Patent Publication Number: US-2009223776-A1

Title: Bill acceptor with licence/bill recognition

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to bill acceptors and more particularly, to a bill acceptor practical for use in an automatic vending machine to control selling of controlled commodities to persons over the legal age. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Following fast development of technology, our mode of living has been changed, and different automatic vending machines are used everywhere to sell different products without serviceman. These automatic vending machines are highly invited for the advantage of saving much labor and bringing convenience to people. 
     Further, Q-shop has the advantages of scientific intelligence, quick service and quick finish of payment. A Q-shop may provide automatic vending machines for vending drinks, cigarettes, tickets, ice creams, memorial coins, key rings or even hamburgers and noodles. Nowadays, many virtual shops are established to make online shopping, allowing shoppers to shop across millions of products. 
     However, regular vending machines do not limit the sales to any person of any age. Therefore, regular vending machines commonly sell popular goods such as fruit juice beverages, carbonated beverages, food, etc. These vending machines cannot sell age-controlled merchandises such as cigarettes or alcohol drinks, or other controlled merchandises such as drugs, strong acids/alkalines detergent or other hazardous items. To prohibit young children from buying age-controlled merchandises or unqualified people from buying controlled items, a vending machine for vending age-controlled or controlled merchandises must be equipped with a security system to recognize the age or identification of the consumer. 
     Following development of technology and establishment of license systems, people may need to obtain different licenses for different qualifications. One person may carry many different licenses. However, regular licenses can easily be copied. In order to prevent counterfeit, anti-counterfeit techniques are developed and applied to issue of licenses. There is known a license authenticity checking device for automatic vending machine that verifies the authenticity of a license by means of radiating the license with two or more different wavelength lights and then checking the variation of amplitude thus produced for further comparison with anti-counterfeit reference data. 
     Therefore, designing an automatic vending machine for vending age-controlled or specifically controlled merchandises must consider the recognition of the customers&#39; real age or identity. The customer must insert a personal identification card (such as driver license, ID card, IC card, etc.) into the machine for checking the real age and/or identity. The automatic vending machine allows the transaction only when the customer&#39;s age or identify is verified and approved. However, the problem of counterfeit licenses must be taken into account and prevented. Following fast development of computer technology, evil persons may use computer scanning, copying and printing technology to make counterfeit licenses for cheating money or goods from venders. Therefore, an automatic vending machine for vending age-controlled or specifically controlled merchandises must be equipped with a high-performance license checker to verify different characteristics (water mark, paper quality, personal data, etc.), assuring safety. 
     However, for vending age-controlled commodities, an automatic vending machine must be equipped with a bill acceptor as well as a license recognition unit. Because the bill acceptor and the license recognition unit in an automatic vending machine are two separated devices, the automatic vending machine must a certain dimension for accommodating these two separated devices. Further, the installation of the bill acceptor and the license recognition unit greatly increase the cost of the automatic vending machine. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. According to one aspect of the present invention, the bill acceptor is practical for use in an automatic vending machine to control selling of controlled commodities to persons over the legal age. The bill acceptor comprises a bill acceptor body having an insertion slot for the insertion of a license as well as a bill and a passage extending from the insertion slot, a transmission mechanism for carrying each inserted license and bill to a respective recognition position for recognition and returning each inserted invalid license to the insertion slot, and a license and bill recognition unit that comprises a sampling module for picking up an image of each inserted license and recognizing the authenticity of the license and the data of the date of birth carried on the license and an optical recognition module for recognizing the authenticity and value of each inserted bill. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, the bill acceptor utilizes the insertion slot and the passage for the insertion of a license as well as a bill, and the transmission mechanism carries the inserted license or bill into position for recognition and returns the inserted license or bill to the insertion slot if the inserted license or bill is a counterfeit. Because the bill acceptor of the present invention can recognize licenses as well as bills, the use of the bill acceptor in an automatic vending machine saves much the installation space. Further, because the invention utilizes one single insertion slot, passage and transmission mechanism for receiving and carrying licenses and bills, the manufacturing cost of the bill acceptor is greatly lowered. 
