JP2009116669A - Paper sheet transaction apparatus, paper sheet handling unit used therefor, and failure information reference method - Google Patents

Abstract

【Task】
Accurately grasp the cause of failure of the banknote recognition unit where the failure occurred.
[Solution]
In a banknote identification unit that is used by being attached to an ATM that transacts paper sheets according to user operations, a timer that measures time, and a plurality of sensors including an optical sensor that acquires characteristic information of the paper sheets, Based on the characteristic information of the paper sheets acquired by these sensors, the type or authenticity of the paper sheet is determined, and a control unit that detects that a paper sheet rejection failure has occurred, and an analysis by the control unit. And a storage unit for storing the paper sheet failure information, feature information, and the time measured by the timer when the failure occurs in association with each other.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper sheet transaction apparatus, a paper sheet handling unit and a failure information reference method, and more particularly, an automatic cash transaction apparatus (referred to as ATM) provided by a financial institution and a deposit or The present invention relates to a banknote identification unit that determines the type and authenticity of a withdrawal banknote, a paper sheet transaction apparatus that uses the banknote identification unit, and a failure information reference method for the unit.

  The automatic teller machine widely used in financial institutions, etc. includes a plurality of customer operation sections, banknote handling mechanisms that handle banknotes that are deposited and withdrawn, magnetic card sections that handle magnetic cards, and passbook printing sections that print on bankbooks. It is composed of units. The banknote handling mechanism has a banknote identification unit for identifying banknotes.

When a failure occurs in the banknote identification unit, the failure information is reported to the host device via an interface connected to the host device. Upon receiving the failure information, the host device re-initializes the failed unit and performs self-recovery processing according to a preprogrammed procedure. On the other hand, in the case of a failure that cannot be self-recovered, information on the occurrence of the failure is transferred to the monitoring device, and a transition is made to the sleep state. In parallel with these processes, the failure information of the unit in which the failure has occurred is stored in a nonvolatile memory, a hard disk, or the like.
When an ATM stops due to a failure, a call center is contacted, and maintenance personnel go to the site to restore the ATM. The maintenance staff switches the ATM to the maintenance mode and investigates and repairs the contents of the failure.

  In recent years, units constituting an ATM have become smaller and more complicated. Therefore, it is difficult to repair the unit locally. In addition, since early recovery is required for an ATM system down, recently, a unit in which a failure has occurred is replaced with a new unit that has been brought to restore the ATM.

  The maintenance staff collects information and conditions obtained in the field in a trouble report and sends it to the repair department together with the replaced faulty unit. In the repair department, inspecting and repairing the sent unit, repair it referring to the contents of the failure report. Therefore, depending on the content of the failure report, that is, the degree of description, it is determined whether it is possible to perform an accurate repair for the failure or how the return period to the user (financial institution or maintenance company) who requested the repair can be shortened. Is done.

  For example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-305929), error information, maintenance work contents, and validity / invalidity information of maintenance work contents are stored as maintenance management information in a nonvolatile memory in the medium processing unit. It is disclosed that maintenance work is easily and accurately performed by displaying the maintenance management information on a display unit of the unit.

JP-A-8-305929

  However, if the unit in which the failure has occurred is a failure that cannot be recovered, the unit must be replaced. For example, even if it is easy to determine the necessity of unit replacement, a certain amount of investigation and repair time have passed, and if the unit is replaced after that, it will be more annoying for customers who are waiting due to system down. is there.

  Also, due to the recent increase in awareness regarding information leakage, it is considered that financial institutions take out the internal information of ATMs to the outside, and it is becoming more difficult to obtain failure information for repair. When detailed failure information is not available, there is a problem that the repair department cannot perform the repair work accurately and the time for returning the repair is extended.

  An object of the present invention is to accurately grasp the cause of failure of a banknote identification unit in which a failure has occurred.

