Money processing apparatus and method

To determine the number of bills in a money processing apparatus, a dividing pin enters a bill housing via a guide groove to fall onto the top of the accumulated bills. The bills are circulated through a transport path, while identification of bill type and counting are executed. When sensors detect that the pin has reached the lowest point, the whole bills have once circulated through the transport path. The pin is withdrawn from the bill housing and is moved to a standby position. Number of bills in the bill housing is accurately and easily determined.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
 The present invention relates to a money processing apparatus and method,
 in particular, it is used in a distribution industry, such as supermarkets
 and convenience stores, the money processing apparatus being connected to
 a POS (point of sales) register to total the amount of input bills.
 In the money processing apparatuses used for store registers, cash delivery
 or exchange operations with customers are currently being streamlined, and
 the cash registers connected to the POS terminals are now getting popular
 now. A money processing apparatus has recently been developed to
 automatically process input or output coins or bills in response to
 information input through the POS terminal. Money processing apparatuses
 are generally classified into a coin processing apparatus and a bill
 processing apparatus. A money processing apparatus in which coin and
 bill-processing apparatuses are integrated and miniaturized to a size of a
 cash drawer to permit installation under the POS terminal has been
 proposed.
 FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating the money processing apparatus.
 The installation area of the money processing apparatus 1 is reduced to be
 as compact as that of a POS register 2, so that the apparatus 1 may be
 placed under the register 2. The money processing apparatus 1 is
 integrally united by placing a bill-processing section 6 and a coin
 processing section 9 in parallel. The bill-processing section 6 includes a
 bill input port 3, a bill output port 4, and a bill collecting housing 5
 on its front surface. The coin processing section 9 includes a coin input
 port 7 and a coin output port 8 on its front surface.
 Bills are input from the bill input port 3. Bills for change are output
 from the bill output port 4 on a command from the POS register 2. The bill
 collecting housing 5 separately houses ten-thousand-yen bills which are
 not used as a change. When various types of coins are simultaneously input
 from the coin input port 7, they are sequentially transported to the
 interior of the coin processing section 9, which are separated by
 coin-types during the transfer and are stored in different locations. For
 example, when the POS register 2 sends instructions to provide change,
 predetermined types and numbers of coins are output from the coin output
 port 8.
 FIG. 10 is a side view showing an example of an internal structure of the
 bill-processing section. The bill-processing section 6 has input-bill
 rollers 11, an input-bill identifying section 12, a blade roller 13, and a
 bill housing 14 on the downstream side of the bill input port 3. A presser
 plate 15 that presses accumulated bills 10 downwards is supported on an
 oscillating shaft 20 of the bill housing 14 to permit oscillation. A
 supply roller 25 that feeds accumulated bills 10 in the horizontal
 direction from the bottom of the bills is placed at the bottom of the bill
 housing 14. A separation and delivery section 16 that sequentially
 separates and delivers one bill, a delivered-bill transport section 17,
 and an output-bill identifying section 18 are located on the downstream
 side of the supply roller 25.
 An output-bill transport section 19 leading to the bill output port 4 is
 located on the downstream side of the output-bill identifying section 18.
 In addition, an output-bill gate 21 and a collecting gate 22 for switching
 a transport path are located on the downstream side of the section 18, and
 a collected-bill transport section 23. leading to the bill collecting
 housing 5 is provided behind the collecting gate 22. A circulating
 transport section 24 is provided to guide the bills delivered from the
 bill housing 14 back to the bill housing 14.
 The function of the bill-processing section 6 will be described in detail
 along a bill transport route. First, bills input from the bill input port
 3 are pulled by the opposed input-bill rollers 11. The input-bill
 identifying section 12 is located on the downstream side of the input-bill
 rollers 11 to identify the input bills. The bills are normally input one
 at a time, but when, for example, change is supplied to the apparatus,
 multiple bills can be simultaneously input to reduce the bill input time.
 The input bills are transported and sequentially aligned and accumulated in
 the bill housing 14 from its top while pushing up the presser plate 15.