     According to still another aspect of the present invention, when a user inserts a license into the insertion slot, the transmission mechanism immediately carries the inserted license into position for recognition by the license and bill recognition unit. After recognition, the transmission mechanism automatically returns the license to the insertion slot so that the user can withdraw the license from the insertion slot. When the license is recognized to be a true license and the related data of the license has been recorded, the user is allowed to insert a bill into the insertion slot to make a transaction. Because a user can insert a bill into the insertion slot only after he (she) has inserted the license into the insertion slot for recognition and withdrew the license after completion of recognition of the license, the invention prevents the problem that the user forgets to withdraw the license. If one&#39;s license is left in an automatic vending machine, an evil person may take away the license for illegal purpose. By means of the use of the bill acceptor of the present invention, an automatic vending machine eliminates this possibility. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an elevational view of a bill acceptor according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a part of the bill acceptor in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional side view of the bill acceptor in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic sectional side view of the present invention, showing a license inserted into the bill acceptor and carried forwards according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic sectional side view of the present invention, showing a bill inserted into the bill acceptor and carried forwards according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is an operation flow of the bill acceptor according to the present invention (I). 
         FIG. 7  is an operation flow of the bill acceptor according to the present invention (II). 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , a bill acceptor in accordance with the present invention is shown comprising a bill acceptor body  1 . The bill acceptor body  1  has mounted therein a transmission mechanism  2 , a license and bill recognition unit  3  and a bill box  4 . 
     The bill acceptor body  1  has an insertion slot  11  for the insertion of a bill or license, a passage  12  extending backwards from the insertion slot  11  toward the transmission mechanism  2 , sensor switches  13  installed in two opposing sides near the junction between the insertion slot  11  and the passage  12 , a light-shielding gate  14  set between the sensor switches  13 , and an anti-theft hook  15  at the turn on the midway of the passage  12 . 
     The transmission mechanism  2  is arranged around the passage  12  at two sides, comprising a motor  21 , transfer rollers  22  and transmission belts  23  rotatable by the motor  21  to transfer the inserted bill, a set of optical wheel  211  and sensor  212  adapted for counting the revolving speed of the transfer rollers  22 , and a bill-pressing device  24  located at the rear side of the passage  12 . 
     The license and bill recognition unit  3  is installed in top and bottom sides around the passage  12  behind the sensor switches  13 , comprising at least one sampling module  31  and optical recognition module  32 . The optical recognition module  32  comprises a plurality of light-transmitting elements  321 , a plurality of light-receiving elements  322  respectively axially aimed at the light-transmitting elements  321 , and lenses  323  respectively set between the light-transmitting elements  321  and the light-receiving elements  322  near the passage  12 . 
     The bill box  4  is provided at the rear side of the passage  12  and facing the bill-pressing device  24 , comprising a bill-bearing board  41  that faces the passage  12  at one side opposite to the bill-pressing device  24  and a plurality of spring members  42  that support the bill-bearing board  41 . 
       FIGS. 4 and 5  and  FIGS. 2 and 3  again, the bill acceptor body  1  is installed in an automatic vending machine. When a user inserts a license  5  or bill  6  into the insertion slot  11 , the license  5  or bill  6  shields the sensor switches  13 , causing the sensor switches  13  to switch on the light-shielding gate  14 , the transmission mechanism  2  and the license and bill recognition unit  3 . When the light-shielding gate  14  is opened, the inserted license  5  or bill  6  can then be inserted into the passage  12 . At this time, the motor  21  drives the transfer rollers  22  and the transmission belts  23  to transfer the inserted license  5  or bill  6  forwards, and the optical wheel  211  is synchronously rotated by the motor  21 , and therefore the sensor  212  counts the number of turns of the optical wheel  211  that is indicative of the revolving speed of the transfer rollers  22 . Subject to the number of turns of the optical wheel  211  counted, the moving distance of the inserted license  5  or bill  6  is known. Therefore, the motor  21  can be controlled to control the rotation of the transfer rollers  22 , carrying the inserted license  5  or bill  6  to a predetermined location for recognition of the authenticity of the inserted license  5  or bill  6  and the birthday data marked on the inserted license  5  or the value of the bill  6 . When the license  5  or bill  6  passed over the sensor switches  13  and the light-shielding gate  14 , the sensor switches  13  immediately close the light-shielding gate  14  to protect the passage  12  and the prevent interference of outside light. 