  The paper sheet handling unit according to the present invention is preferably a paper sheet handling unit that is used by being mounted on a paper sheet trading apparatus that trades paper sheets in accordance with user operations. A sensor for acquiring information, a control unit for determining the type or authenticity of the paper sheet from the acquired characteristic information of the paper sheet, and detecting that a rejection failure of the paper sheet has occurred, A storage unit that stores information related to the rejection failure of the paper sheet, the characteristic information of the paper sheet, and the time when the failure occurred in association with the analysis of the failure by the control unit; It is configured as a characteristic paper sheet handling unit.

Further, in a preferred example, the control unit analyzes the rejection factor of the paper sheet, and when the result of the analysis determines that the rejection due to the specific factor has occurred a plurality of times, the acquired paper sheet The data of the paper sheet in which the rejection has occurred is selected from the above data, and the rejection factor, the characteristic information, and the time of the paper sheet are associated and stored in the storage unit.
Preferably, at least one of the plurality of sensors is an optical sensor for acquiring image information of a paper sheet, and the storage unit is associated with each piece of paper and includes fault information, The time and the image information of the acquired paper sheet are stored.

Preferably, the control unit includes a processor that executes a program for determining the type or authenticity of the paper sheet, the storage unit includes a program area for storing the program, and the program is updated. If it is, the update history area for storing the update history information of the program is provided, and the storage unit stores the history information of the program executed at the time of the failure in association with each other.
Preferably, when the sensor is adjusted, the control unit detects the processing content and time, and the storage unit stores hardware that stores the processing content and time detected by the control unit. It has an adjustment history area.

Preferably, the paper sheet handling unit has a timer for counting time, and the timer keeps time for which the paper sheet handling unit is installed and operating in the paper sheet transaction apparatus, The control unit accumulates the operation time counted by the timer, and the storage unit has an operation history area for storing the accumulated operation time.
Preferably, the storage unit has a log area for storing the identification result of the paper sheet determined by the control unit for each paper sheet.

Preferably, the storage unit includes a first memory and a second memory, and the first memory temporarily stores the identification result of the paper sheet as a log; A second memory, and the control unit monitors whether or not a failure in which paper sheets are frequently rejected (reject failure frequently) and determines that the failure is a failure in the first memory. With reference to the stored identification result log, the identification result log is edited for paper sheets rejected by the same factor, and the rejection factor, the feature information, and the time are associated with each other. 2 in the memory.
Preferably, the control unit edits the identification result log, edits update history information of the program, acquires adjustment history information of the sensor, or cumulatively processes the operating time. .

The paper sheet transaction apparatus according to the present invention is preferably an operation unit operated by the user for the paper sheet transaction in the paper sheet transaction apparatus that performs the paper sheet transaction according to the user's operation; A doorway for discharging or receiving paper sheets to be traded, a storage room for storing paper sheets received from a user or provided to a user, and a connection between the doorway and the storage room. And a paper sheet handling unit that is attached to and detached from the transport path.
The paper sheet handling unit determines a type or authenticity of the paper sheet from a sensor that acquires characteristic information of the paper sheet, the characteristic information of the acquired paper sheet, A control unit that detects that a rejection failure has occurred, and information on the rejection failure of the paper sheet, the characteristic information of the paper sheet, and the time when the failure occurred, based on the analysis of the failure by the control unit And a storage unit for storing the information in association with each other.
Preferably, the control unit obtains the time from a timer provided in the paper sheet handling unit or from a time measuring unit included in the paper sheet transaction apparatus.

  The failure information reference method according to the present invention is preferably a failure information reference method relating to a paper sheet handling unit that is used by being mounted on a paper sheet transaction apparatus that performs paper sheet transactions in accordance with user operations. A sensor that acquires the characteristic information of the paper sheet, and the type or authenticity of the paper sheet is determined from the acquired characteristic information of the paper sheet, and a rejection failure of the paper sheet has occurred. And a storage unit that stores information relating to the rejection failure of the paper sheet, the characteristic information of the paper sheet, and the time when the failure occurred in association with each other based on the analysis of the failure by the control unit As a failure information reference method, a paper sheet handling unit having a display unit is connected to a computer having a display unit via a connecting means, and information stored in the storage unit is displayed on the display unit. Composed.

