HK1151119B - Banknote processing machine - Google Patents

Description

Banknote processing apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to banknote processing apparatus.

The present invention claims priority from japanese patent application No. 2009-161834, filed on 7/8/2009, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Background

In the banknote processing machine, banknotes inserted into an input section are recognized by a recognition section and then temporarily stored in a temporary storage section. Then, when a return command is input, the banknotes are returned to the return section so that the banknotes can be taken out of the banknote processing machine. On the other hand, when a deposit command is input, banknotes are deposited into the receiving portion.

For example, japanese patent laid-open No. 3248972 discloses a banknote processing apparatus in which,

when any counterfeit banknote is recognized by the recognition section, the counterfeit banknote is automatically and forcibly collected into a collection box installed in the banknote processing apparatus.

Since the collecting cassette is installed in the banknote processing machine, the collecting cassette is usually opened after the customer service is completed. For this reason, when an abnormality such as insertion of a counterfeit banknote occurs many times a day, it is impossible to manage the denomination and number of abnormal banknotes forcibly collected into the collection cassette once the abnormality processing, i.e., once the customer processing, is performed. In order to manage the abnormal processing (customer) when it is performed, it is necessary to stop the banknote processing machine to open the collection cassette at every occurrence of the situation, and thus the customer service cannot be smoothly performed.

Of course, it would be advantageous in terms of management to sort bills when they are accommodated in the same receiving portion, not limited to a collecting cassette for collecting counterfeit bills.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a banknote processing machine which is capable of sorting and managing banknotes when the banknotes are stored in the same receiving section.

In order to achieve the above object, a banknote processing machine according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: a receiving section that receives a banknote; a temporary storage section including a pair of first and second drums and a tape wound between the pair of first and second drums, the tape having an end fixed to the first drum, a tape section for banknote sheets and a tape section for partition sheets, the tape section for partition sheets being located on a side of the end with respect to the tape section for banknote sheets, the temporary storage section releasably receiving a conveyed banknote by winding the conveyed banknote around the first drum together with the tape section for banknote sheets and releasably receiving at least one partition sheet by winding the partition sheets around the first drum together with the tape section for partition sheets;

and a control section that, in response to the receiving section receiving the banknotes, causes the temporary storage section to release the partition sheet wound on the first drum and causes the receiving section to receive the partition sheet from the temporary storage section.

In the banknote processing machine according to the first aspect of the present invention, the temporary storage section includes a pair of first and second drums, a tape wound between the pair of first and second drums, and releasably receives the conveyed banknote by winding the conveyed banknote on the first drum together with the tape section for banknote sheets. The belt has a belt portion for the partition sheet, which is located on the side fixed to the end of the first drum with respect to the belt portion for the banknote sheet. The control section causes the temporary storage section to release the partition sheet wound on the first drum in response to the receiving section receiving the banknotes, and causes the receiving section to receive the partition sheet from the temporary storage section. With this structure, when a plurality of banknotes are received in the same receiving section, the partition sheets can be set at desired positions, so that the banknotes can be discriminated using the partition sheets, thereby managing the denominations and the number of the banknotes.

Further, the temporary storage section releasably receives the partition sheets by winding the partition sheets together with the tape sections for the partition sheets on the first drum, the tape sections for the partition sheets being located on the side of the end fixed to the first drum with respect to the tape sections for the banknote sheets, and releases the partition sheets as needed. Therefore, a special mechanism for receiving and releasing the partition sheets is not required, and thus the cost is reduced.

A banknote processing machine according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises: a receiving section that receives a banknote; a temporary storage section including a pair of first and second drums and a tape wound therebetween, the temporary storage section releasably receiving conveyed bills by winding the conveyed bills around the first drum together with the tape and releasably receiving at least one partition sheet by winding the partition sheet around the second drum together with the tape; and a control section that causes the temporary storage section to release the partition sheet wound on the second drum in response to the receiving section receiving the banknotes, and causes the receiving section to receive the partition sheet from the temporary storage section.

In the banknote processing machine according to the second aspect of the present invention, the temporary storage section includes a pair of first and second drums and a tape wound between the pair of first and second drums, and releasably receives the conveyed banknotes by winding the conveyed banknotes around the first drum together with the tape. The control section causes the temporary storage section to release the partition sheet wound on the second drum in response to the receiving section receiving the banknotes, and causes the receiving section to receive the partition sheet from the temporary storage section. With this structure, when a plurality of banknotes are received in the same receiving section, the partition sheets can be set at desired positions to distinguish the banknotes by the partition sheets, so that it is possible to manage the denominations and the number of the banknotes.

Further, the temporary storage portion releasably receives the partition sheet by winding the partition sheet together with the tape on the second drum, and releases the partition sheet as needed. Therefore, a special mechanism for receiving and releasing the partition sheet is not required, so that the cost can be reduced.

The banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the receiving section includes at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section, a first non-taken banknote collection section, and a second non-taken banknote collection section, the banknote processing machine further includes an insertion section that receives a banknote from an outside of the machine, an identification section, a first return section, a second return section, and an accommodation section; the identification section identifies the banknote received in the insertion section; the counterfeit banknote collection section receives the banknotes recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section; the first returning section returns the banknotes unidentified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus; the second return section returns the banknotes released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus; the accommodating section accommodates the banknotes released from the temporary storage section; the first non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the first return section; the second non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the second return section; and the temporary storage section releasably receives the banknotes recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section.

With this structure, the partition sheet is introduced from the temporary storage section to at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section that receives banknotes that are accommodated in the insertion section and identified as counterfeit banknotes by the identification section, a first return section that returns banknotes that are not identified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus, and a second return section that returns banknotes released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus. For this reason, it is possible to distinguish and manage the banknotes received in at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, and the second non-taken banknote collection section.

In the banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the first returning section and the second returning section may constitute a common returning section, the first non-taken banknote collection section and the second non-taken banknote collection section may constitute one common non-taken banknote collection section, and the receiving section may include at least the common non-taken banknote collection section.

With this structure, the first returning section and the second returning section constitute a common returning section, and when the first non-taken banknote collection section and the second non-taken banknote collection section constitute one common non-taken banknote collection section, banknotes received in the common non-taken banknote collection section can be distinguished and managed.

The banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the receiving section may include at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section, a first non-taken banknote collection section, a second non-taken banknote collection section, and a third non-taken banknote collection section, the banknote processing machine further includes an insertion section that receives a banknote from an outside of the machine, an identification section, a first return section, a second return section, an accommodation section, and a withdrawal section; the identification section identifies the banknote received in the insertion section; the counterfeit banknote collection section receives the banknotes recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section; the first returning section returns the banknotes unidentified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus; the second returning section returns the bills released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus; the accommodating section accommodates the banknotes released from the temporary storage section; the first non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the first return section; the second non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the second return section; the temporary storage section releasably receives the banknotes recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section; the withdrawal section providing the banknotes released from the receiving section to be taken out of the apparatus; and the third non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the withdrawal section.

With this structure, the partition sheet can be introduced from the temporary storage section into at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section that receives the banknotes left in the withdrawal section. For this reason, it is possible to distinguish and manage banknotes received in at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section.

In the banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the first returning section, the second returning section and the withdrawal section may constitute a common transport section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section and the third non-taken banknote collection section may constitute a common non-taken banknote collection section, and the receiving section may include at least the common non-taken banknote collection section.

With this structure, when the first returning section, the second returning section, and the withdrawal section constitute one common conveyance section, and when the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section may constitute one common non-taken banknote collection section, it is possible to distinguish and manage banknotes received in the common non-taken banknote collection section.

In the banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the belt may have a discrimination section for discriminating the belt portion for the partition sheet from the other belt portions of the belt.

With this structure, the belt has a discrimination portion for discriminating the belt portion for the partition sheet from the other belt portion of the belt, so that the belt portion for the partition sheet can be discriminated from the other belt portion, and position control can be performed with the sensor.

In the banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, in response to the control section determining that the temporary storage section lacks partition sheets after the normal processing mode is performed, the control section may switch to a partition sheet restock process for restocking partition sheets, and the control section may allow switching to the normal processing mode only after the partition sheets are restocked in the temporary storage section by the partition sheet restock process.

With this structure, in response to the control portion determining that the temporary storage portion lacks a partition sheet after the normal process mode is executed, the control portion may switch to a partition sheet restock process for restocking the partition sheets, and the control portion may allow switching to the normal process mode only after the partition sheets are restocked in the temporary storage portion by the partition sheet restock process. For this reason, the absence of the partition sheet can be reliably prevented.

In the banknote processing machine according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, in response to the control section determining that the temporary storage section lacks a partition sheet, the control section may output a restock order signal to request restock of the partition sheet.

With this structure, in response to the control portion determining that the temporary storage portion lacks a partition sheet, the control portion may output a restock order signal to request restock of the partition sheet. For this reason, for example, even in the case where the reserve partition sheet storage position is remote from the banknote processing machine, it is possible to instruct an external management department or a management center to newly store partition sheets, facilitating smooth service management.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view schematically showing a banknote processing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is an expanded view of the main parts of a banknote processing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3A is an enlarged side view of a main part of the banknote processing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3B is an enlarged side view of a main part of the banknote processing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3C is an enlarged side view of a main part of the banknote processing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is an expanded view of the main part of a modified example of the banknote processing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5A is an enlarged side view of a main part of a banknote processing machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5B is an enlarged side view of a main part of the banknote processing machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5C is an enlarged side view of a main part of the banknote processing machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6A is an enlarged side view of a main part of a banknote processing machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6B is an enlarged side view of a main part of a banknote processing machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6C is an enlarged side view of a main part of the banknote processing machine according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is an expanded view of the main part of a banknote processing machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8A is an enlarged side view of a main part of a banknote processing machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8B is an enlarged side view of a main part of a banknote processing machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8C is an enlarged side view of a main part of a banknote processing machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a side sectional view schematically showing a banknote processing machine according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

A banknote processing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 4. In the following description, the operator side is referred to as a front side, the side opposite to the operator side is referred to as a rear side, and the left and right sides as viewed by the operator are referred to as left and right sides (or lateral sides).

The banknote processing machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention is a deposit-only machine capable of only storing and counting banknotes. This banknote processing machine can also process foreign banknotes having significantly different sizes depending on the denomination of the banknote. The bill processing apparatus conveys bills along long edges of the bills in a conveying direction and receives the bills. By enlarging the lateral width of the banknote processing apparatus, the banknote processing apparatus can also convey banknotes in the conveying direction along the short sides of the banknotes and receive the banknotes.

As shown in fig. 1, a banknote processing machine 11 according to the first embodiment of the present invention has an insertion port 12 as a transaction port, the insertion port 12 being installed on one side of a front surface 11A of a machine main body, and banknotes S are inserted from the outside of the machine through the insertion port 12, and the banknote processing machine 11 also has a discharge port 13 as another transaction port, the discharge port 13 being installed on one side of the front surface 11A in front of the insertion port 12, and the banknotes S are discharged from the inside of the banknote processing machine through the discharge port 13.

The banknotes S are inserted into the insertion port 12 in the form of a banknote bundle SS in which a plurality of banknotes are stacked in the thickness direction with the rear end lowered in a posture in which one end of the long side of each banknote is located inside the apparatus main body and the short side thereof is aligned with the horizontal direction (i.e., the lateral direction of the apparatus main body). The insertion port 12 is configured to receive the entire banknote having the longest long side. An insertion port shutter 14 for opening/closing an opening of the insertion port 12 and an insertion detection sensor 15 for detecting the banknotes S in the insertion port 12 are installed in the insertion port 12.

The banknotes S are discharged from the discharge port 13 in a front-end-up posture in which one end of the long side of each banknote is located inside the apparatus main body and the short side thereof is aligned in the horizontal direction (i.e., the lateral direction of the banknote processing apparatus), and a plurality of banknotes are stacked in the thickness direction in the discharge port 13 as a banknote bundle SS. The discharge port 13 is also configured to accommodate the entire banknote S having the longest long side. A discharge port shutter 16 for opening/closing the opening of the discharge port 13 and a remaining detection sensor 17 for detecting the banknotes S in the discharge port 13 are also installed in the discharge port 13.

The separation releasing portion 19 is mounted inside the apparatus main body with respect to in the insertion port 12. The separation release section 19 separates the banknotes S inserted into the insertion port 12 one by one and releases the banknotes S into the apparatus. The insertion port 12 and the separation release section 19 constitute an insertion section 20 that separates the inserted banknotes S one by one and releases the banknotes S into the apparatus when the banknotes S are inserted from the outside of the apparatus.

The conveying portion 21 is mounted inside the apparatus main body with respect to the separation releasing portion 19. The conveying section 21 conveys the banknotes S released from the separation releasing section 19. The conveying portion 21 is configured to extend from the separation release portion 19 in the rear-upper direction and turn toward the lower side, then extend in the front-lower direction, and then further extend horizontally to the front side, and finally extend a short distance in the front-upper direction so as to be connected to the upper portion behind the discharge port 13.