     The aforesaid motor  21  can be a step motor, server motor or any other suitable design adapted for driving the optical wheel  211 , the transfer rollers  22 , the transmission belts  23  and the bill-pressing device  24 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7  and  FIGS. 2 ,  4  and  5  again, after installation of the bill acceptor in an automatic vending machine, the bill acceptor operates subject to the following steps:
           100  System initialization.     101  Determine whether a license  5  or bill  6  is inserted? And then proceed to step  102  when a license  5  is inserted, or step  106  when a bill  6  is inserted.     102  The transmission mechanism  2  carries the inserted license  5  into position, and the sampling module  31  is started to sample the image of the license  5  and to verify the authenticity of the license  5  and to recognize the age data carried on the license  5 . And then proceed to step  103  when the authenticity of the license  5  is OK and the age data meets the requirement (above the set adult threshold level), or step  105  if the license  5  is a counterfeit or the age data does not meet the requirement (below the set adult threshold level).     103  Send the license recognition result to the control system of the automatic vending machine and then rejects the license  5 .     104  Select “Insert bill” or select “Cancellation”? And then proceed to step  106  when “Insert bill” is selected, or step  110  when “Cancellation” is selected.     105  Display “Invalid License” and return the inserted invalid license  5 , and then proceed to step  101 .     106  The transmission mechanism  2  carries the inserted bill  6  into position, and the sampling module  31  is started to sample the image of the inserted bill  6  and to verify the authenticity of the inserted bill  6  and to recognize the value of the inserted bill  6 . And then proceed to step  107  when the authenticity of the inserted bill  6  is checked OK, or step  109  if the inserted bill  6  is an invalid bill.     107  Send the data of the value of the inserted bill  6  to the control system of the automatic vending machine.     108  Wait until the control system of the automatic vending machine finishes the transaction, and then return to step  101 .     109  Reject the inserted invalid bill  6  and then return to step  101 .     110  Display “Cancellation” when waited overtime, and then return to step  104 .       

     When verifying the authenticity of the inserted license  5 , the sampling module  31  is controlled to fetch the image of the anti-counterfeit characteristics of the inserted license  5  and to convert the fetched image into digital image data, and then to compare this digital image data with a predetermined reference data in a database, and then to determine the authenticity of the inserted license  5  subject to the comparison result. When the authenticity of the inserted license  5  is confirmed, the sampling module  31  is controlled to fetch the image of the series number of the date of birth from the inserted license  5  and to decode the image into character data by means of optical character recognition (OCR), and the character data thus obtained is compared with the current time, checking whether or not the license holder is over the legal age. The data of the comparison result is sent to the control system of the automatic vending machine for consideration in commodity transactions 
     Further, if either of the verification of the authenticity of the license  5 , the checking of legal age and the recognition of the identification of the holder of the license  5  does not match, the transmission mechanism  2  is reversed to reject the license  5  and then the transaction is terminated. Either the transaction is succeeded or not succeeded after checking of the license  5 , the license data such as license characteristics, date of birth of the license holder and license number as well as the transaction time and other transaction related data are recorded for further filing and searching. 
     Further, the recognition of the license  5  is to recognize the date of birth, name of the license holder of the license  5 , and the identification number or license number of the license. Therefore, the customer&#39;s name, date of birth and identification number, the transaction item and transaction related data of each transaction are recorded. If the selling commodities are hazardous or controlled products, the data recorded can be used for further filing and searching. The license  5  indicated can be a driver license, identification card, health insurance card, student card, administration card or any of a variety of other types of identify cards. 
     The aforesaid sampling module  31  comprises an image sensor adapted to fetch the image of the anti-counterfeit characteristics of the inserted license  5  or bill  6 . The image sensor can be a charge coupled device (CCD), complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor or any suitable type image sensor. The anti-counterfeit characteristics include watermarking, steel stamp, invisible barcode, laser label and etc. 
     When a bill  6  enters the passage  12 , the optical recognition module  32  of the license and bill recognition unit  3  is started to recognize the bill  6 . At this time, the light-transmitting elements  321  transmit light through the bill  6  toward the light-receiving elements  322 , and the light-receiving elements  322  receive the light penetrated through the bill  6 , and therefore the transmission of the light is measured and compared with a reference value for determining the authenticity and value of the bill  6 . The light-transmitting elements  321  emit different wavelengths of visible light (blue light, green light, red light, etc.) and invisible light (ultraviolet light). Therefore, the license and bill recognition unit  3  is practical for the recognition of the authenticity and value of different types of paper currencies issued by different countries. 
     When the authenticity of the inserted bill  6  is confirmed, the transmission mechanism  2  is started to carry the bill  6  toward the rear side of the passage  12 . When the bill  6  is carried to the rear side of the passage  12  between the bill-pressing device  24  and the bill-bearing board  41  of the bill box  4 , the bill-pressing device  24  is moved to press the bill  6  onto the bill-bearing board  41  against the spring members  42 . Thereafter, the bill-pressing device  24  is returned, and the spring members  42  return the bill-bearing board  41 , and therefore the bill  6  is received inside the bill box  4 . 