  According to the present invention, it is easy to identify the cause of a failure by holding failure information related to banknote rejection in the storage unit provided in the paper sheet handling unit and referring to the information at the time of repair. . Thereby, the time which repair of a banknote identification unit requires can be shortened.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an automatic teller machine (ATM).
The ATM 2 is connected to the host computer 1 via a network and performs cash deposit / withdrawal transactions with the user. ATM2 is a communication unit 102 connected to a network, a display unit 103 that displays necessary information for cash transactions, an operation unit 104 that is operated by a user, a banknote handling mechanism 105 that inserts and removes banknotes, and coins A coin processing mechanism 106, a magnetic card unit 107 that handles a user's magnetic card, a passbook printing unit 108 that prints transaction information on the user's passbook, and a main control unit 101 that controls these units. The The main control unit 101 includes a program for processing transactions such as deposits and withdrawals, a memory for storing transaction information, and a processor (CPU) that executes the programs to execute transaction processing. A command is generated to control the mechanism unit and the entire apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the banknote handling mechanism 105 includes a banknote identification unit 202 provided on a conveyance path 205 that detects the characteristics of banknotes and discriminates the authenticity and denomination of banknotes. ) And a banknote deposit / withdrawal port 203 for taking out / withdrawing banknotes, a temporary stacker 204 for temporarily storing banknotes discriminated by the banknote discrimination unit 202, a plurality of banknote storage boxes 207 to 210 of denominations for storing banknotes to be handled, It has a reject storage 211 for storing banknotes unsuitable for deposit and withdrawal, and a banknote mechanism control unit 201.

  A banknote mechanism control unit (hereinafter simply referred to as a control unit) 201 executes a program for controlling the conveyance and identification of banknotes, a memory that holds control information, and executes the program to carry out the conveyance and identification of banknotes. It has a processor (CPU), and the processor executes commands to control each mechanism unit and the bill recognition unit 202.

  What is characteristic in the present embodiment is that the banknote recognition unit 202 can be removed from the transport path 205 of the banknote processing mechanism 105 as a single structural unit and exchanged with another banknote identification unit. This exchange work is performed, for example, when a failure occurs in the banknote recognition unit 202 and when that unit is replaced with a normal unit.

FIG. 3 shows a control block configuration of the banknote recognition unit 202.
The unit control unit 301 includes a processor (CPU), and is configured to be connected to a plurality of sensors 302 to 304, a timer 305, a nonvolatile memory 306, a RAM 307, and an image processing unit 308 via an internal interface. The unit control unit 301 is connected to the control unit 201 via an interface.

  Here, a plurality of sensors 302 to 304 (hereinafter may be collectively referred to as 302) are optical sensors and magnetic sensors arranged in the conveyance path 205 in the banknote identification unit 202, and are predetermined for banknotes. The reflected light or transmitted light from the area and the amount and characteristics of the magnetic ink printed on the banknote are detected as information including the characteristics of the banknote. The timer 305 generates a self clock and generates time information.

  The nonvolatile memory 306 stores a bill identifying program. This program is executed by the CPU in the unit control unit 301. The RAM 307 is legitimate as the optical image information and magnetic information of the banknote detected by the sensor 302, the banknote information resulting from the identification by the unit control unit 301, and the verification target information for banknote identification. The bill information and log information as described later are stored. The image processing unit 308 is a processor for image processing that processes image information of banknotes detected by the sensor 302 by comparing with valid banknote information registered in advance.

  As one of the features of the present embodiment, a history of version upgrade of the bill identifying program is further recorded in the nonvolatile memory 306. This record makes it possible to analyze a failure that occurs due to the compatibility of the old and new programs and to isolate the control based on the program version. Further, the non-volatile memory 306 records the total operation time of the banknote recognition unit 202, the on time of the light source that irradiates the banknote for the sensor 302, the number of banknotes passed, and the like. By recording such an operation history, it becomes easy to analyze a failure caused by aged deterioration of parts constituting the banknote identification unit.

