reconciliation process. Therefore, it can be considered that the control unit 15 controls the automatic reconciliation process and at the same time controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknote cassette 4d is empty.

[0056] 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of banknotes during a dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is in unmanned reconciliation operation mode. When a user operates the operation display unit 14 to instruct a dispensing process, banknotes stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c in a recycling state are separated one by one according to the amount specified by the user. The separated banknotes are transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7d to 7f and 7a.

[0057] Normal banknotes that have been validated by the validator 2 are then stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 via branch points 7b and 7c. On the other hand, rejected banknotes that have been validated by the validator 2 are stored in banknote cassette 4d via branch points 7b, 7h, and 7g. When banknotes in the amount specified for withdrawal by the user are stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1, the controller 15 controls the shutter of the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 so that the user can receive the banknotes stacked in the deposit / withdrawal unit 1.

[0058] (Transition process from unmanned inspection operation mode to normal transaction mode) After the balance in the reject storage unit 5 has been determined, the control unit 15 transitions the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 from the unattended reconciliation operation mode to the normal transaction mode. When transitioning the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 from the unattended reconciliation operation mode to the normal transaction mode, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d are transported to the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c or the reject storage unit 5.

[0059] Specifically, the banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4d are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7d to 7g and 7a. Normal banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the escrow unit 3 via branch points 7b and 7c. On the other hand, rejected banknotes that have been validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the reject storage unit 5 via branch points 7b and 7h. After all of the banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4d have been stored in the escrow unit 3 or the reject storage unit 5, the normal banknotes that were stored in the escrow unit 3 are stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c for each denomination via branch points 7c, 7b, 7a, and 7d to 7f.

[0060] Up to this point, we have explained an example in which rejected banknotes are stored in the banknote cassette 4d during the dispensing process when the banknote processing device 10 is in the unattended reconciliation operation mode and during the process of transitioning from the unattended reconciliation operation mode to the normal transaction mode. Here, the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes are stored is not limited to the banknote cassette 4d, as long as it can be operated in the recycle state and the deposit-only state. However, due to the characteristics of banknote transport via the transport path 6, there are restrictions on the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes are stored.

[0061] Specifically, during dispensing processing when the banknote processing device 10 is in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode, the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes are stored is determined so that two of the transport paths 6, which will be described below, do not overlap. The first transport path is a transport path from the banknote cassette 4 that stores the banknotes to be fed to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1, to the banknote cassette 4. The second transport path is a transport path from the validation unit 2 to the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes are stored, to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1, to the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes are stored.

[0062] Furthermore, if there are multiple banknote cassettes 4 such that the two transport paths described above do not overlap, any one of the multiple banknote cassettes may be determined as the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes will be stored. Alternatively, the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes will be stored may be determined from the multiple banknote cassettes so that the transport path for transporting banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4 that stores banknotes to be fed to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 is shorter. By determining the banknote cassette 4 in this way, the time required for the withdrawal process in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode can be shortened compared to when another banknote cassette 4 is used as the banknote cassette 4 in which rejected banknotes are stored. In other words, it is possible to further shorten the waiting time for users.

[0063] In the dispensing process method in the unattended reconciliation operation mode described above, rejected banknotes can be transported from the validation unit 2 to the banknote cassette 4d without going through the escrow unit 3, making it possible to reduce the processing time compared to the method described using the reference example. In other words, it is possible to reduce the waiting time for the dispensing process in the unattended reconciliation operation mode for the user. Furthermore, according to this method, rejected banknotes are not transported to the escrow unit 3 during the dispensing process in the unattended reconciliation operation mode, making it possible to reduce the risk of jams and stacking failures occurring in the escrow unit 3.

[0064] 3. Operational Processing Examples of Banknote Processing Devices According to Embodiments of the Present Invention So far, various processes executed by the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention have been described. Next, an example of the operation process of the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0065] (Example of transaction mode transition between unmanned inspection operation mode and normal transaction mode) First, an example of the operation process of the banknote processing device 10 when the transaction mode transitions between the unmanned inspection operation mode and the normal transaction mode will be described. In the description of this operation process example, the banknote cassettes 4a to 4d may be referred to by a combination of an alphabet (case-insensitive) added after the reference numeral and the word "cassette." For example, the banknote cassette 4a may be referred to as cassette A.