In addition, the banknote processing machine 11 includes a conveyance section 22, a conveyance channel 23, and a conveyance section 24. The conveying section 22 includes a longitudinal conveying section 22a branched from the middle of the conveying section 21 and extending straight downward and a lateral conveying passage 22b extending horizontally rearward from the lower end of the longitudinal conveying section 22 a. The conveying passage 23 branches off from the middle of the longitudinal conveying portion 22a of the conveying portion 22 and extends horizontally rearward. The carrying section 24 branches off from the middle of the carrying section 22 below the carrying passage 23 of the carrying section 22 and extends horizontally forward to be connected to the carrying section 21. The lateral conveyance path 22b and the conveyance path 23 guide the bills conveyed by the driving force of the longitudinal conveyance section 22a without applying the driving force to the bills.

The identification section 28 is installed on the upstream side of the conveyance section 21. The recognition section 28 recognizes and counts the banknotes S released by the insertion section 20 and conveyed by the conveying section 21. The temporary storage section 29 is connected to a distal position of the transfer section 22 through an entrance 29A thereof. The temporary storage section 29 stores the denominations of the banknotes S identified as genuine banknotes by the identification section 28 mixedly so that it can release the banknotes S. A counterfeit banknote collection section (i.e., a receiving section) 30 is connected to a distal end portion of the conveyance path 23. The counterfeit banknote collection section 30 includes a safe (safe) provided in the apparatus, and receives and collects banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes (abnormal banknotes) other than the genuine banknotes identified by the identification section 28. The counterfeit banknote collection detection sensor 31 is installed at an intermediate position of the conveyance path 23. The counterfeit banknote collection detection sensor 31 detects that the banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes are collected in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30.

Banknotes S that are not recognized as counterfeit banknotes or recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28, for example, unidentifiable banknotes including abnormally conveyed banknotes such as overlapped banknotes, banknotes inserted with a bend, and the like, are conveyed to the discharge port 13 by the conveying section 21 as they are and returned to the customer through the discharge port 13. When the banknotes S accommodated in the temporary storage section 29 are returned, the banknotes S are conveyed toward the discharge port 13 by the conveying section 22, the conveying section 24, and the conveying section 21, and are returned to the customer. For this purpose, the transverse conveying section 22a of the conveying section 22 conveys the banknotes S to the temporary storage section 29 during normal rotation, and conveys the banknotes S in the reverse direction from the temporary storage section 29 during reverse rotation.

The separation release portion 34 is mounted inside the apparatus main body with respect to the discharge port 13. The separation release section 34 separates the banknotes S that have not been taken after being discharged to the discharge port 13 to release the banknotes S into the apparatus one by one. The discharge port 13 and the separation release section 34 constitute a common discharge section (i.e., a first returning section, a second returning section, and a common returning section) 35 that returns the banknotes S that are not recognized by the recognition section 28 to be taken out of the apparatus, and returns the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 to be taken out of the apparatus.

The conveying portion 38 is mounted inside the apparatus main body with respect to the separation release portion 34. The conveyance section 38 conveys the bills to be released from the separation release section 34 without being taken away in the discharge port 13. The common non-taken banknote collection section (i.e., the receiving section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, and the second non-taken banknote collection section) 39 is connected to a distal position of the transport section 38. The common non-taken banknote collection section 39 includes a safe that is provided in the apparatus to collect and receive banknotes (i.e., abnormal banknotes) that are not taken in the common discharge section 35. The non-taken banknote collection detection sensor 40 is installed at an intermediate position of the conveyance section 38. The non-taken banknote collection detection sensor 40 detects that the non-taken banknotes S are collected in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39. The separation release section 34 in the common discharge section 35 is not necessary, and a plurality of banknotes S that have not been taken after being discharged to the discharge port 13 can be conveyed in a group to and accommodated in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39.

The banknote processing machine 11 includes a conveyance section 44, a conveyance section 45, and a conveyance section 46. The conveying portion 44 extends slightly downward so as to be connected to the lateral conveying portion 22a of the conveying portion 22, and then extends horizontally forward, and finally extends downward. The conveying portion 45 and the conveying portion 46 branch out from the middle of the conveying portion 44 to extend downward. Storage boxes 47 to 49 are connected to the distal positions of these transfer sections 44 to 46. The storage boxes 47 to 49 store the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 in a predetermined denomination or in a mixed denomination. These storage boxes 47 to 49 constitute a containing section 50 for containing the bills released from the temporary storage section 29.

In the first embodiment, the temporary storage section 29 releasably accommodates banknotes for temporary storage and partition sheets X, as shown in fig. 2. At each time of processing, the partition sheet X is used to distinguish banknotes collected in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39. For this purpose, by reversing the longitudinal conveying section 22a of the conveying section 22, the partition sheet X may be taken out from the temporary storage section 29 to be accommodated in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 along the conveying path 23, or may be taken out from the temporary storage section 29 to be guided to the discharge port 13 by the conveying sections 24 and 21. The partition sheet X guided to the discharge port 13 is accommodated in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 by the conveying section 38. When the partition sheet X is accommodated in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, at this time, the partition sheet X overlaps the banknotes S stacked vertically and accommodated in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, and is accommodated together therewith. When the partition sheets X are accommodated in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, at this time, the partition sheets X overlap the banknotes S that are vertically stacked and accommodated in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 and are accommodated together therewith.

In the above-described temporary storage section 29, a banknote stack drum (i.e., drum) 55 is disposed on one side of the entrance 29A, and a tape rewinding drum (i.e., drum) 56 is disposed on the opposite side of the entrance 29A such that they are parallel to each other. One end of the tape T is fixed to one of the drums, i.e., the banknote stack drum 55, and the other end of the tape T is fixed to the other drum, i.e., the tape rewinding drum 56, so that only one tape T is placed between the pair of banknote stack drums 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56. Thus, when the tape T is wound on one of the drums, i.e., the banknote stack drum 55, the other drum, i.e., the tape rewinding drum 56, is cooperatively rotated by the tape T, thereby releasing the tape T. On the other hand, when the tape T is wound on the other side on the tape rewinding drum 56, the banknote stack drum 55 on the one side is cooperatively rotated by the tape T, thereby releasing the tape T.

The tape T wound on the banknote stack drum 55 extends from the lower portion of the banknote stack drum 55 toward the entrance 29A in substantially the same linear direction as the transverse conveyance path 22b at the distal end of the conveyance section 22, returns downward by the roller 57 to be guided toward the rollers 58 and 59 disposed opposite to the entrance 29A, and then extends upward from the roller 59 to be wound on the tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the tape T is wound on the tape rewinding drum 56 to extend downward from the inlet 29A side of the tape rewinding drum 56.

During the temporary storage of the banknotes S, the banknotes S separated and conveyed one by the conveying section 22 are conveyed from the lateral conveying path 22b to the entrance 29A of the temporary storage section 29 at a predetermined speed by the conveying driving force of the lateral conveying section 22 a. Here, since the tape rewinding drum 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 are rotated in a predetermined banknote receiving direction (i.e., in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig. 1), the banknote S withdrawn from the transport section 22 overlaps the tape T at an intermediate position in the short-side direction as shown in fig. 2 so as to be wound around a portion of the tape T, which has been wound around the banknote stack drum 55 and is thereby sandwiched within the tape T, together with the tape T. The banknotes S sequentially conveyed into the temporary storage section 29 are wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the tapes T as described above, and are thereby accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55 in a stacked state. In this way, the tape T is wound on the banknote stack drum 55 while being released from the tape rewinding drum 56, so that the banknotes S conveyed from the conveying section 22 are stored in the temporary storage section 29 (see fig. 3A). This is a winding operation.

On the other hand, when the tape rewinding drum 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 are rotated in the opposite direction with respect to the above-described direction, that is, in a predetermined banknote release direction (i.e., clockwise direction in fig. 1), the banknotes S stacked on the banknote stack drum 55 are separated and released from the banknote stack drum 55 together with the overlapped portion of the tape T, so that the banknotes S are separated from the tape T at the entrance 29A of the temporary storage section 29 to be released to the conveying section 22. In this way, as the tape T is released from the banknote stack drum 55, only the tape is rewound on the tape rewinding drum 56, and the banknotes S accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55 are conveyed from the temporary storage section 29 to the conveying section 22 (see fig. 3B). This is a rewind operation.

As described above, by performing the winding operation and the rewinding operation of the tapes T between the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56, the stack storage and the separate insertion of the introduced banknotes S one by one are performed. Both ends (i.e., an initial end and a terminal end) of the tape T are respectively connected to the outer peripheries of the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56 by connection members (not shown), and then the tape T is wound thereon.

When the banknotes S in the temporary storage section 29 are conveyed into the accommodating section 50 as shown in fig. 1, the longitudinal conveying section 22a of the conveying section 22 and the conveying section 44 rotate at a similar predetermined speed as described above, so that the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 are conveyed toward the accommodating section 50 via the conveying sections 44 to 46. Meanwhile, when the banknotes S in the temporary storage section 29 are returned to the common discharge port 35, as described above, the longitudinal conveyance section 22a of the conveyance section 22 is driven in the opposite direction with respect to the above-described direction at a similar predetermined speed, so that the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 are conveyed toward the common discharge port 35 via the conveyance sections 22, 24, and 21.

In the first embodiment, as described above, the temporary storage section 29 releasably receives the banknotes S for temporary storage, and it releasably receives the partition sheet X, as shown in fig. 2, for distinguishing the banknotes S in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 as long as each process is performed. For this reason, the tape T has a tape section TA for banknotes and a tape section TB for partition sheets. The tape section TA for banknotes is a predetermined portion of the tape T on the side of the fixed end of the tape rewinding drum 56. The tape section TB for partition sheets is a predetermined section of the tape on the fixed end side of the banknote stack drum 55. In order to increase the number of banknotes S temporarily stored in the temporary storage section 29, a tape section TB for partition sheets is provided near either of both ends of the tape T, in particular, near the end on the side of the banknote stack drum 55. The length of the tape T is determined in consideration of the limit on the number of banknotes S estimated as the number of banknotes temporarily stored in the temporary storage section 29 and the number of preloaded partition sheets X estimated as the number of previously accommodated partition sheets.

The tape section TA for banknotes is a section for receiving the banknotes S, and has a winding end region TAa, a winding proximal end region TAb, and a banknote accommodation region TAc. The winding end region TAa has a large width and is a predetermined portion of the tape portion TA including an end fixed to the tape rewinding drum 56. The winding near-end region TAb has a smaller width and is a predetermined portion of the tape portion TA, which is a portion opposite to the end of the winding end region TAa fixed to the tape rewinding drum 56 with respect to the winding end region TAa. The banknote receiving area TAc has a large width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TA, which is a portion opposite to the winding end area TAa with respect to the winding near-end area TAb.

The tape section TB for partition sheets is a section for accommodating partition sheets X other than the banknotes S, and has a rewinding end region TBa, a rewinding near-end region TBb, and a partition sheet accommodating region TBc. The rewinding end region TBa has a small width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TB including an end fixed to the banknote stack drum 55. The rewinding near-end region TBb has a large width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TB opposite to the end of the rewinding end region TBa fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 with respect to the rewinding end region TBa. The partition sheet accommodating region TBc has a small width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TB opposite to the rewinding end region TBa with respect to the rewinding near-end region TBb. The partition sheet receiving region TBc is close to the banknote receiving region TAc of the tape section TA for banknotes. The larger widths of the winding end region TAa, the banknote storage region TAc, and the rewinding near-end region TBb are equal to each other. The smaller widths of the winding near-end region TAb, the partition sheet storage region TBc, and the rewinding end region TBa are equal to each other. The regions TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc of the strip T may have different widths.

As shown in fig. 1, a region identification sensor 62 is mounted near the banknote stack drum 55. The area recognition sensor 62 detects a difference in the width of the tape T at the position of the entrance path extending from the banknote stack drum 55 toward the entrance 29A so as to form substantially the same straight line as the lateral conveyance path 22b, thereby detecting the respective areas TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc of the tape T. That is, as shown in fig. 2, since the regions TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc of the belt T are adjacent to each other and have different widths, the region identification sensor 62 detects the boundary positions of the respective regions adjacent to each other and having different widths.