  When a failure (failure that is difficult to recover) occurs in the banknote recognition unit 202, the maintenance staff can remove the unit from the banknote handling mechanism 105 and replace it with another normal unit. The repair person can recognize the cause of the abnormality by analyzing the log information stored in the nonvolatile memory 306, and also analyze the relationship between the program version stored in the nonvolatile memory 306 and the abnormality that has occurred, It becomes possible to grasp the cause of the abnormality. Although not shown, power is supplied to the bill identifying knit 202 from the power supply of the ATM 2.

  In the ATM 2 having the banknote processing mechanism 105 and the banknote recognition unit 202 configured as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the user operates the operation unit 104 to instruct a cash transaction, the main control unit 101 follows the instructions and issues a banknote. The control unit 201 of the processing mechanism 105 is controlled to perform control for depositing or dispensing the instructed banknote.

  For example, when the user selects a deposit transaction, the bill set in the deposit / withdrawal port 203 is transported on the transport path 205 and sent to the bill recognition unit 202. And when a banknote passes the banknote identification unit 202, the characteristic of a banknote is detected as optical image information and magnetic information by the sensors 302-304. The image information and magnetic information of the detected banknote are stored in the RAM 307 as information on the banknote.

  The banknotes identified by the banknote identification unit 202 are sent to the temporary stacker 204 and temporarily held. In this state, the unit control unit 301 of the banknote recognition unit 202 determines the authenticity and the total amount of legitimate banknotes counted is displayed on the display unit 103. When the user confirms the displayed amount and presses the confirmation key of the operation unit 104, the banknote held in the temporary stacker 204 is conveyed to the banknote identification unit 202 and is identified again. And according to the instruction | indication from the control part 201, a banknote is accommodated in storage 207-210 of each denomination corresponding to the identified result.

In addition, what does not correspond to any denomination due to the state of banknotes, such as banknotes with fake bills or folds, is returned to the deposit / withdrawal port 203 as a reject target or reject storage 211 It is stored in.
Moreover, although the above-mentioned example is a deposit transaction, when a withdrawal (payment) transaction is selected, banknotes corresponding to the withdrawal amount are paid out from the storage boxes 207 to 210 and are subjected to identification processing by the banknote identification unit 202. As a result, the banknotes are withdrawn to the deposit / withdrawal port 203.

Next, an example of a storage format of log information stored in the RAM 307 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, the RAM 306 stores a banknote identification result log. The identification result log stores the denomination identified for each banknote, the attitude of the banknote, and the determination results by a plurality of sensors for each transaction of the user. Determinations 01 to 06 are determination results based on banknote information from six different sensors. “OK” indicates normality and “NG” indicates abnormality. In the example shown in the figure, two identification result logs for users A and B are already stored, and an identification result log for user C is newly stored this time.

  Further, the rejection rate is a ratio of abnormal banknotes to the total number of traded banknotes calculated by the unit control unit 301. The rejection rate of the determination 2 regarding the banknote of the user C is 100%. Since the other judgments 01 and 03 to 06 of the user C's banknote are normal and only the judgment 02 is abnormal, the sensor used for the determination 2 is more faulty than the banknote abnormality (fake banknote). It is more appropriate to judge that this occurred. Further, referring to the rejection rate of banknotes by the transactions of users B and A, the rejection rate of the transaction determination 02 by user B is 60%. In the unit control unit 301, for example, an identification result log associated with a transaction of a user whose rejection rate exceeds 50% is stored in the nonvolatile memory 306. In the above example, the identification result log of the transaction bills of the users B and C is stored in the nonvolatile memory 306. This identification result log is used later for determining and repairing the failure of the banknote identification unit 202.

  As shown in FIG. 6, a bill data area is also secured in the RAM 307, and data of each traded bill is stored with each address attached. The banknote data is image data of one banknote as shown in FIG.