[0066] 5 is a flowchart showing the transition of transaction modes between the unattended reconciliation operation mode and the normal transaction mode in the banknote processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, an example will be described in which the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 is the unattended reconciliation operation mode. Also, an example will be described in which cassette D is operated in a deposit-only state and cassettes A to C are operated in a recycle state.

[0067] First, when the automatic reconciliation process of the banknote processing device 10 starts (S104), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes stored in cassette D and empties cassette D (S108). Next, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknotes stored in cassettes A to C are transported to the validation unit 2. The control unit 15 counts the banknotes stored in cassettes A to C that have been transported to the validation unit 2 (S112). When counting of the banknotes stored in cassettes A to C is completed, the control unit 15 transitions the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 to the unmanned reconciliation operation mode (S116).

[0068] When the attendant operates the operation display unit 14 to select transition to the normal transaction mode (S120 / Yes), the attendant can manually inspect the reject storage unit 5. If transition to the normal transaction mode is not selected (S120 / No), the banknote processing device 10 continues to operate in the unmanned inspection operation mode until the attendant selects transition to the normal transaction mode.

[0069] When an attendant manually inspects the reject storage unit 5 (S124), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknotes stored in cassette D are transported to the validation unit 2. The control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that normal banknotes among the banknotes validated by the validation unit 2 are transported, for each denomination, to the banknote cassette 4 for that denomination among cassettes A to C. On the other hand, the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that rejected banknotes among the banknotes validated by the validation unit 2 are stored in the reject storage unit 5 (S128). When all of the banknotes stored in cassette D are stored in the reject storage unit 5 or one of cassettes A to C, the control unit 15 transitions the transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 to the normal transaction mode (S132).

[0070] (Example of withdrawal processing in normal transaction mode) Next, a description will be given of an example of operation processing in a dispensing process in the normal transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing a dispensing process in the normal transaction mode of the banknote processing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0071] When a user operates the operation display unit 14 to instruct a dispensing process (S204), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that banknotes are fed from cassettes A to D in the recycle state (S208). The control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknotes fed from cassettes A to D are transported to the validation unit 2. The validation unit 2 validates the transported banknotes. If the validation unit 2 validates the banknotes as normal (S212 / Yes), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that normal banknotes are dispensed to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 (S216). On the other hand, if the validation unit 2 validates the banknotes as abnormal (S212 / No), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the rejected banknotes validated as abnormal are stored in the reject storage unit 5 (S220).

[0072] Then, when banknotes of the amount specified by the user are transported to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 (S224 / Yes), the control unit 15 controls the shutter of the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 and dispenses the banknotes dispensed to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 to the user (S228). If banknotes of the amount specified by the user have not been transported to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 (S224 / No), the process returns to S208, and the operations of S208 to S216 are repeated until banknotes of the amount specified by the user are transported to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1.

[0073] (Example of operation processing for withdrawal processing in unmanned inspection operation mode) Next, a description will be given of an example of operation processing in a dispensing process in the unmanned inspection operation mode of the banknote processing device 10. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing a dispensing process in the unmanned inspection operation mode of the banknote processing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0074] When a user operates the operation display unit 14 to instruct a dispensing process (S304), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that banknotes are fed from cassettes A to C, which are in the recycle state (S308). The control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that the banknotes fed from cassettes A to C are transported to the validation unit 2. The validation unit 2 validates the transported banknotes. If the validation unit 2 validates the banknotes as normal (S312 / Yes), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that normal banknotes are dispensed to the deposit / withdrawal unit 1 (S316). On the other hand, if the validation unit 2 validates the banknotes as abnormal (S312 / No), the control unit 15 controls the transport of banknotes so that rejected banknotes validated as abnormal are stored in cassette D (S320).

[0075] Then, when banknotes of the amount specified by the user are transported to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 (S324 / Yes), the control unit 15 controls the shutter of the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 and dispenses the banknotes dispensed to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 to the user (S328). If banknotes of the amount specified by the user have not been transported to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1 (S324 / No), the process returns to S308, and the operations of S308 to S316 are repeated until banknotes of the amount specified by the user are transported to the depositing / withdrawing unit 1.

[0076] <4. Supplementary Information> Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to these examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can conceive of various modifications and alterations within the scope of the technical ideas set forth in the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally fall within the technical scope of the present invention.