 The presser plate 15 presses the bills 10 accumulated in the bill housing
 14 at a position generally corresponding to the center and opposed to the
 supply roller 25, while the blade roller 13 presses the other end of the
 bills. This configuration enables stable accumulation by preventing
 succeeding bills from colliding against the bills 10 already housed.
 One end of the presser plate 15 is fixed to the oscillating shaft 20 to
 support the plate 15 to permit oscillation. The plate 15 presses the bills
 10 with its own weight only. For output, the supply roller 25 rotates to
 feed the bills 10 accumulated in the bill housing 14 to the right of the
 figure and sequentially from the bottom, and the separation and delivery
 section 16 sequentially separates and delivers one bill from the others.
 The delivered-bill transport section 17 transports the delivered bills.
 The output-bill identifying section 18 provided in the middle of the
 transport path determines the bill type.
 Based on the results of the determination, bills to be output pass through
 the output-bill transport section 19 and are aligned and accumulated in
 the bill output port 4. For the bills need not be output as a change, such
 as ten-thousand-yen bills, the output-bill gate 21 and collecting gate 22
 operate to pass these bills through the collected-bill transport section
 23 in order to align and accumulate them in the bill collecting housing 5.
 For unidentifiable bills, only the output-bill gate 21 operates to pass
 these bills through the circulating transport section 24 to re-house them
 in the bill housing 14.
 According to the bill-processing apparatus of the above structure, when the
 bills are sequentially input, the input-bill identifying section can
 identify the bill types, so that bills can be counted based on the results
 of identification to determine the number of bills in the bill housing. If
 the supply of change in the apparatus runs out and requires re-supply,
 multiple bills can be input simultaneously in order to reduce the input
 time. In this case, the input-bill identifying section can not identify
 the types and numbers of the input bills, so that the number of the bills
 in the bill housing is unknown.
 The present invention has been made in view of the above, and the object of
 the present invention is to provide a bill-processing apparatus that can
 accurately and easily count the number of bills in the apparatus, even
 when multiple bills are simultaneously input.
 Another object of the invention is to provide a method of counting the
 number of bills in the bill-processing apparatus easily and accurately.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 In order to attain the objects, the invention provides a money processing
 apparatus for processing input and output bills, which comprises
 input-bill transport means for transporting input bills; bill housing
 means for sequentially accumulating and storing bills transported by the
 input-bill transport means; separation and delivery means for sequentially
 separating one bill from others accumulated in the bill housing means for
 delivery therefrom; delivered-bill transport means for transporting the
 bill delivered by the separation and delivery means; output-bill
 identifying means for identifying the bill type during the transport
 executed by the delivered-bill transport means; switching gate means for
 switching a bill transport direction between a bill output port and the
 bill housing means; output-bill transport means for transporting to the
 bill output port the bills whose transport direction has been switched to
 the bill output port; circulating transport means for transporting to the
 bill housing means the bills whose transport direction has been switched
 to the bill housing means; and accumulated-bill dividing means provided on
 a wall surface of the bill housing means, which is used for totaling the
 number of the bills by dividing uncounted bills from counted bills
 circulated by the circulating transport means.
 In such a money processing apparatus, in order to total the number of bills
 within the apparatus, the accumulated-bill dividing means is moved to the
 top of the bills accumulated in the bill housing means; the housed bills
 are delivered and transported; and during the transport, the output-bill
 identifying means identifies the bill types and counts the number of the
 bills. The circulating transport means re-houses the counted bills in the
 bill housing means. At this point, the re-housed bills are accumulated on
 the accumulated-bill dividing means. This step allows the dividing means
 to divide the uncounted bills from the counted bills circulated by the
 circulating transport means. These operations are repeated, and when no
 uncounted bills remain in the bill housing means, the dividing means has
 reached the lowest point. At this point, the bills in the bill housing
 means have traveled through their transport path to complete totaling.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
 Examples in which embodiments of this invention are applied to a
 bill-processing machine of a money processing apparatus will be described
 below with reference to the drawings.
 FIG. 1(A) illustrates one side of a bill housing in a bill-processing
 machine, and FIG. 1(B) is a view taken along line 1(B)--1(B) in FIG. 1(A).