The state in which the tape T is maximally released from the banknote stack drum 55 and maximally wound on the tape rewinding drum 56 is referred to as a rewinding end state. Specifically, by this rewinding operation, in the rewinding end state, the region identifying sensor 62 detects the boundary position of the tape T between the rewinding end region TBa of a smaller width and the rewinding near-end region TBb of a larger width. In this state, when the winding operation is performed, the region identification sensor 62 detects the rewinding near-end region TBb having a large width, and then detects the partition sheet storage region TBc having a small width. In this way, the tape section TB for partition sheets is wound on the banknote stack drum 55. Thereafter, the region identification sensor 62 detects the boundary position between the partition sheet storage region TBc of a smaller width and the banknote storage region TAc of a larger width. Continuously, in the detection of the banknote receiving area TAc having a large width, the banknote receiving area TAc for the tape section TA of the banknote is wound on the banknote stack drum 55. When the boundary position between the banknote receiving region TAc of a larger width and the winding near-end portion region TAb of a smaller width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the tape section TA for the banknote is at the near-end portion position. Next, when the boundary position between the winding near-end region TAb having a smaller width and the winding end region TAa having a larger width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the tape section TA for the banknote is at the end position. As a result, as shown in fig. 3A, the tape T is set to the winding end state in which the tape T is maximally released from the tape rewinding drum 56 and maximally wound on the banknote stack drum 55.

The state in which the tape T is released from the tape rewinding drum 56 to be wound on the banknote stack drum 55 to the maximum extent is referred to as a winding end state. By this winding operation, in the winding end state, as described above, the region identification sensor 62 detects the boundary position between the winding end region TAa having a larger width and the winding near-end region TAb having a smaller width. In this state, when the rewinding operation is performed, the region identification sensor 62 detects the winding near-end region TAb having a smaller width, and then detects the banknote receiving region TAc having a larger width. In this way, the tape section TA for banknotes is wound on the tape rewinding drum 56. Thereafter, the region identification sensor 62 detects the boundary position between the banknote storage region TAc having a larger width and the partition sheet storage region TBc having a smaller width. Continuously, in the process of detecting the partition sheet accommodating area TBc having the smaller width, the partition sheet accommodating area TBc of the tape section TB for the partition sheet is wound on the tape rewinding drum 56. When the boundary position between the partition sheet accommodating region TBc having the smaller width and the rewinding near-end region TBb having the larger width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the tape section TB for the partition sheet is at the near-end portion position. Next, when the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TBb having the larger width and the rewinding end region TBa having the smaller width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the tape section TB for partition sheets is at the end position. As a result, as shown in fig. 3B, the tape T is set to the rewinding end state in which the tape T is maximally released from the banknote stack drum 55 to be maximally wound on the tape rewinding drum 56.

As described above, in the tape section TB for partition sheets and the tape section TA for banknotes as other tape sections, since the width of the partition sheet storage region TBc and the width of the banknote storage region TAc are different from each other, they can be discriminated by virtue of the difference in width at the boundary position (i.e., the discrimination section). The boundary positions between the respective regions TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc at positions where the width of the tape T varies are not positions where all the banknotes S and the partition sheets X are held. The region identification sensors 62 are not prevented from identifying the boundary positions between the respective regions TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc due to the banknotes S or the partition sheets X. In addition to detecting the width of the tape T, the region identification sensor 62 detects that the banknotes S and the partition sheets X wider than the tape T are introduced into the banknote stack drum 55 and discharged from the banknote stack drum 55.

The distinction of the winding end region TAa, the winding near-end region TAb, the banknote housing region TAc, the partition sheet storage region TBc, the rewinding near-end region TBb, and the rewinding end region TBa, including the distinction of the tape section TA for the banknote and the tape section TB for the partition sheet, is not limited to the difference in tape width. This distinction can be performed with a difference in color, a difference in light transmittance, a difference in design, or the like. In this case, a region identification sensor corresponding thereto is employed.

As described above, the tape section TA for banknotes is wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the banknotes S to receive the banknotes S one by one, and is released from the banknote stack drum 55 to release the banknotes S received on the banknote stack drum 55 one by one. The banknote receiving area TAc for receiving the banknotes S has such a length that a predetermined number of banknotes S can be received at predetermined intervals set by the conveying speed of the conveying section 22. The temporary storage section 29 normally tightly releases the tape section TA for banknotes from the banknote stack drum 55.

The tape section TB for partition sheets is wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the partition sheets X, which are different from the banknotes S, to sequentially receive the partition sheets X one by one and sequentially release the received partition sheets X one by one from the banknote stack drum 55. In other words, the temporary storage section 29 winds and releasably accommodates at least one partition sheet X on at least one drum, i.e., the banknote stack drum 55, together with the tape section TB for partition sheets. The tape section TB for partition sheets is disposed on the side of the fixed end of the tape T fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 with respect to the tape section TA for receiving the banknote S for banknotes. The tape section TB for receiving the partition sheets X has such a width that a predetermined number of partition sheets X can be accommodated at intervals set by the conveying speed of the conveying section 22. The tape section TB for partition sheets is normally kept wound on the banknote stack drum 55 and is released from the banknote stack drum 55 only when necessary.

The length of the long side and the length of the short side of the partition sheet X are clearly different from those of the banknotes and are suitable for being processed in the banknote processing machine 11. The partition sheets X readably store information so that they can be recognized as the partition sheets X by the recognition portion 28. For example, the partition sheet X may be provided with an identification management code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

As shown in fig. 1, the banknote processing machine 11 includes a control section 65, a storage section 66, a display 67, a sound generator 68, an operation section 69, and a communication section 70. The control section 65 controls the operation of the banknote processing machine 11. The storage section 66 stores information. The display 67 displays images to the operator. The sound generator 68 provides a sound output to the operator. The operation section 69 receives an operation input from an operator. The communication section 70 communicates with the outside. The control section 65 receives signals from the recognition section 28, the insertion detection sensor 15, the remaining detection sensor 17, the counterfeit banknote detection sensor 31, the non-taken banknote collection sensor 40, the region recognition sensor 62, and the like, and controls the respective sections.

The manner of operation of the above-described banknote processing machine 11 according to the first embodiment will be described below. At the insertion port shutter 14A, the closed state is a standby state, and at the discharge port shutter 16, the closed state is a standby state. In the temporary storage section 29a, the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes and the tape section TB for partition sheets of the tape T, that is: the boundary position between the banknote storage area TAc and the partition sheet storage area TBc is detected by the area recognition sensor 62 and the state where the tape section TB for partition sheets of the tape T is wound on the banknote stack drum 55 is the standby state.

[ separator restock mode ]

The partition sheet restock process mode is a mode in which the partition sheets X are accommodated in the temporary storage section 29, and is executed, for example, at the time of a preparation step of starting daily work. When the partition sheet restock process mode is selected by the operation portion 69, the control portion 65 executes the partition sheet restock process. That is, first, it is determined from the information in the storage section 66 whether the partition sheets X in the temporary storage section 29 are in the maximum accommodation state, a state in which the partition sheets X are not in the maximum accommodation state, or a state in which there is no partition sheet X. When the partition sheets X in the temporary storage section 29 are in the maximum storage state, the control section 65 reports the maximum accommodation state of the partition sheets X using the display 67 and the sound generator 68, thereby completing the present partition sheet restock process mode.

A case where the partition sheets X remaining in the temporary storage section 29 are in a state where the partition sheets X are not maximally accommodated will be described. In this case, the control section 65 opens the insertion port shutter 14 to open the insertion port 12, and displays an indication to request the input of the partition sheet X through the display 67. In addition, the control section 65 performs a rewinding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56. When the region identification sensor 62 detects the end of one partition sheet X on the discharge side, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56.

The case where there is no remaining number of partition sheets X will be described. In this case, the control section 65 opens the insertion port shutter 14 to open the insertion port 12, and displays an instruction to request the input of the partition sheet X through the display 67. In addition, the control section 65 performs a rewinding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56. As shown in fig. 3B, when the tape is set to the rewinding termination state, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56. During the rewinding operation, the control section 65 rotates the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56 at high speed until the region identification sensor 62 detects the boundary position between the partition sheet containing region TBc having the smaller width and the rewinding near-end region TBb having the larger width. When the boundary position is detected, the control section 65 switches the speed of the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56 to a low speed. Finally, when the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TBb having the larger width and the rewinding end region TBa having the smaller width is detected, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56. The control section 65 always performs this control when the rewinding operation is performed.

When the insertion port 12 is opened as described above, the operator inserts one partition sheet X or a plurality of partition sheets X into the insertion port 12. When the plurality of partition sheets X are inserted, the operator inserts the plurality of partition sheets X in a state where the partition sheets X are aligned in the long-side and short-side directions and stacked in the thickness direction. When a process start command is input into the operation section 69 in a state where the insertion detection sensor 15 detects the partition sheet X, the control section 65 closes the insertion port shutter 14. Next, assuming that the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 are in the above-described stopped state, the control section 65 drives the separation release section 19 and the conveyance sections 21 and 22 in the normal rotation direction. Then, the partition sheets X in the insertion port 12 are separated one by one at the separation release section 19 to be released into the conveying section 21, identified by the identification section 28, and conveyed to the conveying sections 21 and 22 while storing the identification management code. Then, based on the time at which the partition sheets X are detected by the identification section 28, the winding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 of the temporary storage section 29 is performed to sequentially receive the partition sheets X at predetermined intervals. That is, the partition sheets X are sequentially wound on the rotating banknote stack drum 55 at predetermined intervals together with the partition sheet receiving regions TBc of the tapes T. Then, after a predetermined number of partition sheets X are accommodated, when the boundary position between the tape section TB for partition sheets and the tape section TA for banknotes, that is: when the boundary position between the partition sheet receiving region TBc having the smaller width and the banknote receiving region TAc having the larger width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65, as shown in fig. 3C, temporarily stores the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 to cause the temporary storage section 29 to be set to the standby state.

The identifying section 28 counts the number of partition sheets X while the partition sheet restock process is performed. When the recognition portion 28 detects that the partition sheets X exceed the predetermined number of partition sheets X that can be accommodated within the range of the partition sheet accommodating region TBc, the control portion 65 discharges the last detected partition sheet and the subsequent partition sheets X from the discharge port 13 to the conveying portion 21. In addition, the control portion 65 also discharges the partition sheets X, which cannot be recognized by the recognition portion 28, to the discharge portion 13. When the number of partition sheets X conveyed to the temporary storage section 29 is smaller than the maximum number of partition sheets X receivable in the temporary storage section 29, only the partition sheets X conveyed to the temporary storage section 29 are received on the banknote stack drum 55. Then, during the partition sheet restock process, when the insertion detection sensor 15 detects that there is no partition sheet X in the insertion portion 12, the control portion 65 stops the separation release portion 19, and then stops the conveying portions 21 and 22 when the conveyance of all the partition sheets X to any one corresponding to the temporary storage portion 29 and the discharge port 13 is completed.

If there is a partition sheet X discharged to the discharge port 13 during the partition sheet restock process, the control section 65 opens the discharge port shutter 16 to open the discharge port 13 after the stop of the conveying sections 21 and 22, and at the same time, performs visual display and sound output through the display 67 and the sound generator 68 to urge removal of the partition sheet X. When the remaining detection sensor 17 detects that there is no partition sheet X, the discharge port shutter 16 is closed to close the discharge port 13, completing the present partition sheet restock process mode.

Meanwhile, if there is no partition sheet X in the discharge port 13 during the partition sheet restock process, the control section 65 stops the conveying sections 21 and 22 when the conveyance of all the partition sheets X to the temporary storage section 29 is completed. As described above, when the boundary position between the tape section TB for partition sheets and the tape section TA for banknotes is detected by the region identification sensor 62 to stop the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56 to set to the standby state, which is detected after a predetermined number of partition sheets X are accommodated, the current partition sheet restock process mode is completed.

[ deposit processing mode (Normal processing mode) ]

When a deposit process mode of a normal process mode for depositing the banknotes S into the banknote processing machine 11 is selected and input into the operation section 69, the control section 65 performs a deposit process. That is, first, the insertion port shutter 14 is opened to open the insertion port 12, and an indication that the banknotes S need to be inserted is displayed by the display 67. When the insertion port 12 is opened as described above, the operator inserts one or more banknotes S into the insertion port 12. When a plurality of banknotes S are inserted, the operator inserts the banknotes S into the insertion port 12 in a state of the banknote bundle SS in which the banknotes are aligned in the long and short side directions and stacked in the thickness direction. When an instruction to start the deposit process is input into the operation section 69 in a state where the banknotes S are detected by the insertion detection sensor 15, the control section 65 closes the insertion port shutter 14 to close the insertion port 12. Next, the control section 65 drives the separation release section 19 and the conveying sections 21 and 22 in the normal rotation direction to cause the banknotes S in the insertion port 12 to be separated one by the separation release section 19, to be released to the conveying section 21 and to be recognized by the recognition section 28.

Then, the banknotes S recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 are conveyed to the temporary storage section 29 through the conveying sections 21 and 22. The banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes by the identification section 28 are conveyed to the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 via the conveyance sections 21, 22, and 23. The banknotes S recognized as unidentified banknotes by the recognition section are conveyed toward the discharge port 13 via the conveying section 21 as they are.