[0077] For example, in the above embodiment, a method for emptying the banknote cassette 4d during the automatic reconciliation process has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. Other examples of emptying the banknote cassette 4d during the automatic reconciliation process will be described with reference to Figures 8 to 10.

[0078] First, the flow of banknotes when emptying the banknote cassette 4d during the automatic reconciliation process will be described, in the case where the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are not identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the flow of banknotes when emptying the banknote cassette 4d during the automatic reconciliation process, in the case where the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are not identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. First, the banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7g, 7h, and 7b. When the validation unit 2 identifies the transported banknotes as normal, the banknotes are stored by denomination in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c for that denomination via branch points 7a and 7d to 7f.

[0079] Next, a description will be given of the flow of banknotes when the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. Figures 9 and 10 are explanatory diagrams showing another example of the flow of emptying the banknote cassette 4d when the banknote processing device 10 performs an automatic reconciliation process, when the banknotes fed from the banknote cassette 4d are identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2. As shown in the left diagram of Figure 9, the banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7g, 7h, and 7b.

[0080] Here, if the preceding banknote Bp of the rejected banknote Br that has been identified as abnormal by the validator 2 is identified as normal by the validator 2, it passes through branch points 7a and 7d-7g and is stored in one of banknote cassettes 4a-4c, which are banknote cassettes for the denomination of the preceding banknote Bp. The right diagram of FIG. 9 shows an example in which the preceding banknote Bp passes through branch points 7a, 7d, and 7e from the validator 2 and is stored in banknote cassette 4b. Here, the rejected banknote Br is stopped just before branch point 7f, as indicated by the dotted line in the right diagram of FIG. 9. Furthermore, the succeeding banknote Bf of the rejected banknote Br is stopped after branch point 7a, as indicated by the dotted line in the right diagram of FIG. 9.

[0081] The explanation will be continued using FIG. 10. As shown in the left diagram of FIG. 10, when the preceding banknote Bp is stored in one of the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c, the transport path 6 is controlled by the control unit 15 so that the direction of transport of the banknotes is reversed. The dotted arrow in the left diagram of FIG. 10 indicates the direction of transport of the banknotes on the transport path 6. The subsequent banknote Bf passes through branch points 7a, 7h, and 7g and is stored again in the banknote cassette 4d. Here, the subsequent banknote Bf of the rejected banknote Br remains stopped just before branch point 7f, as shown by the dotted line in the left diagram of FIG. 10. When all of the subsequent banknote Bf has been stored in the banknote cassette 4d, the rejected banknote Br passes through branch points 7e, 7d, 7a, 7b, and 7h and is stored in the rejected banknote storage unit 5, as shown in the right diagram of FIG. 10.

[0082] If the subsequent banknotes Bf stored again in banknote cassette 4d do not include any rejected banknotes, the subsequent banknotes Bf are stored in one of the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c according to the flow described using Figure 8. On the other hand, if the subsequent banknotes Bf stored again in banknote cassette 4d include rejected banknotes, the subsequent banknotes Bf are stored in one of the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c, the rejected banknote storage unit 5, or banknote cassette 4d according to the flow described using Figures 9 and 10. The banknotes are transported according to the flow described using Figures 8 to 10 until all the banknotes stored in banknote cassette 4d are stored in one of the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c or the rejected banknote storage unit 5.

[0083] According to the method described using Figures 8 to 10, it is possible to transport banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d to the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c or the reject storage unit 5 without going through the escrow unit 3. Therefore, if the number of banknotes that will be identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2 among the banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d is small, it is possible to reduce the time required for processing. This method is particularly useful when the banknote cassette 4d is operated in a recycling mode, because it is likely that the number of banknotes that will be identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2 among the banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d is small. On the other hand, if the banknote cassette 4d is operated in a deposit-only mode, it is possible that the number of banknotes that will be identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2 among the banknotes stored in the banknote cassette 4d is large. 8 to 10, it takes time to store rejected banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the validator 2 in the reject storage unit 5, and so this method is not suitable when there are a large number of banknotes that are identified as abnormal by the validator 2. For this reason, the method described in the above embodiment is useful when the banknote cassette 4d is operated in a deposit-only state.

