Patent ID: 8872513

Claim:
A medium discrimination apparatus comprising: a plurality of magnetic sensors including a first magnetic sensor configured to be in contact with an introduced medium to sense a magnetic component printed on a specific position of the introduced medium, and to output a first analog signal corresponding to the sensed magnetic component, the first analog signal containing a first noise generated from an internal circuit and a second noise generated from an operation of an actuator, wherein the first and second noises are caused when the medium is transferred, and a second magnetic sensor configured to not be in contact with the introduced medium to sense the first noise generated from the internal circuit and the second noise generated from the operation of the actuator without sensing the magnetic component of the introduced medium, and to output a second analog signal containing the first and second noises; a differential analog/digital converter configured to perform a subtraction operation for the first and second analog signals outputted by the first and second magnetic sensors, and to convert a result signal into one digital signal; and a controller configured to discriminate whether the introduced medium is genuine or counterfeit according to the digital signal.