The banknotes S conveyed to the temporary storage section 29 are wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the tapes T to be temporarily accommodated in the temporary storage section 29. That is, in synchronization with the detection time of the recognition section 28, the winding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 is performed, and the banknotes S are sequentially wound and accommodated on the rotating banknote stack drum 55 at predetermined intervals together with the banknote storage area TAc of the tape T. When the insertion detection sensor 15 detects that the banknotes S in the insertion port 12 have left, the control section 65 stops the separation release section 19. Then, when the banknotes S finally recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 are received in the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 (see fig. 3A). In addition, the control section 65 stops the conveyance sections 21 and 22 when the conveyance of all the inserted banknotes S to any one of the temporary storage section 29, the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, and the discharge port 13 is completed. Then, the result of the recognition by the recognition section 28 in current processing is stored in the storage section 66, and the result is displayed through the display 67. When there is a banknote S discharged to the discharge port 13 during the deposit process, the control section 65 opens the discharge port shutter 16 to open the discharge port after stopping the conveyance sections 21 and 22, and urges the removal of the banknote S through visual display and sound output by the display 67 and the sound generator 68.

After the recognition result displayed on the display 67 is confirmed, when the operator inputs an approval operation to the operation panel 69, the control section 65 starts the reception process of the deposit process. In the deposit process, the conveyance sections 44 to 46 are normally driven, and the control section 65 causes the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation so as to sequentially release the banknotes S wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the banknote storage area TAc of the tape T. Then, the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 are assigned to and accommodated in the respective storage cassettes 47 to 49 based on the identification information stored in the storage section 66 or in a batch. During the temporary storage section 29 rewinding operation, when the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes and the tape section TB for partition sheets is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56, as shown in fig. 3C. At this time, the partition sheets X of the temporary storage section 29 are kept accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55.

When all the banknotes S are released from the temporary storage section 29 to be accommodated in the respective storage cassettes 47 to 49, the control section 65 stops the conveyance sections 44 to 46, and determines whether there are banknotes S recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section 28 in the current deposit process and whether there are banknotes S recognized as unidentified banknotes by the recognition section 28 in the current deposit process.

In the current deposit process, when the banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes or as unidentified banknotes are not present, the control section 65 completes the current deposit process mode. During the deposit process, when there are banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes and banknotes S not identified as unidentified banknotes, the control section 65 performs the partition sheet dispensing operation for the counterfeit banknotes only as described below, and then completes the current deposit process mode. In the deposit process, when there are banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes and unidentified banknotes, as described below, the control section 65 performs a counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation, performs a non-taken banknote determination, and, if necessary, performs a partition sheet dispensing operation for the non-taken banknotes according to the result thereof, and then completes the deposit process mode. In the present deposit process, when there is no banknote S identified as a counterfeit banknote but there is a banknote S identified as an unidentified banknote, the control section 65 performs the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation according to the result thereof as described below, and completes the deposit process mode.

[ counterfeit money partition sheet dispensing operation (abnormality processing operation) ]

At the start of the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation as an abnormality processing operation, the control section 65 drives the conveying section 22 in the reverse direction, and performs the rewinding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 of the temporary storage section 29 in the standby state to release one partition sheet X to be conveyed to the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 through the conveying section 22 and the conveying path 23. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X has been released from the banknote stack drum 55, the control section 65 returns the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 to the standby state. At this time, the next and subsequent partition sheets X after the released partition sheet X are held in the accommodated state on the banknote stack drum 55. When the counterfeit banknote collection detection sensor 31 detects that the partition sheet X has been collected in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the control section 65 stops the conveyance section 22. In addition, the control section 65 stores the identification management code of the partition sheet X previously identified by the identification section 28 and stores it in the storage section 66, in the storage section 66 in association with the process identification code of the storage process (or the counting process described below) including the current counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation, thereby completing the counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation.

Then, the partition sheet X is provided on one or more banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes and is forcibly collected in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 by the above-described process, and thus the banknotes forcibly collected in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 by the above-described process are provided on the partition sheet so as to be distinguished therefrom. That is, since the partition sheets X are overlapped on the banknotes S recognized as counterfeit banknotes whenever the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed, the banknotes S are partitioned by the partition sheets X, and thus the banknotes S can be discriminated whenever the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed. In other words, each process including the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation can distinguish the banknotes S, and therefore, after the completion of the service, these banknotes are taken out from the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 in a stacked state as they are, whereby the banknotes S can be distinguished each process.

[ determination of non-taken banknote ]

The control section 65 detects the presence of the banknotes S using the remaining detection sensor 17 of the discharge port 13. When the banknotes S are not detected by the remaining detection sensor 17, the control section 65 closes the discharge port shutter 16 in the open state to complete the process without performing the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation. When the remaining detection sensor 17 detects the banknotes S, the control section 65 stands by for a predetermined time, and when the remaining detection sensor 17 does not detect the banknotes S before the predetermined time elapses, the control section 65 closes the discharge port shutter 16 to complete the process without performing the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation. When the banknotes S are detected by the remaining detection sensor 17 even after the predetermined time elapses, the control section 65 determines that the user fails to take some or all of the banknotes S, and performs a non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation as described below.

[ dispensing operation of non-taken banknote partition sheets (abnormal processing operation) ]

At the start of the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation as an abnormal processing operation, the control section 65 closes the discharge port shutter 16, normally drives the separation release section 34 and the conveyance section 38, to cause the banknotes S in the discharge port 13 to be stored as non-taken banknotes S in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39. When the remaining detection sensor 17 and the non-taken banknote collection detection sensor 40 detect that all the banknotes S in the discharge port 13 have been received in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, the control section 65 stops the separation release section 34 and the conveyance section 38. At the same time, the control section 65 drives the conveying section 22 in the reverse direction, drives the conveying sections 21 and 24 in the normal direction, and performs the rewinding operation of the additional temporary storage section 29 to discharge one partition sheet X to the discharge port 13 through the conveying sections 22, 24, and 21. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X has been released from the banknote stack drum 55 by the rewinding operation of the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 returns the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 to the standby state. Then, when the remaining detection sensor 17 detects that the partition sheets X are discharged to the discharge port 13, the control section 65 stops the conveying sections 22, 24, and 21, and normally drives the separation release section 34 and the conveying section 38 to cause the partition sheets X in the discharge section 13 to be accommodated in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39. When the remaining detection sensor 17 and the non-taken banknote collection detection sensor 40 detect that the partition sheets X in the discharge port 13 are accommodated in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, the control section 65 stops the separation release section 34 and the conveyance section 38, and stores the identification management code of the partition sheet X previously identified by the identification section 28 in the storage section 66, in association with the process identification code of the deposit process (or the counting process or the withdrawal process described below) including the current non-taken banknote partition sheet assignment operation, thereby completing the non-taken banknote partition sheet assignment operation.

Then, by the present process, the partition sheet X is set on the one or more non-taken banknotes S identified and forcibly collected into the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, so that the non-taken banknotes S provided by the following process are set on the partition sheet X to be distinguished therefrom. That is, since the partition sheets X are overlapped on the non-taken banknotes S whenever the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed, the non-taken banknotes S are separated by the partition sheets X and thus distinguished whenever the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed. In other words, the non-taken banknotes S are discriminated every time the process including the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed, and therefore, after the completion of the service, the banknotes S are discriminated by being taken out in a stacked state from the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 as they are. In a series of non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operations in which the partition sheets X are conveyed from the temporary storage section 29 to the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, the discharge port shutter 16 is maintained in the closed state, and the discharge port 13 is also in the closed state.

When both the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation and the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation are performed with respect to one process, the temporary storage section 29 may not return to the standby state until the first partition sheet X is released and then the second partition sheet X is released.

After confirming the result recognized by the deposit process displayed by the display 67, when the operator inputs a cancel command into the operation section 69, the control section 65 starts the return process of the deposit process. Here, when the discharge port shutter 16 is closed, the control section 65 starts the return processing in this state, and when the discharge port shutter 16 is open, the control section 65 starts the return processing after closing the discharge port shutter 16. In the return process, the conveying section 22 is driven in the reverse direction, the conveying sections 21 and 24 are driven in the normal direction, and the rewinding operation is performed on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 of the temporary storage section 29, so that the banknotes S wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the banknote receiving section TAc of the tape T are sequentially released. As a result, all the bills released from the temporary storage section 29 are discharged to the discharge port 13. During the rewinding operation of the temporary storage section 29, when the region identification sensor 62 detects the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes and the tape section TB for partition sheets, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the partition sheets X in the temporary storage section 29 remain accommodated in the banknote stack drum 55.

Then, when all the banknotes S are released from the temporary storage section 29 and discharged to the discharge port 13, the control section 65 stops the conveyance sections 21, 22, and 24 and opens the discharge port shutter 16. Then, the control section 65 performs the non-taken banknote determination. As a result, after the predetermined time elapses, when the banknotes S are detected by the remaining detection sensor 17, the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed.

[ counting processing mode (Normal processing mode) ]

When a continuous process mode of a normal process mode of counting and returning the banknotes S is selected in the banknote processing machine 11 and input into the operation section 69, the control section 65 performs a counting process. That is, similarly to the deposit process, first, the insertion port shutter 14 is opened to open the insertion port 12, and an instruction to request insertion of the banknotes S is displayed through the display 67. When a process start command is input into the operation panel 69 in a state where the banknotes S are detected by the insertion detection sensor 15, the control section 65 closes the insertion port shutter 14 to close the insertion port 12. Next, the control section 65 normally drives the separation release section 19 and the conveyance sections 21 and 22 to cause the banknotes S in the insertion section 12 to be separated one by the separation release section 19, to be released to the conveyance section 21, and to be recognized by the recognition section 28. Then, the banknotes S recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 are conveyed toward the discharge port 13 via the conveying section 21 as they are. The banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes by the identification section 28 are conveyed toward the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 via the conveyance section 21 and the conveyance path 23. The banknotes S recognized as unidentified banknotes by the recognition section 28 are conveyed to the discharge port 13 via the conveying section 21 as they are.

When the insertion detection sensor 15 detects the banknotes S in the insertion port 12, the control section 65 stops the separation release section 19, and stops the conveyance sections 21 and 22 after the conveyance of all the banknotes S to the corresponding one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the discharge port 13 is completed. When there is no unidentified banknote in the current counting process, the control section 65 stores the identification result of the identification section 28 in the storage section 66 in association with the identification process identification code of the current counting process, and displays the result through the display 67. Meanwhile, when there is an unidentified banknote, only when there is a counterfeit banknote, the identification information of the counterfeit banknote is associated with the process identification code of the counting process and stored in the storage section 66; and when there is an unidentified banknote and there is no counterfeit banknote, the identification result of the identification section is not stored in the storage section 66. Then, when there is an unidentified banknote, the control section 65 controls the display 67 to display the reason why the counting was not performed correctly.

After stopping the conveyance sections 21 and 22, the control section 65 opens the discharge port shutter 16 to open the discharge port 13, and performs display and sound output through the display 67 and the sound generator 68 to urge removal of the banknotes S.

Next, in the current counting process, when there is a banknote S recognized as a counterfeit banknote by the recognition section 28, a counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation is performed, and then a non-taken banknote determination can be made. As a result, when the banknotes S are detected by the remaining detection sensor 17 after the predetermined time has elapsed, the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation is performed, and then the current counting process mode ends.

In the counting process, when there is no banknote S recognized as a counterfeit banknote by the recognition section 28, the non-taken banknote determination is performed. As a result, when the banknotes S are still detected by the remaining detection sensor 17 after the predetermined time has elapsed, the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution process is performed, and then the current counting process mode is completed.

As described operation, the control section 65 recognizes the number of partition sheets X stored in the temporary storage section 29 and the number of partition sheets X released during the current process from the detection result of the area recognition sensor 62. Based on these numbers, the control section 65 determines whether or not the partition sheets X are absent in the temporary storage section 29 after each of the deposit process mode and the count process mode (and the withdrawal process mode discussed below) is executed.

Here, there may be no partition sheet X present in the temporary storage section 29. Even in this case, when the partition sheet X is at the final position of reception (uppermost position), each of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the non-taken banknote collection section 39 can distinguish the banknotes S from the banknotes S received through the previous process even if the banknotes S are received only once in the future. For this reason, in executing each of the deposit process mode and the counting process mode (and the withdrawal process mode described below), even if there is no partition sheet X in the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 accommodates the banknotes S in at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 to perform smooth service management. In this case, the identification management code of the partition sheet X stored in the storage section 66 in association with the process identification code of this process is temporarily stored as "no paper".

