The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 23, 1996
Filed:
May. 15, 1995
Keiji Tsuji, Inba-gun, JP;
Laurel Bank Machines Co:, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A coin discriminating apparatus includes a light emitter for illuminating the surface of a coin, a light receiver for receiving reflected light from the surface of the coin and producing pattern data of the coin, a pattern data memory for storing the pattern data of the coin produced by the light receiver, a reference data memory for storing reference pattern data of each denomination, a magnetic sensor for detecting a material of the coin, a first discriminator for determining the denomination of the coin based on the material of the coin detected by the sensor, a second discriminator for determining the denomination of the coin based on the diameter of the coin, a denomination discriminator for determining the denomination of the coin based on the determined results by the first and second discriminators, a data comparator for reading reference pattern data corresponding to the denomination of the coin stored in the reference data memory based on the determined result by the denomination discriminator and comparing the pattern data stored in the pattern data memory, thereby determining the denomination of the coin. According to the thus constituted coin discriminating apparatus, it is possible to discriminate coins with high accuracy and at high speed.