Patent ID: 7243772

Claim:
A method of validating a coin inserted into a coin mechanism having a coin-guide means for guiding an input coin along a predetermined coin path, and one or more coin sensors disposed in the path of the input coin, the method comprising the steps of: a) sensing an effect of the input coin on a parameter of the one or more sensors and providing an input-coin signal representative of said effect; b) sampling the input-coin signal to produce a sequence of sample values; c) multiplying respective values of a plurality of detection waveforms characteristic of a particular coin, each detection waveform being a wavelet and comprising a sequence of numerical values, by those of the input-coin signal to form products; d) summing the products to produce an evaluation value corresponding to each detection waveform; and e) determining whether each of the evaluation values falls within predetermined limits, in order to validate the coin.