Therefore, in the current process (deposit process or counting process (or withdrawal process described below), the control section 65 determines that the temporary storage section 29 is short of the partition sheets X only when the partition sheets X cannot be dispensed after the banknotes S are accommodated in at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 for this reason, even if the number of partition sheets X accommodated in the temporary storage section 29 is not strictly managed, it is possible to determine that the partition sheets X are insufficient when the rewinding operation of the temporary storage section 29 is performed to release the partition sheets and the region identification sensor 62 detects the rewinding near-end region TBb or the rewinding end region TBa without detecting the partition sheets X.

After the deposit process mode is executed and after the counting process mode is executed (and after the withdrawal process mode described below is executed), when it is determined that the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheets X, the control section 65 outputs a restock order signal through the display 67 and the sound generator 68 to request restock of the partition sheets X. The control section 65 also outputs a restock order signal to request restock of the partition sheets X to the management apparatus of the external management department or the management center through the communication section 70. Then, the display 67 and the sound generator 68 command the restock of the partition sheets, and the external management apparatus also commands the restock of the partition sheets X. When it is determined that the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheets X, the control section 65 automatically executes the partition sheet restock process mode to restock the partition sheets.

After the partition sheet restock process mode is completed again, the control section 65 performs the following process only when it is confirmed by the detection results of the recognition section 28 and the area recognition sensor 62 that the partition sheet X has been restocked into the temporary storage section 29 by this partition sheet restock process. That is, first, corresponding to "no paper", from the first partition sheet X on the release side which is again stored into the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 causes the partition sheet X to be accommodated in at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, in which "no paper" is stored. The control portion 65 also covers the identification management code of the partition sheets X stored in the storage portion 66, thereby changing "no paper" to the identification management code of the accommodated partition sheets X. After the "no paper" state is completely eliminated as described above, the control section 65 allows transition to the deposit processing mode and the counting processing mode (and the withdrawal processing mode described below) as the normal processing modes. That is, if the partition sheets X are not accommodated in the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 prohibits the switching to the deposit process mode and the counting process mode (and the withdrawal process mode described below) as the normal process modes, so that the banknote processing machine 11 cannot perform the process in the deposit process mode or the counting process mode (or the withdrawal process mode described below).

In a state where "no paper" is stored in association with at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, when the processing in the "partition sheet restock processing mode" is executed, the control section 65 may execute the following processing instead of executing the partition sheet receiving processing corresponding to "no paper", all the partition sheets X being restocked into the temporary storage section 29 once as described above. That is, the control section 65 supplies the partition sheet X to at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 which are in the "no paper" state to eliminate the "no paper" state, and then stores the remaining partition sheets X into the temporary storage section 29. The control portion 65 also overwrites the identification management code of the partition sheet X stored in the storage portion 66 so as to change "no paper" to the identification management code of the received partition sheet X.

The current process may change as described below. That is, the banknotes S are received into at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, and the partition sheets X are dispensed onto the received banknotes S without shortage. Then, when the partition sheet X runs out of the temporary storage section 29, it is determined that the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheet X, and a restock order signal is output to the display 67, the sound generator 68, and the external management apparatus. As a result, even when the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheets X, it is possible to conduct a transaction with the banknote processing machine 11 until the banknotes S are received into at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 in the subsequent process. Therefore, it is sufficient to restock the partition sheets X during that time, so that smooth service management can be promoted. In addition, even when there is no partition sheet X ready for restocking on the banknote processing machine 11 side due to a certain environment, it is possible to obtain a transition time to avoid interruption. In this case, even if it is determined that the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheets X, the control section 65 does not automatically execute the partition sheet restock process mode. Thereafter, when the banknotes S are accommodated in at least one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 without dispensing the partition sheets X, the control section 65 automatically performs the partition sheet restock process mode. Instead, when there is no partition sheet X in the temporary storage section 29, the partition sheet restock process mode is automatically executed.

According to the first embodiment described above, the temporary storage section 29 includes a pair of the banknote stack drum (i.e., the first drum) 55 and the tape rewinding drum (i.e., the second drum) 56 and the tape T wound therebetween, and releasably receives the conveyed banknotes S by winding the conveyed banknotes on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the tape section TA for banknotes. The temporary storage section 29 releasably receives the partition sheet X by winding the partition sheet X on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the tape section TB for partition sheets located on the end side fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 with respect to the tape section TA for banknotes. In response to the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 or the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 receiving the banknotes S, the control section 65 causes the temporary storage section 29 to release the partition sheet X wound on the banknote stack drum 55, and causes the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 or the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 to receive the partition sheet X from the temporary storage section 29. For this reason, a plurality of banknotes S are accommodated in the same counterfeit banknote collection section 30 or the same common non-taken banknote collection section 39, and partition sheets X can be provided at desired positions so that the banknotes S can be distinguished using the partition sheets X, thereby managing the denominations and the number of the banknotes.

That is, the banknotes S are discriminated at every counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation, so that the banknotes S can be discriminated as long as every processing is performed along with the counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation. Therefore, the denomination and number of banknotes identified as counterfeit banknotes are managed per counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation (i.e., per customer management), so that smooth service management can be better promoted. Similarly, the banknotes S are discriminated every time the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation is performed, and therefore, the banknotes S can be discriminated as long as every processing is performed along with the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation. Therefore, the denomination and number associated with the non-taken banknotes S can be assigned to the operation management (per customer management) per non-taken banknote partition sheet, thereby better promoting effective service management.

Further, the identification management code of the partition sheet X is stored in the storage section 66 in association with the process identification code whenever each process is performed accompanying the counterfeit banknote partition sheet dispensing operation, and the identification management code of the partition sheet X is stored in the storage section 66 in association with the process identification code whenever each process is performed accompanying the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation. For this reason, when the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the non-taken banknote collection section 39 are opened after the customer service is completed, transaction data of a host machine (not shown) such as, for example, an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM), and the denomination and number of abnormal banknotes made up of the banknotes S identified as counterfeit banknotes and the non-taken banknotes S distinguished by the partition sheets X can be accurately acquired, so that the denomination and number of banknotes related to counterfeit banknotes and non-taken banknotes per process (i.e., per customer) can be managed. For example, one or more abnormal bills preceding the partition sheet of the management code N1 (hereinafter referred to as abnormal bill group) may be classified as the abnormal bill group of the processing M1, and the abnormal bill group between the partition sheet of the management code N1 and the partition sheet of the management code N2 may be classified as the abnormal bill group of the processing M2. Similarly, the abnormal banknote group between the partition sheet of the management code Nn and the partition sheet of the management code Nn +1 may be classified into the abnormal banknote group for processing Mn + 1.

In addition, the temporary storage section 29 releasably receives the partition sheet X by winding the partition sheet X on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the tape section TB for partition sheets located on the end side fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 with respect to the tape section TA for banknotes and releases the partition sheet X as needed. Therefore, a special mechanism for accommodating and releasing the partition sheets X is not required, thus reducing costs.

Further, the partition sheets X may be introduced from the temporary storage section 29 into the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, which is accommodated in the receiving insertion section 20 and identified as a counterfeit banknote by the identification section 28, and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 returning the banknotes S unidentified by the identification section 28 to be taken out from the apparatus, and returning the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 to be taken out from the apparatus. For this reason, it is possible to sort and manage the banknotes S received in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39.

Further, it is possible to sort and manage the banknotes S in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 that receives the non-taken banknotes S from the common discharge section 35, through which common discharge section 35 the banknotes S that are not recognized by the recognition section 28 and the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 are returned so that they can be taken out from the apparatus 11.

In addition, since the tape T is configured such that the tape section TB for partition sheets and the tape section TA for banknotes that receive the partition sheets X are different from each other in width to be distinguished from each other, the region identification sensor 62 can clearly distinguish them and achieve precise position control.

Further, in response to the control section 65 determining that the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheets X after the normal processing mode is executed, the control section 65 automatically shifts to a partition sheet restock processing mode for restocking the partition sheets, and allows the shift to the normal processing mode only when the partition sheets X are restocked into the temporary storage section 29, so that the absence of the partition sheets X can be reliably prevented.

Further, in response to the control section 65 determining that the temporary storage section 29 lacks the partition sheets X, the control section 65 outputs a restock order signal to request restock of the partition sheets X. For this reason, for example, even if the prepared partition sheet storage position is remote from the banknote processing machine, it is possible to instruct the external management section or the management center to restock the partition sheets, thereby promoting smooth service management.

Although in the banknote processing machine 11 of the first embodiment, the partition sheets X are supplied from the temporary storage section 29 to two places, namely: the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, the partition sheet X may also be provided to only one place.

Further, in the banknote processing machine 11 of the first embodiment, a case has been exemplarily described in which: a common discharge section 35 is provided which returns the banknotes S unidentified by the identification section 28 from the temporary storage section 29 so that they can be taken out of the apparatus, and one common non-taken banknote collection section 39 is provided with the common discharge section 35. The present invention is not so limited. For example, a first returning section that returns banknotes unidentified by the identification section 28 so that they can be taken out of the apparatus and a second returning section that returns banknotes released from the temporary storage section 29 so that they can be taken out of the apparatus may be separately provided, and a first non-taken banknote collection section that receives the banknotes S remaining in the first returning section and a second non-taken banknote collection section that receives the banknotes S remaining in the second returning section may be separately installed. In this case, the partition sheets X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 to all the counterfeit banknote collection sections 20 and the first and second non-taken banknote collection sections; the partition sheets X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 to any two of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the first non-taken banknote collection section, and the second non-taken banknote collection section; or the partition sheet X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 to any one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the first non-taken banknote collection section, and the second non-taken banknote collection section.

Further, in the banknote processing machine 11 of the first embodiment, although it has been described that the banknotes S and the partition sheets X are aligned to be conveyed in the long-edge conveying direction, they may be aligned to be conveyed in the short-edge conveying direction. In this case, the tape T of the temporary storage section 29 may have a width larger than the above, as shown in fig. 4. The adjacent regions TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc of the same kind may be distinguished from each other by differences in width or color, light transmittance, design, and the like from each other.

Next, a banknote processing machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 5A to 5C, focusing on the different portions from the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the temporary storage section 29 has a different structure from that of the first embodiment. That is, in the first embodiment, one tape T is placed between one banknote stack drum 55 and one banknote rewind drum 56. In the temporary storage section 29 of the second embodiment, two tape rewinding drums 56 are installed which rotate in synchronization with one banknote stack drum 55 so that one tape T is placed between the banknote stack drum 55 and one tape rewinding drum 56 and the other tape T is placed between the banknote stack drum 55 and the other tape rewinding drum 56.

That is, in the temporary storage section 29 of the second embodiment, the banknote stack drum 55 is mounted on the side opposite to the entrance 29A, and the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 are mounted on the side of the entrance 29A such that they are parallel to each other. One ends of the one tape T and the other tape T are fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 at the same position and wound on the banknote stack drum 55 in the same direction. The other ends of the one tape T and the other tape T are fixed to the one tape rewinding drum 56 and the other tape rewinding drum 56, respectively, and then the one tape T is wound on the one tape winding drum 56 in the clockwise direction while the other tape T is wound on the other tape rewinding drum 56 in the opposite direction, i.e., the counterclockwise direction.

The one tape T wound on the banknote stack drum 55 extends from the lower portion of the banknote stack drum 55 toward the entrance 29A to overlap with the other tape T so as to form substantially the same straight line as the transverse conveyance path 22b at the distal end of the conveyance section 22. The one tape T is then bent upward by the roller 75 and wound on the one tape rewinding drum 56 or the upper tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the tape T is wound to extend in the front-lower direction from the upper portion on the inlet side of the tape rewinding drum 56. The other tape T extends from the lower portion of the banknote stack drum 55 toward the entrance 29A so as to overlap with the one tape T, thereby forming substantially the same straight line as the transverse conveyance channel 22b at the distal end of the conveyance section 22. The other tape T is then bent downward by the roller 76 and wound on the other tape rewinding drum 56 or the lower tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the tape T is wound to extend in the front-upper direction from the lower portion on the inlet 29A side of the tape winding drum 56.

When two tapes T are wound on the banknote stack drum 55, the one tape rewinding drum 56 and the other tape rewinding drum 56 are rotated in cooperation by the respective tapes T to release the respective tapes T. On the other hand, when the one tape T is wound on the one tape rewinding drum 56 and the other tape T is wound on the other tape rewinding drum 56, the banknote stack drum 55 is rotated in cooperation with the two tapes T to release the two tapes T.

In temporarily storing the banknotes S, the banknotes S separated and conveyed one by the longitudinal conveying section 22a of the conveying section 22 are sent from the transverse conveying path 22b to the entrance 29A of the temporary storage section 29 at a predetermined speed by the conveying driving force of the longitudinal conveying section 22 a. At this time, the banknote stack drum 55 rotates in a predetermined banknote receiving direction (i.e., counterclockwise in fig. 5A to 5C), the one or upper tape rewinding drum 56 rotates in the banknote receiving direction (i.e., counterclockwise in fig. 5A to 5C), and the other or lower tape rewinding drum 56 rotates in the predetermined banknote receiving direction (i.e., clockwise in fig. 5A to 5C). The banknotes S conveyed from the conveying section 22 are sandwiched between the two tapes T at an intermediate position in the short-side direction thereof to be wound together with the two tapes T on the two tapes T that have been wound on the banknote stack drum 55. The banknotes S sequentially conveyed into the temporary storage section 29 are wound around the banknote stack drum 55 together with the two tapes T so as to be accommodated in a stacked manner on the banknote stack drum 55 (see fig. 5A). This is a winding operation.