[0084] In the above embodiment, the dispensing process in the unmanned reconciliation operation mode has been described. However, the configuration of the banknote processing device 10 in this embodiment is also applicable to the handling of rejected banknotes when the number of banknotes stored in the reject storage unit 5 reaches the upper limit of the number of banknotes that can be stored in the reject storage unit 5 in the normal transaction mode.

[0085] Fig. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of rejected banknotes fed from the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c when the banknote processing device 10 is in the normal transaction mode. As shown in the left diagram of Fig. 11, in the normal transaction mode, banknotes fed from the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c are transported to the reject storage unit 5 until the number of banknotes stored in the reject storage unit 5 reaches the upper limit of the number of banknotes that can be stored in the reject storage unit 5. Specifically, banknotes stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c in the recycling state are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7f to 7d and 7a. Rejected banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the validation unit 2 are stored in the reject storage unit 5 via branch points 7b and 7h.

[0086] As shown in the right diagram of FIG. 11 , in the normal transaction mode, when the number of banknotes stored in the reject storage unit 5 reaches the upper limit of the number of banknotes that can be stored in the reject storage unit 5, banknotes fed from banknote cassettes 4a to 4c are transported to banknote cassette 4d. Specifically, banknotes stored in the banknote cassettes 4a to 4c in the recycling state are separated one by one and transported to the validation unit 2 via branch points 7f to 7d and 7a. When a banknote is discriminated as abnormal by the validation unit 2, the banknote is stored in banknote cassette 4d via branch points 7b, 7h, and 7g. This makes it possible to continue operating the banknote processing device 10 in the normal transaction mode, even when the number of banknotes stored in the reject storage unit 5 reaches the upper limit of the number of banknotes that can be stored in the reject storage unit 5. [Explanation of symbols]

[0087] 1. Deposit and Withdrawal Section 2 Identification Department 3 Temporary holding section 4 banknote cassettes 5 Reject storage area 6 Transport path 7. Branching Point 10. Banknote processing device 14 Operation display section 15 Control Unit

Claims

1. A banknote processing device, a dispensing unit that dispenses banknotes to a user; a discrimination unit that discriminates banknotes transported within the banknote processing device; a first storage unit for storing banknotes; a second storage section for storing banknotes; an escrow unit that temporarily holds the banknotes validated by the validation unit; a control unit that controls the transport of banknotes in response to a dispensing instruction to the dispensing unit; a reject storage unit that stores banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the identification unit; Equipped with the second storage unit operates in a deposit-only state in which it does not feed the banknotes to the dispensing unit in a first transaction mode, and operates in a recycle state in which it can feed the banknotes to the dispensing unit in a second transaction mode; The control unit In the first transaction mode, the device controls the feeding of banknotes from the first storage unit, and controls the transport of the banknotes so that banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the identification unit among the fed banknotes are transported to the second storage unit that is in the deposit-only state without passing through the temporary holding unit; in the second transaction mode, controlling the transport of the banknotes so that the banknotes are transported from the first storage unit and the second storage unit in the recycling state to the dispensing unit; In the second transaction mode, the conveyance of the banknotes is controlled so that banknotes that have been identified as abnormal by the discrimination unit among the banknotes fed from the first storage unit and the second storage unit are conveyed to the reject storage unit; In the first transaction mode, a transport path from the first storage unit to the discrimination unit, among the transport paths for transporting banknotes fed from the first storage unit to the dispensing unit, does not overlap with a transport path from the discrimination unit to the second storage unit, among the transport paths for transporting banknotes fed from the first storage unit to the second storage unit.

2. 2. The banknote processing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit shifts the transaction mode of the banknote processing device from the second transaction mode to the first transaction mode after performing a process to determine the balances of the first storage unit and the second storage unit.

3. The banknote processing device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the transport of the banknotes so that the second storage unit is emptied when the transaction mode of the banknote processing device is shifted from the second transaction mode to the first transaction mode.

4. The banknote processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the second storage unit to be operated in the deposit-only state when the transaction mode of the banknote processing device is the first transaction mode.

5. The banknote processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit shifts the transaction mode of the banknote processing device from the first transaction mode to the second transaction mode after the remaining amount in the reject storage unit is determined.

6. 2. The banknote processing device according to claim 1, wherein, when the control unit shifts the transaction mode of the banknote processing device from the first transaction mode to the second transaction mode, the control unit controls the transport of the banknotes so that the banknotes stored in the second storage unit are transported to the first storage unit or the reject storage unit.

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