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:
Nov. 30, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 18, 1997
Lawrence M Sears, Hunting Valley, OH (US);
Ginsan Industries Inc, Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Abstract
A coin acceptance mechanism and a method of determining an acceptable coin includes a pair of spaced apart coils between which a coin is passed. A signal is generated in one of the coils and induced in the other coil when a coin passes between the coils. The peak amplitude of the signal induced in the other coil and the peak phase difference between the signals in the pair of coils are both compared to a range of acceptable values stored in a memory to determine if a coin is acceptable and to assign a value to the coin deemed acceptable. The coin acceptance mechanism has a program mode in which it can be programmed to recognize coins of various values and coins or tokens from various countries.