On the other hand, the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 are rotated in a predetermined banknote release direction opposite to the banknote receiving direction, so that the banknotes S stacked on the banknote stack drum 55 are separated and released from the banknote stack drum 55 together with the two tapes T in a sandwiched state between the tapes T. The two tapes T are separated from each other at the entrance 29A of the temporary storage section 29, so that the banknotes S are separated from the two tapes T to be released into the conveying section 22 (see fig. 5C). This is a rewind operation.

As described above, the winding operation and the rewinding operation of the tape T are performed between the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 and the banknote stack drum 55, thereby performing the stack receiving and separation releasing of the introduced banknotes S one by one.

In the second embodiment, the two tapes T of the temporary storage section 29 have the same shape as the tapes T of the first embodiment.

A region identification sensor 62 similar to the first embodiment is mounted in the vicinity of the banknote stack drum 55. The area recognition sensor 62 detects the difference between the widths of the overlapping portions of the two tapes T extending forward from the banknote stack drum 55 so as to form substantially the same straight line as the transverse conveyance path 22b at the position of the entrance path, thereby detecting the respective areas TAa to TAc and TBa to TBc of the two tapes T. That is, at the entrance passage position, the two strips T overlap each other at the same region and at the same boundary position so that the overlapping portion can be detected by the region detection sensor 62.

In the second embodiment, in the temporary storage section 29, the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes and the tape section TB for partition sheets, that is: a state in which the boundary position between the banknote storage area TAc and the partition sheet storage area TBc, at which the two tapes T overlap each other, is detected by the area recognition sensor 62 is a standby state.

In the second embodiment, at the time of executing the partition sheet restock process, although the partition sheets in the temporary storage section 29 are not in the maximum reception state, when there are some partition sheets X within the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state, and stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 when the leading end of the first partition sheet X on the release side is detected by the region identification sensor.

When there is no partition sheet X in the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the rewinding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state. When the two tapes T are set to the rewinding end state in which the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TBb and the rewinding end region TBa is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56, as shown in fig. 5B.

The winding operation is performed on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 based on the detection time of the partition sheet X by the identification section 28. And the partition sheets X are sandwiched between the partition sheet receiving areas TBc of the two tapes T so as to be sequentially wound and received on the banknote stack drum 55 at predetermined intervals. When the boundary position between the tape section TB for partition sheets and the tape section TA for banknotes is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 to cause the temporary storage section 29 to be in a standby state, as shown in fig. 5C.

In the deposit process, the control section 65 causes the banknotes S recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 to be conveyed toward the temporary storage section 29. The control section 65 causes the banknotes S to be accommodated on the rotating banknote stack drum 55 at predetermined intervals together with the two banknote accommodation regions TAc by sandwiching the banknotes S between the banknote accommodation regions TAc of the two tapes T through the winding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state. When the banknotes S finally recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 are received in the temporary storage section 29 (see fig. 5A), the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56.

In the storage process and the return process performed in the second half of the deposit process, the control section 65 causes the temporary storage section 29 to perform the rewinding operation to sequentially release the banknotes S wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the banknote receiving sections TAc of the two tapes T. During the rewinding operation, when the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes and the tape section TB for partition sheets of the two tapes T is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 to set them in the standby state, as shown in fig. 5C.

In the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state, thereby sending one partition sheet X to the counterfeit banknote collection section 30. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X is released from the banknote stack drum 55, the control section 65 returns the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 to the standby state, as shown in fig. 5C.

In the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform a rewinding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in a standby state, thereby sending one partition sheet X to the discharge port 13. When the area recognition cross sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X is released from the banknote stack drum 55, the control section 65 returns the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 to the standby state. In this case, also, when both the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation and the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation are performed by one process, the temporary storage section 29 is not returned to the standby state until the first partition sheet X is released and then the second partition sheet X is released.

In the second embodiment described above, two tape rewinding drums 56 that rotate in a synchronized manner are used to overlap two tapes T to be wound and rewound on the banknote stack drum 55. At this time, the banknotes S and the middle of the partition sheets X in the short-side direction may be sandwiched by two overlapped tapes T. For this reason, the banknotes S and the partition sheets X can be stably stacked on the banknote stack drum 55, and can be stably released from the banknote stack drum 55.

Next, a banknote processing machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 6A to 6C and fig. 7, focusing on portions different from the first embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the temporary storage section 29 has a different configuration from that of the first embodiment. Namely: in the first embodiment, the banknotes S and the partition sheets X are both accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55, which is one of a pair of the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56. In the temporary storage section 29 of the third embodiment, the banknotes S are wound and accommodated together with the tape T on one of the drums, i.e., the banknote stack drum 55, and the partition sheets X are wound and accommodated together with the tape T on the other drum, i.e., the tape rewinding drum 56.

As shown in fig. 6A to 6C, in the temporary storage section 29 of the third embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, a banknote stack drum 55 is installed on one side of the entrance 29A, and a tape rewinding drum 56 is installed on the opposite side of the entrance 29A, which are parallel to each other, so that one end of the tape T is fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 and the other end of the tape T is fixed to the tape rewinding drum 56. The tape T wound on the banknote stack drum 55 extends from the lower portion of the banknote stack drum 55 toward the entrance 29A to form substantially the same straight line as the transverse conveyance path 22 b. The tape T is then bent downward by the roller 80, extended to the side opposite to the outlet 29A, and then extended upward from the roller 81 opposite to the inlet 29A, thereby being wound on the tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the tape T extends downward from the side of the entrance 29 of the tape rewinding drum 56.

In the third embodiment, a conveying passage 82 branching off from the conveying portion 44 and extending horizontally rearward from the conveying portion 44 is also provided. A portion between the roller 80 and the roller 81 of the belt T of the temporary storage section 29 is substantially the same straight line as the conveying path 82 with another entrance 29B of the temporary storage section 29 provided therebetween.

In the third embodiment, as shown in fig. 7, the tape T has a tape section TA for banknotes and a tape section TB for partition sheets. The tape section TA for banknotes is a predetermined portion of the tape T on the side of the fixed end of the banknote stack drum 55, and the tape section TB for partition sheets is a predetermined portion of the tape T on the side of the fixed end of the tape rewinding drum 56.

The tape section TA for banknotes has a rewinding end region TAd, a rewinding near-end region TAe, and a banknote receiving region TAc. The rewinding end region TAd has a large width and serves as a predetermined portion of the tape section TA including the end fixed to the banknote stack drum 55. The rewinding near-end region TAe has a small width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TA opposite to the end fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 with respect to the rewinding end region TAd. The banknote receiving area TAc has a large width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TA opposite to the rewinding end area TAd with respect to the rewinding near-end area TAe.

The tape section TB for partition sheets has a winding end region TBd, a winding near-end region TBe, and a partition sheet storage region TBc. The winding end region TBd has a small width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TB including the end fixed to the tape rewinding drum 56, and the winding near-end region TBe has a large width and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TB opposite to the end fixed to the tape rewinding drum 56 with respect to the winding end region TBd. The partition sheet storage region TBc has a small width, and is a predetermined portion of the tape section TB opposite to the winding end region TBd with respect to the winding proximal end region TBe. The partition sheet storage region TBc is adjacent to the banknote storage region TAc of the tape section TA for banknotes. Even in this case, the rewinding end region TAd, the banknote storage region TAc, and the winding near-end region TBe have the same large width. The rewinding near-end region Tae, the partition sheet storage region TBc, and the winding end region TBd have the same reduced width.

At the time of temporary storage of the banknotes S, the banknotes S separated and conveyed one by one from the transverse conveying path 22b at the distal end position of the conveying section 22 are sent from the transverse conveying path 22b to the entrance 29A on the upper side of the temporary storage section 29 at a predetermined speed by the conveying driving force of the longitudinal conveying section 22 a. At this time, the tape rewinding drum 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 perform winding operations of winding the tape T on the banknote stack drum 55 and releasing the tape T from the tape rewinding drum 56. As a result, the banknotes S fed out from the conveying section 22 overlap the tapes T, and are wound together with the tapes T on the tapes T that have been wound on the banknote stack drum 55 so as to be sandwiched between the tapes T. The banknotes S sequentially sent to the temporary storage section 29 are wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the tapes T as described above, and are accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55 in a stacked state (see fig. 6C). At this time, the banknotes S are accommodated on the banknote storage area TAc of the tape T.

At the time of releasing the banknotes S, the tape rewinding drum 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 perform a rewinding operation of winding the tape T on the tape rewinding drum 56 and releasing the tape T from the banknote stack drum 55. As a result, the banknotes S stacked on the banknote stack drum 55 are separated and released from the banknote stack drum 55 together with the overlapped portion of the tape T, and then separated from the tape T at the position of the entrance 29A, thereby being released to the transverse conveyance path 22B of the conveyance section 22 (see fig. 6B).

At the time of storing the partition sheets X, the partition sheets X separated and conveyed one by one via the conveying portions 22 and 44 are sent from the conveying path 82 to the inlet 29B on the lower side of the temporary storage portion 29 at a predetermined speed by a conveying driving force on the conveying path 44 side. At this time, the tape rewinding drum 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 perform a rewinding operation of winding the tape T on the tape rewinding drum 56 and releasing the tape T from the banknote stack drum 55, so that the partition sheet X sent out from the conveying path 82 overlaps the tape T, and as described above, is wound together with the tape T on a portion of the tape T already wound on the tape rewinding drum 56, and is accommodated in a stacked manner on the tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the partition sheets X are accommodated in the partition sheet storage region TBc of the tape T.

At the time of releasing the partition sheet X, the tape rewinding drum 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 perform a winding operation of winding the tape T on the banknote stack drum 55 and releasing the tape T from the tape rewinding drum 56. As a result, the partition sheets X stacked on the tape rewinding drum 56 are separated and released from the tape rewinding drum 56 together with the overlapped portion of the tape T, and are separated from the tape T at the entrance 29B to be released to the conveying passage 82.

Similar to the first embodiment, the area recognition sensor 62 is installed near the belt rewinding drum 56. The area recognition sensor 62 detects a difference in the width of the tape T at the position of the partition sheet entry path extending forward from the tape rewinding drum 56 to form substantially the same straight line as the conveying path 82, thereby detecting the respective areas TAc to Tae and TBc to TBe of the tape T.

In the third embodiment, in the temporary storage section 29, the state in which the boundary position between the rewinding end region TAd having the larger width and the rewinding near-end region TAe having the smaller width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, that is: the state in which the tape section TB for partition sheets and most of the tape section TA for banknotes are wound on the tape rewinding drum 56 is a standby state, as shown in fig. 6B.

In the third embodiment, when the partition sheet restock process is executed, the control section 65 executes the following process when the partition sheets X in the temporary storage section 29 are not in the maximum reception state but in the remaining state. Namely: the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform a winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the banknote rewind drum 56 in a standby state, and stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewind drum 56 when the leading end of the first divisional sheet X on the release side is detected by the region identification sensor 62.

When there is no remaining partition sheet X, the control section 65 performs the following processing. Namely: the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform a winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 in a standby state. When the temporary storage section 29 is set to the winding end state in which the boundary position between the winding near-end region TBe having the larger width and the winding end region TBd having the smaller width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, as shown in fig. 6A, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56.

Then, based on the detection time of the partition sheet X by the identification section 28, the control section 65 causes the temporary storage section 29 to perform the rewinding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 so that the partition sheet X from the inlet 29B is sequentially wound and accommodated on the rotating tape rewinding drum 56 together with the partition sheet accommodating region TBc of the tape T. When a predetermined number of partition sheets X are accommodated, replenishment of the partition sheets X is completed. Thereafter, when the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TAe having a smaller width and the rewinding end region TAd having a larger width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, as shown in fig. 6B, the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 are stopped, and the temporary storage section 29 is set to the standby state.

In the deposit process, the control section 65 conveys the banknotes S recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 to the temporary storage section 29. The control section 65 winds and accommodates the banknotes S from the inlet 29A onto the rotating banknote stack drum 55 sequentially at predetermined intervals together with the banknote accommodation area TAc of the tape T by the winding operation from the standby state of the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56. When the banknotes S finally recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 are wound on the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 (see fig. 6C).

The insertion section 12 is sized so that a banknote S among a possible number of banknotes S can be inserted and wound on the banknote stack drum 55 by the tape section TA for banknotes of the tape T. However, in the deposit process, if the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes of the tape T and the tape section TB for partition sheets, that is, the boundary position between the banknote receiving region TAc having a larger width and the partition sheet receiving region TBc having a smaller width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 forcibly stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 in order to prevent the release of the partition sheets X.