 In FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B), the components shown in FIG. 10 have the same
 reference numerals. The presser plate 15 that presses accumulated bills 10
 from above by its own weight is supported in a bill housing 14 to permit
 oscillation. A supply roller 25 that feeds accumulated bills 10
 horizontally from the bottom is placed at the bottom of the bill housing
 14. A separation and delivery section 16 that sequentially separates and
 delivers one bill from others is placed on the downstream side of the
 supply roller 25.
 An accumulated-bill dividing section is placed on the side of the
 separation and delivery section 16 in the bill housing 14. The dividing
 section divides uncounted and counted bills 10 accumulated in the bill
 housing 14 while calculating the number of bills in the apparatus, and has
 a roller 32 rotatably supported on a bill housing wall surface 31. A
 dividing arm 33 is provided on a rotating shaft of the roller 32. The
 dividing arm 33 is bendable and has a dividing pin 34 at its free end,
 which may be placed on the side of the bill housing wall surface 31. A
 spring 35 that presses the dividing arm 33 toward the bill housing wall
 surface 31 is placed between the roller 32 and the dividing arm 33. A
 semicircular guide groove 36 concentric with the rotating shaft of the
 roller 32 is cut in the bill housing wall surface 31, as shown in FIG.
 1(B). The width of the guide groove 36 is larger than the diameter of the
 dividing pin 34.
 In addition, the bill housing wall surface 31 has a semicircular raised
 portion 37 concentric with the rotating shaft of the roller 32 and is
 tapered at both ends. A semicircular drive groove 38 is cut in the roller
 32 so as to be concentric with its rotating shaft. A drive pin 40 fixed to
 a gear 39 is inserted into the drive groove 38 in the roller 32. The
 driving groove 38 has a width larger than the diameter of the drive pin 40
 to avoid friction with the pin 40. The gear 39 engages a gear 41 coupled
 to a driving shaft of a motor 42. In addition, sensors 43a and 43b for
 detecting a rotational position, that is, the lowest point of the dividing
 arm 33 when all uncounted bills have been delivered from the bill housing
 14, are provided on the bottom surface of the bill housing 14.
 When the accumulated-bill dividing section is in a standby status, the
 dividing arm 33 rides on the raised portion 37, and the pin 34 at the tip
 of the arm 33 is withdrawn from the bill housing 14.
 The structure and operation of the dividing arm 33 are described in detail
 below.
 FIG. 2(A) shows the operation of the dividing arm at the start of counting,
 as seen from above, and FIG. 2(B) shows the operation of the arm as seen
 from the side. The arm 33 is composed of a fixed portion 33a attached to
 the rotating shaft of the roller 32, a movable portion 33b, and a joint
 portion 33c that joins these portions together. In the standby status, the
 arm 33 is located at the position indicated by the broken line, wherein
 the movable portion 33b rides on the raised portion 37 and is pressed
 against the raised portion 37 by the spring 35. In this state, the
 dividing pin 34 attached to the tip of the arm 33 is withdrawn from the
 bill housing 14.
 When the counting begins, the roller 32 is rotated counterclockwise and the
 arm 33 is correspondingly rotated counterclockwise, as shown by the arrow.
 The movable portion 33b slides along the edge of the raised portion 37,
 and then along a tapered portion 37a thereof. The dividing pin 34 enters
 the guide groove 36 in the bill housing wall surface 31, with its tip
 entering into the bill housing 14. Subsequently, when the arm 33 rotates
 slightly past the vertical line, the motor 42 halts to allow the roller 32
 to rotate freely. The arm 33 then rotates counterclockwise by its own
 weight until the pin 34 reaches the top surface of the bills 10
 accumulated in the bill housing 14. The arm 33 then halts. Subsequently,
 the bills 10 are sequentially delivered from the bottom surface of the
 bill housing 14 in order to calculate the number of the bills. The number
 of the accumulated bills sequentially decreases, and the position of the
 pin 34 correspondingly and sequentially moves downward. The counted and
 circulated bills are accumulated again on the pin 34.