Next, an example of a storage format of log information stored in the nonvolatile memory 306 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.
As illustrated in FIG. 7, the nonvolatile memory 306 includes an identification result log area 701, a failure information log area 702, a hardware adjustment history area 703, a program version update history area 704, an operation history area 705, and a program area 706. .
When repairing the banknote identification unit 202, the repairer can display the information on the screen of the PC and refer to them to help identify the location and cause of the failure.

  In the identification result log area 701, a banknote identification result log shown in FIG. 5 is stored. When the determination results of all banknotes are normal, a banknote identification result log as shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the RAM 307, but a normal banknote log is not stored in the nonvolatile memory 306.

  In the failure information log area 702, as shown in FIG. 8, the failure code for identifying the type of failure, the failure occurrence time acquired from the timer when the failure occurs, the version information of the program used for identifying the banknote, And failure information such as banknote image data is stored.

  The hardware adjustment history area 703 stores a hardware adjustment history. When the maintenance worker performs the shading process of the sensor 302, for example, the correction process of the sensor 302, the process contents and time are stored. For the hardware adjustment history, a history recording processing routine is incorporated in advance in the hardware adjustment processing program executed by the unit control unit 310, and each time the hardware adjustment processing is executed, the nonvolatile memory 306 automatically It is acquired by programming to store in the hardware adjustment history area 703. In order to identify the contents of the adjustment process, the adjustment identification information is defined in advance, such as “01” for the shading process of the sensor 302 and “02” for the reference re-acquisition of the sensor 303. These identification information is automatically allocated and stored.

  The program version update history area 704 stores a version history of a program executed by the unit control unit 301, for example, a bill identifying program. The banknote identification unit 202 may update the program due to various factors. Since there are failures that do not occur if updated to a new program and vice versa, there are failures that do not occur unless the new program is updated. Therefore, program update information is important information for failure analysis at the time of repair.

  For example, when a new program download command is issued to the banknote identification unit 202 from the control unit 201 of the banknote handling mechanism 105, which is the upper unit, the unit control unit 301 replaces the old program in the nonvolatile memory 306 with the old program. Rewrite to a new program. The rewrite time is acquired from the timer 305 and stored in the program version update history area 704 of the nonvolatile memory 306 in a pair with the version information of the program. In the repair department, using the PC, the detailed failure information and the program version history can be combined to identify the cause of the failure and perform the repair work.

  In the operation history area 705, the operation history of the banknote identification unit 202 is stored. The banknote recognition unit 202 also has a failure that occurs due to aged deterioration proportional to the time at which the ATM is operated. The operating time other than the time when the banknote recognition unit is stored in the warehouse may also be important information for failure analysis. The bill recognition unit 202 mounted on the operating ATM measures the time from when the power is turned on to when it is turned off from the time information of the timer 305.

For example, when energization is started and the main control unit 101 is started, a timer is run, and the control unit 301 updates the accumulated energization time stored in the operation history area 705 of the nonvolatile memory 306 at regular intervals.
Further, during the power-on time, the time from when the light source (for example, LED light source) of the sensor 302 is turned on to when it is turned off is calculated based on the timing information of the timer 305. As for the lighting time of the light source of the sensor 302, since the light source is turned on in the initialization process (S402), the time information at that time is read from the timer 305 and temporarily stored in the work area of the RAM 307. Since the light source of the sensor 302 is turned off at the end of the series of processes (S409), the time when the sensor 302 is turned off is read from the timer 305, and the difference from the lighting start time stored in the work area of the RAM 307 is taken. After adding to the lighting time stored in the operation history area 705, it is stored in the operation history area as a new lighting time.