In the storing process and the returning process after the depositing process, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the rewinding operation to release the banknotes S wound on the banknote stack drum 55 to the entrance 29A together with the banknote receiving area TAc of the tape T. During the rewinding operation, when the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TAe having a smaller width and the rewinding end region TAd having a larger width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, as shown in fig. 6B, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56.

In the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56, thereby releasing one partition sheet X from the tape rewinding drum 56 to the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 via the entrance 29B. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X has been released from the tape rewinding drum 56, the control section 65 performs a rewinding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 to return to the standby state.

In the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform a winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56, thereby releasing one partition sheet X from the tape rewinding drum 56 to the discharge port 13 via the entrance 29B. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X has been released from the tape rewinding drum 56, the control section 65 performs a rewinding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 to return to the standby state. When both the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation and the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation are performed by one process, the temporary storage section 29 is not returned to the standby state until the first partition sheet X is released and the second partition sheet X is released.

According to the third embodiment described above, the temporary storage section 29 includes a pair of the banknote stack drum 55 and the tape rewinding drum 56 and the tape T wound therebetween, so that the conveyed banknotes S are wound together with the tape T and releasably accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55. When the temporary storage section 29 winds and accommodates the partition sheet X on the tape rewinding drum 56 together with the tape T, and when the banknotes S are accommodated in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 or the common non-taken banknote collection section 29, the partition sheet X accommodated on the tape rewinding drum 56 is released to the temporary storage section 29 to be accommodated in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 or the common non-taken banknote collection section 39. For this reason, when a plurality of banknotes S are accommodated in the same counterfeit banknote collection section 30 or the same non-taken banknote collection section 39, the partition sheets X may be set at desired positions, whereby it is possible to distinguish banknotes using the partition sheets and manage the denomination and number of banknotes.

In addition, since the partition sheets X are wound together with the tape T and accommodated on the tape rewinding drum 56 for rewinding the tape T of the temporary storage section 29 and released as needed, a special mechanism for accommodating and releasing the partition sheets is not required, thereby reducing the cost.

Next, a banknote processing machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 8A to 8C, focusing on portions different from the third embodiment.

In the fourth embodiment, the temporary storage section 29 has a different structure from that of the third embodiment. That is, in the third embodiment, one tape T is wound between one banknote stack drum 55 and one tape rewinding drum 56. Meanwhile, in the temporary storage section 29 of the fourth embodiment, two tape rewinding drums 56 that rotate in synchronization with one banknote stack drum 55 are installed, and one tape T is disposed between the banknote stack drum 55 and one tape rewinding drum 56, and the other tape T is disposed between the banknote stack drum 55 and the other tape rewinding drum 56.

That is, in the temporary storage section 29 of the fourth embodiment, the banknote stack drum 55 is installed on the side opposite to the entrance 29A, and the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 are installed on the side of the entrance 29A so that they are parallel to each other. One end of one tape T and the other tape T are fixed to the banknote stack drum 55 at the same position and then wound in the same direction. The other end of one tape T is fixed to one tape rewinding drum 56 or the upper tape rewinding drum 56, and the other end of the other tape T is fixed to the other tape rewinding drum 56 or the lower tape rewinding drum 56, which are wound in opposite directions. The tapes T disposed between the banknote stack drum 55 and one of the upper tape rewinding drums 56 have respective regions TAc to TAe and TBc to TBe, which are the same in shape as the third embodiment and different in width from each other (see fig. 7). Meanwhile, the tape T disposed between the banknote stack drum 55 and the other lower tape rewinding drum 56 has a constant width.

One tape T wound on the banknote stack drum 55 extends forward from a lower portion of the banknote stack drum 55 to overlap the other tape T, thereby forming substantially the same straight line as the conveyance channel 82. The one tape T is bent upward by the roller 82 and wound on the one or upper tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the one tape T extends forward from the lower portion of the upper tape rewinding drum 56 to form substantially the same straight line as the lateral conveyance path 22 b. The other tape T extends forward from the lower portion of the banknote stack drum 55 to overlap the one tape T so as to form substantially the same straight line as the conveyance path 82. The other tape T is bent downward by the roller 86 and wound on the other or lower tape rewinding drum 56. At this time, the other tape T is wound to extend from the upper portion of the other or lower tape rewinding drum 56.

When two tapes T are wound on the banknote stack drum 55, the one tape rewinding drum 56 and the other tape rewinding drum 56 are rotated in cooperation by the respective tapes T to release the respective tapes T. On the other hand, when the one tape T is wound on the one tape rewinding drum 56 and the other tape T is wound on the other tape rewinding drum 56, the banknote stack drum 55 is rotated in cooperation by the two tapes T, thereby releasing the two tapes T.

At the time of temporarily storing the banknotes S, the banknotes S separated and conveyed one by one from the conveying path 82 are sent to the entrance 29B on the lower side of the temporary storage section 29 at a predetermined speed by the conveying driving force of the conveying section 44. At this time, the banknote stack drum 55 rotates in a predetermined banknote storage direction (i.e., counterclockwise in fig. 8A to 8C), the one or upper tape rewinding drum 56 rotates in the predetermined banknote storage direction (i.e., clockwise in fig. 8A to 8C), and the other or lower tape rewinding drum 56 rotates in the predetermined banknote storage direction (i.e., counterclockwise in fig. 8A to 8C). The banknotes S conveyed from the conveying path 82 are sandwiched between the two tapes T at the center position in the short side direction thereof to be wound on the portions of the two tapes T that have been wound on the banknote stack drum 55. As described above, the banknotes S sequentially conveyed to the temporary storage section 29 are wound on the banknote stack drum 55 together with the two tapes T and are accommodated on the banknote stack drum 55 in a stacked manner (see fig. 8C). This is a winding operation.

On the other hand, when the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 are rotated in a predetermined banknote release direction opposite to the above-described banknote storage direction, the banknotes S stacked on the banknote stack drum 55 are separated and released from the banknote stack drum 55 in a state of being sandwiched between the tapes T together with the two tapes T, and then separated from the two tapes T at the entrance 29B of the temporary storage section 29, thereby being released into the conveyance path 82 (see fig. 8B). This is a rewind operation.

As described above, the winding operation and the rewinding operation of the two tapes T are performed between the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 and the banknote stack drum 55, thereby performing the stacked receipt and the separated release of the banknotes S introduced one by one.

The partition sheets X are accommodated on the one or upper belt rewinding drum 56. That is, at the time of storing the partition sheets X, the partition sheets X separated and conveyed one by the conveying portion 22 are conveyed from the lateral conveying path 22b to the entrance 29A on the upper side of the temporary storage portion 29 at a predetermined speed by the conveying driving force of the longitudinal conveying portion 22 a. At this time, the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 perform a rewinding operation to overlap the partition sheet X sent out from the conveying section 22 with the tape T on the side of the upper tape rewinding drum 56, so that the partition sheet X is wound together with the tape T on a portion of the tape T already wound on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 and sandwiched between the tapes T. The partition sheets X sequentially conveyed to the temporary storage section 56 are wound on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 together with the tape T as described above to be accommodated on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 in a stacked state. At this time, the partition sheets X are accommodated in the partition sheet accommodating region TBc of the belt T.

At the time of releasing the partition sheet X, the pair of tape rewinding drums 56 and the banknote stack drum 55 perform a winding operation to separate and release the partition sheet X stacked on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 from the tape rewinding drum 56 together with the tape T, so that the partition sheet X is separated from the tape T at the entrance 29A to be released into the lateral conveyance path 22b of the conveyance section 22.

The area recognition sensor 62 is installed near the upper belt rewinding drum 56. The area recognition sensor 62 detects a difference in the width of the belt T at the position of the partition sheet entry passage of the belt T extending forward from the upper belt rewinding drum 56 to form substantially the same straight line as the lateral conveyance passage 22b, detecting the respective areas TAc to TAe and TBc to TBe of the belt T.

In the fourth embodiment, in the temporary storage section 29, the state in which the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TAe having a smaller width and the rewinding end region TAd having a smaller width wound on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 is detected by the region identification sensor 62, that is, the state in which the tape section TB for partition sheets and the tape section TA for most of banknotes of the tape T are wound on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 (the state in which the same length range of the tape T is also wound on the lower tape rewinding drum 56) is the standby state, as shown in fig. 8B.

In the fourth embodiment, in executing the partition sheet restock process, when the partition sheets X in the temporary storage section 29 are not in the maximum reception state but in the remaining state, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 which are in the standby state. When the region identification sensor 62 detects the leading end of the first partition sheet X on the release side accommodated in the upper tape rewinding drum 56, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56.

When there is no remaining partition sheet X in the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform a winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in a standby state. When the tape T wound on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 is in the winding end state, that is, the boundary position between the winding near-end region TBe having the larger width and the winding end region TBd having the smaller width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56, as shown in fig. 8A.

Based on the detection time of the partition sheet X by the recognition section 28, the rewinding operation is performed on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 of the temporary storage section 29 so that the partition sheet X introduced from the transverse conveyance path 22b through the entrance 29A is sequentially wound and accommodated on the rotating upper tape rewinding drum 56 at predetermined intervals together with the partition sheet storage region TBc of the tape T. After a predetermined number of partition sheets X are accommodated, when the boundary position between the rewinding near-end region TAe having a smaller width and the rewinding end region TAd having a larger width is detected by the region identification sensor 62, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 to return the temporary storage section 29 to the standby state, as shown in fig. 8B.

In the deposit process, the control section 65 conveys the banknotes S recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 toward the temporary storage section 29. The control section 65 sequentially winds and accommodates the banknotes S on the rotating banknote stack drum 55 at predetermined intervals in a state of being sandwiched between the two tapes T by the winding operation of the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state (see fig. 8C). When the banknotes S finally recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section 28 are received in the temporary storage section 29, the control section 65 stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56.

Even in this case, the insertion section 12 is sized to be able to insert the banknotes S within the possible number of banknotes S wound on the banknote stack drum 55 by the tape section TA for banknotes of the tape T. However, in the deposit process, when the boundary position between the tape section TA for banknotes and the tape section TB for partition sheets of the tape T, that is: when the boundary position between the banknote containing section TAc having a larger width and the partition containing section TBc having a smaller width is detected by the section identifying sensor 62, the control section 65 forcibly stops the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 in order to prevent the release of the partition sheets X.

In the storing process and the returning process after the depositing process, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the rewinding operation to sequentially release the banknotes S wound on the banknote stack drum 55 from the entrance 29A together with the tapes T. During the rewinding operation, when the boundary position between the smaller width rewinding near-end region TAe and the larger width rewinding end region TAd is detected by the region identification sensor 62, as shown in fig. 8B, the control section 65 forcibly stops the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56.

In the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state, thereby releasing one partition sheet X from the tape rewinding drums 56 to the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 through the entrance 29A. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X has been released, the control section 65 returns the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 to the standby state.

In the non-taken banknote partition sheet dispensing operation, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform the winding operation on the banknote stack drum 55, the two tapes T, and the two tape rewinding drums 56 in the standby state, thereby releasing one partition sheet X from the upper rewinding drum 56 to the discharge port 13 via the entrance 29A. When the region identification sensor 62 detects that one partition sheet X has been released from the upper tape rewinding drum 56, the control section 65 returns the banknote stack drum 55, the tape T, and the tape rewinding drum 56 to the standby state. When both the counterfeit banknote partition sheet distribution operation and the non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation are performed by one process, the temporary storage section 29 is controlled not to return to the standby state until the first partition sheet X is released and then the second partition sheet X is released.

According to the fourth embodiment described above, two tapes T are wound and rewound on the banknote stack drum 55 using the two tape rewinding drums 56 that rotate in a synchronized manner, at which time the center position in the short-side direction of the banknote S is sandwiched between the two overlapped tapes T. For this reason, the bills S can be stably stacked on the bill stacking drum 55 and can be stably released from the bill stacking drum 55.

In the fourth embodiment, although the partition sheet X is wound and accommodated on the upper tape rewinding drum 56 together with the tape T, the partition sheet X may be wound and accommodated on the lower tape rewinding drum 56 together with the tape T.

Next, a banknote processing machine according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 9, focusing on a different part from the first embodiment.