 FIG. 3(A) shows the operation of the arm after counting is finished, as
 seen from the side, and FIG. 3(B) shows the operation of the arm, as seen
 from below. When the counting progresses and all the bills under the
 dividing pin 34 have been removed, the pin 34 projects from the bottom
 surface of the bill housing 14 and halts at the position indicated by the
 broken line. In this position, the counting is finished, and when the
 accumulated-bill dividing section is to be returned to its standby
 position, the roller 32 together with the dividing arm 33 is rotated
 counterclockwise, as indicated by the arrow. The movable portion 33b
 climbs the tapered portion 37b of the raised portion 37 and rides on the
 raised portion 37. The pin 34 is withdrawn from the bill housing 14, and
 the roller 32 rotates, causing the movable portion 33b of the arm 33 to
 slide along the edge of the raised portion 37. The movable portion 33b
 halts upon reaching the standby position indicated by the broken line in
 FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B).
 Detailed operations of the accumulated-bill dividing section during
 counting are described below.
 FIG. 4(A) shows a side of the bill housing at the counting start status of
 the accumulated-bill dividing section, and FIG. 4(B) shows the status of
 the dividing arm after the counting starts. When the counting starts with
 the accumulated-bill dividing means in standby status shown in FIGS. 1(A)
 and 1(B), in response to operation instructions from the money-processing
 apparatus, the motor 42 operates to rotate the gears 41 and 39. Then, the
 drive pin 40 fixed to the gear 39 and inserted into the drive groove 38
 rotates the roller 32 counterclockwise, thereby rotating counterclockwise
 the dividing arm 33 which have ridden on the raised portion 37.
 As the rotation proceeds, the arm 33 leaves the raised portion 37 to cause
 the dividing pin 34 provided at the free end of the arm 33 to be inserted
 into the bill housing 14 through the guide groove 36 provided in the bill
 housing wall surface 31. Once the dividing arm 33 has been rotated through
 a predetermined angle past the vertical line, the rotation of the motor 42
 halts to stop the drive pin 40 at that position. Since the inner wall of
 the circular drive groove 38 and the pin 40 are shaped and arranged to
 avoid frictional contact, the roller 32 continues to rotate as a result of
 the weight of the arm 33 even after the pin 40 has halted. This rotation
 halts when the pin 34 reaches the top surface of the bills 10 accumulated
 in the bill housing 14, as shown in the figures.
 As the supply roller 25 sequentially delivers the bills 10 from the bill
 housing 14 to reduce the bills 10 in the bill housing 14, the pin 34
 lowers correspondingly and sequentially. On the other hand, the
 output-bill identifying section identifies the bills delivered from the
 bill housing 14, and these bills pass through the circulating transport
 section and return to the bill housing 14, where they are accumulated on
 the pin 34. The counting is executed in this manner, and once all the
 bills under the pin 34 have been removed, the pin 34 falls to the bottom
 of the bill housing 14, as shown in FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B).
 FIG. 5(A) shows a side of the bill housing at the counting end status,
 while FIG. 5(B) shows the status of the dividing arm at the counting end
 position. Once all the uncounted bills have been removed from the bill
 housing 14 and the dividing pin 34 has moved out from the bill housing 14,
 the dividing arm 33 halts while being suspended in the vertical direction.
 The arm 33 blocks the bill-delivering transport path to block the counted
 bills in the bill housing 14 from further delivery. The sensors 43a and
 43b are provided at the suspended position of the arm 33 to detect the
 rotational position of the suspending arm 33 to stop the supply roller 25,
 and thus the delivery of the bills. Subsequently, the accumulated-bill
 dividing section operates to move to the standby status as described
 below.
 FIG. 6(A) shows a side of the bill housing when the accumulated-bill
 dividing section is shifted to the standby status, and FIG. 6(B) shows the
 status of the dividing arm during the shift to the standby status. After
 the supply roller 25 halts, the motor 42 starts to operate. The gear 39 is
 rotationally driven via the gear 41 to rotate the drive pin 40 fixed to
 the gear 39 along the drive groove 38 in the roller 32. Upon reaching the
 end of the circular drive groove 38, the pin 40 rotationally drives the
 roller 32. Correspondingly, the dividing arm 33 is rotationally driven. As
 the arm 33 climbs the tapered portion of the raised portion 37, its tip is
 lifted to move the tip of the dividing pin 34 on the bill housing wall
 surface 31. Subsequently, the arm 33 slides on the raised portion 37 while
 being pressed against the raised portion 37 by means of the spring 35.