The number of banknotes that have passed through the banknote identification unit 202 is also stored. The bill passage number is obtained from the log recorded in the identification result log, and the latest value of the bill passage number is stored by updating the value of the bill passage number stored in the operation history area 705. These pieces of operation information are stored in the operation history area according to the integration since the manufacture was made for one day, one week, and one month.
When repairing the banknote identification unit 202, the repairer can comprehensively consider the detailed failure information, the program version history, and the operation history information to identify the cause of the failure and perform repair work. it can.
The program area 706 stores a program executed by the unit control unit 301. When the program is updated, a new program is stored.

Next, the processing operation of the banknote processing mechanism 105 will be described with reference to FIG.
When banknotes are not deposited or withdrawn, the banknote processing mechanism 105 and the banknote recognition unit 202 are in a standby state (S401).
When the banknote recognition unit 202 in the standby state (S401) receives an activation command from a processor in the control unit 201 of the banknote processing mechanism 105 (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as the control unit 201) (S402), the unit control unit 301 The processor (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as the control unit 301) executes a program to execute initialization processing in the banknote recognition unit 202 (S403). The initialization process is a process for preparing for receipt of banknotes, and includes, for example, a mechanism unit that checks the lighting and output of the sensor 302 in the banknote identification unit 202, checks the rotation of a banknote transport motor, and the like. This is a process of confirming the operation. When all the preparations are completed after the initialization process is completed, the unit control unit 301 issues a preparation completion command to the control unit 201 that is the upper unit (S404).

  When a banknote is transported on the transport path 205 in a deposit or withdrawal transaction, the sensor 302 or the like detects light transmitted from or reflected by the light source and the magnetic information of the banknote. The detected banknote printing pattern is stored in the RAM 307 as banknote image data (banknote information) in accordance with the control of the unit control unit 301 (S405). When a failure occurs in the sensor 302, image data reflecting the content of the failure is stored.

  Then, the unit control unit 301 performs a specific calculation on the image data in a predetermined area of the banknote for the banknote amount and authenticity identification processing, extracts a plurality of statistics, and determines the determination value. calculate. Banknote identification processing is performed by collating the determination value calculated by extracting the statistic for each sensor with a threshold value of a predetermined determination value (S406).

Here, with reference to FIG. 9, the banknote identification process (S406) will be described.
As one of a plurality of determination items related to banknotes, the determination based on the areas of the convex portions X1 and X2 of the waveform of the sensor is exemplified. As shown in (a) and (b), the output waveform of a legitimate banknote obtained from a normal sensor is “12” and “10”, respectively, for the area of the convex portion serving as a judgment value. However, as shown in (c) and (d), the output waveform of the abnormal sensor or the illegal banknote is (X1 + Y1 + Y2), and the case of (c) is, for example, “18”. ", (D) is" 16 ". That is, an abnormality appears in the portions Y1 and Y2.

Here, when the threshold value of the determination process is set to “9 to 15”, for example, (a) and (b) are reported to the control unit 201 from the unit control unit 301 as normal banknotes. c) and (d) are reported as abnormal (S407).
When the control unit 201 receives a report from the unit control unit 301, in the case of a normal banknote, the control unit 201 stores the banknote in the corresponding banknote storage (any one of 207 to 210), and is determined to be abnormal. The bill is controlled to be conveyed to the reject box 211.

  The unit control unit 301 stores the determination result in a predetermined area of the RAM 307 as log information (identification result log) for each banknote identification process. At this stage, the processing of one bill is finished (S409). If there are a plurality of banknotes, the processes in steps S405 to S408 are repeated. When the identification process of the banknotes to be traded once is completed (S409), the unit control unit 301 issues a process completion command to the control unit 201, and the series of processes related to the transaction is terminated (S410). When one transaction for each user is completed, an identification result log as shown in FIG.

The unit control unit 301 monitors whether or not a failure that causes frequent rejection of banknotes (rejection frequent failure) has occurred (S411). This monitoring check is performed for each user transaction.
As a result of the monitoring, for example, when a determination result of an exclusion rate of 50% or more occurs, it is determined that there are many reject failures and the cause is searched for. This is checked with reference to the rejection rates of the determination result log determinations 1 to 6 stored in the RAM 307 to determine whether the rejection is due to the abnormality determination based on the same determination (determination 2 in the example of FIG. 5) (S412). As a result, it is determined that the rejection due to the same factor (abnormality of determination 2) is high, and the process proceeds to the identification result log editing process (S413). On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no abnormality, the process proceeds to S401.