     The aforesaid bill-pressing device  24  can be a bill-pressing board, a linkage or any suitable mechanism capable of pushing the bill  6  from the passage  12  to the inside of the bill box  4 . Because the bill-pressing device  24  is of the known art, no further detailed description is necessary. 
     Further, the motor  21  of the transmission mechanism  2  utilizes the optical wheel  211  and the sensor  212  to count the number of turns of the transfer rollers  22 , and therefore the moving speed and distance of the inserted license  5  or bill  6  are properly controlled. Further, the sampling module  31  of the license and bill recognition unit  3  is set to match the area of the anti-counterfeit characteristics and letters of the license  5 . Therefore, when the inserted license  5  enters the passage  12  of the bill acceptor body  1 , the sampling module  31  of the license and bill recognition unit  3  accurately reads the license  5  and verifies its authenticity. When a bill  6  is inserted, the optical recognition module  32  of the license and bill recognition unit  3  accurately recognizes the authenticity and value of the inserted bill  6 . 
     After installation of the bill acceptor in an automatic vending machine, the sampling module  31  of the license and bill recognition unit  3  is controlled to verify the authenticity of the inserted license  5  and the age and identity of the license holder to make sure that the license holder is over the legal age, preventing any young person or child to purchase tobacco, wine or other controlled products from the automatic vending machine and avoiding violation to the local law. When the automatic vending machine is selling medicines or other hazardous controlled products, the bill acceptor automatically record the name and date of birth of the license holder, the license or ID number, the transaction time, the commodities purchased and other transaction-related data for further filing and searching. Therefore, the invention eliminates the possibility of threats from evil persons due to vending of controlled products to an illegal person. Further, a chronic patient can directly purchase the desired medicine from the automatic vending machine instead of visiting a hospital. Further, the license photographing and related data recording function of the bill acceptor in every automatic vending machine can be used with street video surveillance and security cameras to constitute a perfect criminal search network, helping the police to combat crime. 
     Further, the bill acceptor body  1  utilizes the insertion slot  11  and the passage  12  for the insertion of a license  5  or bill  6 , and the transmission mechanism  2  carries the inserted license  5  or bill  6  into position for recognition and returns the inserted license  5  or bill  6  to the insertion slot  11  if the inserted license  5  or bill  6  is a counterfeit. Because the bill acceptor of the present invention can recognize licenses as well as bills, the use of the bill acceptor in an automatic vending machine saves much the installation space. Further, because the invention utilizes one single insertion slot  11 , passage  12  and transmission mechanism  2  for receiving and carrying licenses  5  and bills  6 , the manufacturing cost of the bill acceptor is greatly lowered. 
     Further, when a user inserts a license  5  into the insertion slot  1 , the transmission mechanism  2  immediately carries the inserted license  5  into position for recognition by the license and bill recognition unit  3 . After recognition, the transmission mechanism  2  automatically returns the license  5  to the insertion slot  11  so that the user can withdraw the license from the insertion slot  11 . When the license  5  is recognized to be a true license and the related data of the license  5  has been recorded, the user is allowed to insert a bill  6  into the insertion slot  11  to make a transaction. Because a user can insert a bill  6  into the insertion slot  11  only after he (she) has inserted the license  5  into the insertion slot  11  for recognition and withdrew the license  5  after completion of recognition of the license  5 , the invention prevents the problem that the user forgets to withdraw the license  5 . If one&#39;s license is left in an automatic vending machine, an evil person may take away the license for illegal purpose. By means of the use of the bill acceptor of the present invention, an automatic vending machine eliminates this possibility. 
     In general, the invention provides a bill acceptor that has one single insertion slot  11  and one single passage  12  for receiving a license  5  as well as a bill  6  for recognition by a license and bill recognition unit  3  that is comprised of a sampling module  31  and an optical recognition module  32 . When a license  5  is inserted, the sampling module  31  recognizes the authenticity of the inserted license and the date of birth of the license holder. When a bill  6  is inserted, the optical recognition module  32  recognizes the authenticity and value of the inserted bill  6 . When the bill acceptor is used in an automatic vending machine, the automatic vending machine can be used to sell controlled commodities to qualified persons. 
     Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.