Patent ID: 8490771

Claim:
A coin recognition apparatus that performs recognition of a coin, being transported, by using a magnetic sensor that detects a signal induced in a receiving coil due to a magnetic field produced by passing a current through an oscillator coil, the coin recognition apparatus comprising: a synthesized signal applying unit that applies to the oscillator coil a synthesized signal containing signals of a plurality of designated frequencies; an expansion unit that converts an output signal, which is a signal output from the receiving coil when the synthesized signal is applied to the oscillator coil by the synthesized signal applying unit, into a digital signal and expands the digital signal on a frequency axis; a coin recognition unit that performs recognition of the coin based on amplitudes of the signals of the designated frequencies extracted from the signals expanded by the expansion unit; and a coin center detecting unit that detects whether a coin center, which represents a substantially central line on a surface of the coin, has reached the magnetic sensor based on the output signal output from the receiving coil when a single-frequency signal is applied to the oscillator coil, wherein the synthesized signal applying unit applies the synthesized signal to the oscillator coil when the coin center is detected by the coin center detecting unit.