In the identification result log editing process S413, the unit control unit 301 performs editing of failure information, editing of the time of occurrence of the failure, editing of the version of the program executed at the time of failure, editing of the image of the reject banknote, and the like.
In the failure information and occurrence time editing process, the failure code reported to the control unit 201 is stored in a predetermined area (working area) in the RAM 307 together with time information obtained from the timer 305. In the program version editing process, the program version stored in advance in the program area of the nonvolatile memory 306 is read and stored in a predetermined area in the RAM 307 in the same manner.

  Moreover, in the edit processing of the reject banknote image, the data No. of the banknote in which the failure first occurs from the identification result log. Is read out from the banknote data area stored in the RAM 307. Is stored in a predetermined area in the RAM 307. Each information edited in this way is format-edited and stored as failure information in the failure information log area of the nonvolatile memory 306 (S414).

  When a failure occurs in an ATM, the maintenance staff arrives at the ATM and operates the maintenance screen of the ATM. And the error code which the banknote identification unit 202 reported to the control part 201 can be displayed, and the kind of failure can be known. Depending on the type and degree of the failure, the banknote recognition unit 202 is immediately replaced with a new (no failure) banknote recognition unit to recover the ATM.

  The exchanged old banknote identification unit 202 is sent to the repair department. In the repair department, the control unit 301 of the old banknote identification unit 202 is connected to a PC (personal computer) by a bus, and the failure information stored in the nonvolatile memory 306 is displayed on the screen of the PC display. The repairer determines what repair is to be performed based on failure information such as a failure code, failure occurrence time, program version, and banknote image data as shown in FIG.

  As described above, the relationship information necessary for analyzing the failure that has occurred in the banknote recognition unit 202 is acquired and stored as log information in the nonvolatile memory 306. Since the cause of the failure that has occurred in the banknote identification unit 202 can be confirmed using the information, it is possible to perform an accurate repair work.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made.
For example, in the above embodiment, the image data of the banknote that is determined to have failed first in the transaction in which the failure has occurred is stored. However, if there is no restriction on the capacity and writing time of the nonvolatile memory 306 The image data of all rejected banknotes may be stored.

  Moreover, as another example, the timer 305 is mounted in the banknote identification unit 202. However, when time information can be acquired from the banknote processing mechanism 105 or the ATM, which is a higher-level device, through a predetermined interface, You may acquire time information from a site | part.

  Moreover, the non-volatile memory 306 or RAM 307 of the banknote identification unit 202 may be equipped with either one of the memories (storage unit) and store information stored in both of them in the memory. For example, all relevant information may be stored in the nonvolatile memory 306 from the beginning. Conversely, it is possible to hold log information using only the RAM 307 without the nonvolatile memory 306. In that case, the bill identifying knit 202 is provided with a built-in battery for memory retention.

According to another example, banknote rejection frequent failure monitoring by the unit control unit 301 may be performed not at every transaction of the user but at regular intervals. Moreover, you may use both for every transaction and every fixed time.
In addition, the name of each component is an example, and there will be other names for them.

