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:
Apr. 20, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2000
Applicants:
David Michael Furneaux, Reading, GB;
Bernard Joseph Campbell, Sherfield-on-Loddon, GB;
Inventors:
David Michael Furneaux, Reading, GB;
Bernard Joseph Campbell, Sherfield-on-Loddon, GB;
Assignee:
MEI, Inc., West Chester, PA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G07D 9/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
An electrical discharge produces an acoustic impulse, and a reflection of the impulse from the upper coin in a coin stack is sensed so that the level of the coin stack can be determined from the time taken for the reflection to be received. Alternatively, or additionally, the acoustic impulse can be used to detect coin jams, the presence and/or width of a coin store, the state of a coin routing gate or the quantity of a vendible product.