The banknote processing machine 11 according to the fifth embodiment is a depositing and withdrawing processing machine capable of performing a depositing process, a counting process, and a withdrawal process of banknotes. That is, in the fifth embodiment, withdrawal release sections 91 to 93 and conveyance sections 94 to 96 are mounted at lower portions of the storage boxes 47 to 49 of the accommodating section 50 of the first embodiment, respectively. The withdrawal release sections 91 to 93 separate and count the banknotes one by one and release the banknotes. The conveyance sections 94 to 96 convey the bills released from these withdrawal release sections 91 to 93. These transfer portions 94 to 96 are connected to constitute a transfer portion 97, and the transfer portion 97 is connected to the transfer portion 24. In the middle of the conveyance section 97, a withdrawal identification sensor 98 is installed to detect abnormal conveyance of the banknotes S, such as overlapped conveyance, offset conveyance, and the like. A withdrawal collection section 99 for receiving the banknotes S recognized as abnormally conveyed by the withdrawal recognition section 98 is connected to a distal end of the conveyance section 100, and the conveyance section 100 is branched from the conveyance section 97.

Then, after the banknotes S released from the storage cassettes 47 to 49 of the respective accommodating sections 50 are recognized by the withdrawal recognition section 98, only the abnormally conveyed banknotes S are accommodated in the withdrawal collection section 99, and only the normally conveyed banknotes S are released from the conveying section 100 to the common discharging section (i.e., the first returning section, the second returning section, the withdrawal section, and the common conveying section) 35 to eject the banknotes S for removal from the apparatus. Then, the non-taken banknotes in the common discharge section 35 are collected from the separation release section 34 to the common non-taken banknote collection section (i.e., the receiving section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section) 39 through the conveyance section 38, as in the first embodiment.

In the above-described fifth embodiment, the partition sheet restock process mode, the deposit process mode, and the count process mode are all the same as those of the first embodiment, and the withdrawal process mode that is not possible in the first embodiment can be executed.

[ withdrawal processing mode (Normal processing mode) ]

When a withdrawal processing mode, which is a normal processing mode for extracting banknotes of a predetermined denomination and number, is selectively input into the operation section 69 to input data on the denomination and number of banknotes with respect to the operation section 69, the control section 65 performs a withdrawal process. Namely: the control section 65 normally drives the transport sections 94 to 97 to drive the withdrawal release sections 91 to 93 to an extent corresponding to the required number of banknotes depending on data on the denomination and number of banknotes. Then, the banknotes of the appropriate denomination and number in the storage cassettes 47 to 49 are conveyed to the conveyance sections 94 to 97 and recognized by the withdrawal recognition section 98. The banknotes S identified as abnormally conveyed by the withdrawal identification section 98 are conveyed to the withdrawal collection section 100 via the conveyance sections 97 and 100, and the banknotes S identified as normally conveyed are conveyed to the discharge port 13 via the conveyance sections 97 and 24.

When the banknotes S corresponding to the data on the denomination and number of banknotes are discharged to the discharge port 13, the control section 65 stops the conveyance sections 94 to 97. Thereafter, the control section 65 opens the discharge port shutter 16 to open the discharge port 13, and performs display and sound output through the display 67 and the sound generator 68 to request the acquisition of the banknotes S. When it is determined that there is a non-taken banknote based on the above non-taken banknote determination, the control section 65 performs a non-taken banknote partition sheet distribution operation and completes this withdrawal processing mode. Namely: when it is determined by the non-taken banknote that there is a non-taken banknote in the discharge port 13, the control section 65 closes the discharge port shutter 16, and then receives the banknotes S remaining in the discharge port 13 as non-taken banknotes in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 through the separation release section 34 and the conveyance section 38. Thereafter, the control section 65 drives the temporary storage section 29 to perform a rewinding operation, discharges one partition sheet X to the discharge port 13, and accommodates the partition sheet X in the discharge port 13 into the common non-taken banknote collection section 39, completing the withdrawal processing mode.

According to the above-described fifth embodiment, the partition sheets X can be introduced from the temporary storage section 29 into the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 of the banknotes S that are received in the receiving insertion section 20 and identified as counterfeit banknotes by the identification section 28, and into the common non-taken banknote collection section 29 that receives the banknotes that are not taken in the common discharge section 35. The common discharging section 35 returns the banknotes S unidentified by the identification section 28 to be taken out of the apparatus, and discharges the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 and the banknotes S released from the accommodating section 50 to be taken out of the apparatus main body. For this reason, the banknotes S in the counterfeit banknote collection section 30 and the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 can be sorted and managed.

In addition, the banknotes S in the common non-taken banknote collection section 39 that receive the non-taken banknotes S from the common discharge section 35 can be sorted and managed. The common discharge section 35 discharges the banknotes unidentified by the identification section 28, the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29, and the banknotes S released from the accommodating section 50 to be taken out of the apparatus.

In the banknote processing machine of the fifth embodiment, although the case has been exemplified in which the common discharge section 35 for discharging the banknotes unidentified by the identification section 28, the banknotes released from the temporary storage section 29, and the banknotes S released from the accommodating section 50 to be taken out of the machine is provided and one common non-taken banknote collection section 39 is provided in the common discharge section 35, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a first returning section for returning the banknotes S unidentified by the identification section 28 to be taken away from the apparatus, a second returning section for returning the banknotes S released from the temporary storage section 29 to be taken away from the apparatus main body, and a withdrawal section for withdrawing the banknotes S released from the accommodating section 50 to be taken away from the apparatus main body may be separately installed, and a first non-taken banknote collection section for receiving the banknotes S not taken away by the first returning section, a second non-taken banknote collection section for receiving the banknotes S not taken away by the second returning section, and a third non-taken banknote collection section for receiving the banknotes S not taken away by the withdrawal section may be separately installed. In this case, the partition sheets X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 into the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section all; the partition sheets X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 into any three of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section; the partition sheets X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 into any two of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section; or the partition sheets X may be supplied from the temporary storage section 29 into any one of the counterfeit banknote collection section 30, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section, and the third non-taken banknote collection section.

In addition, one common non-taken banknote collection section may be installed in the first return section, in the second return section, and in the withdrawal section; or one common non-taken banknote collection section may be installed in any two of the first return section, the second return section, and the withdrawal section. Further, any two of the first returning section, the second returning section, and the withdrawal section may be one common discharging section, and even in this case, the non-taken banknote collection section may be provided for each or in common.

Further, in the banknote processing machine of the fifth embodiment, although the temporary storage section 29 of the first embodiment has been described as an example of the temporary storage section 29, the temporary storage section 29 of the first to fourth embodiments may be adopted.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated above, it should be understood that: these are examples of the invention and should not be considered as limiting. Additions, omissions, substitutions, and other modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (16)

1. A banknote processing machine comprising:

a receiving section that receives a banknote;

a temporary storage section including a pair of first and second drums and a tape wound between the pair of first and second drums, the tape having an end fixed to the first drum, a tape section for banknote sheets and a tape section for partition sheets, the tape section for partition sheets being located on a side of the end with respect to the tape section for banknote sheets, the temporary storage section releasably receiving a conveyed banknote by winding the conveyed banknote on the first drum together with the tape section for banknote sheets and releasably receiving at least one partition sheet by winding the partition sheets on the first drum together with the tape section for partition sheets; and

a control section that causes the temporary storage section to release the partition sheet wound on the first drum and causes the receiving section to receive the partition sheet from the temporary storage section in response to the receiving section receiving the banknote.

2. The banknote processing machine of claim 1, wherein,

the receiving section includes at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section, a first non-taken banknote collection section, and a second non-taken banknote collection section,

the banknote processing machine further includes an insertion section, an identification section, a first return section, a second return section, and an accommodation section,

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the insertion portion receives bills from the outside of the apparatus;

the identification section identifies the banknote received in the insertion section;

the counterfeit banknote collection section receives the banknotes recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section;

the first returning section returns the banknotes unidentified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the second return section returns the banknotes released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the accommodating section accommodates the banknotes released from the temporary storage section;

the first non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the first return section;

the second non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the second return section; and

the temporary storage section releasably receives the banknotes recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section.

3. The banknote processing machine according to claim 2, wherein the first returning section and the second returning section may constitute a common returning section, the first non-taken banknote collection section and the second non-taken banknote collection section constitute a common non-taken banknote collection section, and the receiving section includes at least the common non-taken banknote collection section.

4. The banknote processing machine of claim 1, wherein,

the receiving section includes at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section, a first non-taken banknote collection section, a second non-taken banknote collection section, and a third non-taken banknote collection section,

the banknote processing machine further includes an insertion section, an identification section, a first return section, a second return section, a housing section, and a withdrawal section,

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the insertion portion receives bills from the outside of the apparatus;

the identification section identifies the banknote received in the insertion section;

the counterfeit banknote collection section receives the banknotes recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section;

the first returning section returns the banknotes unidentified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the second return section returns the banknotes released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the accommodating section accommodates the banknotes released from the temporary storage section;

the first non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the first return section;

the second non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the second return section;

the temporary storage section releasably receives the banknotes recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section;

the withdrawal section providing the banknotes released from the receiving section to be taken out of the apparatus; and

the third non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the withdrawal section.

5. The banknote processing machine according to claim 4, wherein the first return section, the second return section and the withdrawal section constitute a common transport section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section and the third non-taken banknote collection section constitute a common non-taken banknote collection section, and the receiving section includes at least the common non-taken banknote collection section.

6. The banknote processing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said belt has a discriminating portion for discriminating a belt portion for separating the sheet from other belt portions of the belt.

7. The banknote processing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in response to the control section determining that the temporary storage section lacks a partition sheet after the normal processing mode is performed, the control section shifts to a partition sheet restock processing mode for restocking partition sheets, and the control section permits the shift to the normal processing mode only after the partition sheets are restocked in the temporary storage section by the partition sheet restock processing mode.

8. The banknote processing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in response to the control section determining that the temporary storage section lacks a partition sheet, the control section outputs a restock order signal to request restock of the partition sheet.

9. A banknote processing machine comprising:

a receiving section that receives a banknote;

a temporary storage section including a pair of first and second drums and a tape wound between the pair of first and second drums, the temporary storage section releasably receiving conveyed bills by winding the conveyed bills around the first drum together with the tape and releasably receiving at least one partition sheet by winding the partition sheets around the second drum together with the tape; and

a control section that causes the temporary storage section to release the partition sheet wound on the second drum and causes the receiving section to receive the partition sheet from the temporary storage section in response to the receiving section receiving the banknotes.

10. The banknote processing machine of claim 9, wherein,

the receiving section includes at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section, a first non-taken banknote collection section, and a second non-taken banknote collection section,

the banknote processing machine further includes an insertion section, an identification section, a first return section, a second return section, and an accommodation section,

wherein

The insertion portion receives bills from the outside of the apparatus;

the identification section identifies the banknote received in the insertion section;

the counterfeit banknote collection section receives the banknotes recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section;

the first returning section returns the banknotes unidentified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the second returning section returns the bills released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the accommodating section accommodates the banknotes released from the temporary storage section;

the first non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the first return section;

the second non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the second return section; and

the temporary storage section releasably receives the banknotes recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section.

11. The banknote processing machine according to claim 10, wherein the first and second return sections may constitute a common return section, the first and second non-taken banknote collection sections constitute a common non-taken banknote collection section, and the receiving section includes at least the common non-taken banknote collection section.

12. The banknote processing machine according to claim 9, wherein the receiving section may include at least one of a counterfeit banknote collection section, a first non-taken banknote collection section, a second non-taken banknote collection section, and a third non-taken banknote collection section,

the banknote processing machine further includes an insertion section, an identification section, a first return section, a second return section, a housing section, and a withdrawal section,

wherein

The insertion portion receives bills from the outside of the apparatus;

the identification section identifies the banknote received in the insertion section;

the counterfeit banknote collection section receives the banknotes recognized as counterfeit banknotes by the recognition section;

the first returning section returns the banknotes unidentified by the identification section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the second returning section returns the bills released from the temporary storage section to be taken out of the apparatus;

the accommodating section accommodates the banknotes released from the temporary storage section;

the first non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the first return section;

the second non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the second return section;

the temporary storage section releasably receives the banknotes recognized as genuine banknotes by the recognition section;

the withdrawal section providing the banknotes released from the receiving section to be taken out of the apparatus; and

the third non-taken banknote collection section receives banknotes remaining in the withdrawal section.

13. The banknote processing machine according to claim 12, wherein the first return section, the second return section and the withdrawal section constitute a common transport section, the first non-taken banknote collection section, the second non-taken banknote collection section and the third non-taken banknote collection section constitute a common non-taken banknote collection section, and the receiving section includes at least the common non-taken banknote collection section.

14. The banknote processing machine according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein said belt has a discriminating portion for discriminating a belt portion for separating the sheet from other belt portions of the belt.

15. The banknote processing machine according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein in response to the control section determining that the temporary storage section lacks a partition sheet after the normal processing mode is performed, the control section shifts to a partition sheet restock processing mode for restocking partition sheets, and the control section permits the shift to the normal processing mode only after the partition sheets are restocked in the temporary storage section by the partition sheet restock processing mode.

16. The banknote processing machine according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein in response to the control section determining that the temporary storage section lacks a partition sheet, the control section outputs a restock order signal to request restock of the partition sheet.