 Once the dividing pin 34 reaches the standby position shown in FIGS. 1(A)
 and 1(B), the motor 42 is halted. The arm 33 halts rotational movement at
 that position due to the pressure of the spring 35 against the raised
 portion 37 and maintains in the standby status.
 The process of the totaling operation of the money processing machine
 configured as described above is described below.
 FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the process of totaling. When the
 totaling process starts, the dividing arm rotates to plunge the dividing
 pin into the bill housing to drop it onto the bills accumulated in the
 bill housing (step S1). The supply roller operates to deliver one bill
 from the bills accumulated in the bill housing (step S2), and the
 output-bill identifying section identifies the bill type (step S3). Then,
 it is determined whether the tip of the dividing arm has reached the
 lowest point (step S4). If the bills remain in the bill housing and the
 arm has not reached the lowest point, the bill determined by the
 identifying section is counted (step S5) and is circulated through the
 circulating transport path to return to the bill housing (step S6). Once
 the arm reaches the lowest point, all the uncounted bills have been
 delivered from the bill housing, and the supply roller is halted to stop
 delivery of the bills (step S7). The arm is moved to its standby position
 (step S8).
 A second embodiment of a money-processing apparatus according to this
 invention is described below.
 FIG. 8 shows a main part of an accumulated-bill dividing section of a
 bill-processing machine according to the second embodiment. In this
 figure, the same components shown in FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B) are labeled with
 the same reference numerals and their detailed descriptions are omitted.
 As shown in FIG. 8, a plate spring 50 is fixed to the rotating shaft of
 the roller 32 rotatably supported on the bill housing wall surface 31, and
 the dividing pin 34 is fixed to a free end of the plate spring 50. The
 plate spring 50 combines the functions of the arm 33 and the spring 35 of
 the accumulated-bill dividing section shown in FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B).
 While the accumulated-bill dividing section is in the standby status, the
 plate spring 50 rides on the raised portion 37 provided on the bill
 housing wall surface 31 against its own spring force, as indicated by the
 broken line in FIG. 8, and the dividing pin 34 has been withdrawn from the
 bill housing. During the totaling operation, the motor 42 rotates, and the
 gears 41 and 39 rotate correspondingly to allow the drive pin 40 fixed to
 the gear 39 to rotate the roller 32. The plate spring 50 fixed to the
 rotating shaft of the roller 32 rotates and leaves the raised portion 37.
 It then returns to the position indicated by the solid line due to its
 spring force to plunge the dividing pin 34 into the bill housing.
 Subsequently, when the free end of the plate spring 50 is rotated past the
 vertical line and the rotational driving by the motor 42 is halted, the
 spring 50 rotates by its own weight and falls onto the accumulated bills.
 Subsequently, when the delivery of the uncounted bills from the bill
 housing is completed and the spring 50 reaches the lowest point, the motor
 42 operates again to rotate the gears 41 and 39 and the drive pin 40. Upon
 reaching the end of the drive groove in the roller 32, the pin
 rotationally drives the roller 32 to rotate the spring 50 from the lowest
 point. The spring 50 rides on the raised portion 37 to withdraw the
 dividing pin 34 from the bill housing. While maintaining this status, the
 spring 50 moves to the standby position.
 As described above, this invention uses as a trigger the falling of the
 dividing pin onto the top of the accumulated bills to deliver the bills in
 the bill housing, in order to circulate them through the transport path,
 while identifying, counting and re-housing the bills. Once the pin reaches
 the lowest point, the delivery is finished, and the counting is completed.
 Even if multiple bills are simultaneously input, the bills in the bill
 housing can be counted as required, enabling the management of the bills.
 In addition, since the dividing pin divides the uncounted bills from the
 counted bills, the bills accumulated in the bill housing are guaranteed to
 circulate through the transport path, thereby preventing the uncounted
 bills from remaining when the pin reaches the lowest point. This ensures
 reliability of the counting procedure.
 Furthermore, the output-bill gate can be operated to output the bills while
 counting the bills. Therefore, the operation that is performed before
 closing the register can be achieved quickly and accurately.