The figure which shows the structure of the automatic teller machine by one Example, The figure which shows the internal arrangement | positioning of the banknote processing mechanism 105 in one Example. The figure which shows the control block structure of the banknote identification unit 202 in one Example, The processing flowchart of bill processing mechanism 105 in one example, The figure which shows the example of the identification result log memorize | stored in RAM307 in one Example. The figure which shows the storage format of RAM307 in one Example. The figure which shows the storage format of the log information of the non-volatile memory 306 in one Example. The figure which shows the example of the failure information memorize | stored in the non-volatile memory 306 in one Example. The figure which shows the example of the output waveform of the sensor 302 at the time of normal and abnormality,

Explanation of symbols

1: Automatic teller machine 2: Host computer
101: Main control unit 102: Communication unit 103: Display unit 104: Operation unit 105: Bill processing mechanism 106: Coin processing mechanism 107: Magnetic card unit 108: Passbook printing unit
201: Banknote mechanism control unit, 202: Banknote recognition unit, 203: Banknote deposit / withdrawal port, 204: Temporary stacker, 205: Transport path, 206: Transport roller, 207-210: Banknote storage, 211: Reject storage
301: Bill recognition unit control unit, 302 to 304: Sensor 305: Timer, 306: Non-volatile memory, 307: RAM, 308: Image processing unit.

Claims (12)

In a paper sheet handling unit that is used by being mounted on a paper sheet transaction apparatus that performs paper sheet transactions according to user operations,
The sensor that acquires the characteristic information of the paper sheet, the type or authenticity of the paper sheet is determined from the characteristic information of the acquired paper sheet, and a rejection failure of the paper sheet has occurred. A control unit to detect, and a storage unit that stores information relating to the rejection failure of the paper sheet, the feature information of the paper sheet, and the time when the failure occurred in association with the analysis of the failure by the control unit And a paper sheet handling unit. The control unit analyzes the rejection factor of the paper sheet, and when the result of the analysis determines that the rejection due to the specific factor has occurred a plurality of times, the control unit rejects the acquired paper sheet data 2. The paper sheet according to claim 1, wherein the data of the paper sheet on which the paper has occurred is selected and the rejection factor, the characteristic information, and the time of the paper sheet are associated and stored in the storage unit. Handling unit. At least one of the plurality of sensors is an optical sensor for acquiring image information of paper sheets,
The paper sheet handling unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the storage unit stores the failure information, the time, and the image information of the acquired paper sheet in association with each paper sheet. . The control unit includes a processor that executes a program for determining the type or authenticity of the paper sheet,
The storage unit has a program area for storing the program, and an update history area for storing update history information of the program when the program is updated,
4. The paper sheet handling unit according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit associates and stores history information of the program executed when a failure occurs. When the sensor is adjusted, the control unit detects the processing content and time,
5. The paper sheet handling unit according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit has a hardware adjustment history area for storing the processing content and time detected by the control unit. The paper sheet handling unit has a timer for clocking time, and the timer keeps a time during which the paper sheet handling unit is installed and operating in the paper sheet transaction apparatus,
The control unit accumulates the operation time counted by the timer,
6. The paper sheet handling unit according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit has an operation history area for storing the accumulated operation time. The paper sheet handling unit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the storage unit includes a log area for storing the identification result of the paper sheet determined by the control unit for each paper sheet. . The storage unit includes a first memory and a second memory, and the first memory includes a first memory that temporarily stores the identification result of the paper sheet as a log, and a second memory. Have
The control unit monitors whether or not a failure in which paper sheets are frequently rejected (reject failure frequently), and if the failure is determined to be a rejection failure, refers to the identification result log stored in the first memory. Then, for the paper sheets rejected by the same factor, the identification result log is edited, and the reject factor, the feature information, and the time are associated with each other and stored in the second memory. The paper sheet handling unit according to claim 2, characterized in that The control unit edits the identification result log, edits update history information of the program, acquires adjustment history information of the sensor, or cumulatively processes the operation time. The paper sheet handling unit according to any one of claims 4 to 8. In a paper sheet transaction apparatus that deals with paper sheets according to user operations,
An operation unit operated by a user for dealing with paper sheets, an entrance / exit for receiving or receiving the paper sheets to be traded, and a storage for storing paper sheets received or provided from the user to the users. And a conveyance path that connects the entrance and the storage and conveys paper sheets, and a paper sheet handling unit that is used by being attached to and detached from the conveyance path,
The paper sheet handling unit determines a type or authenticity of the paper sheet from a sensor that acquires characteristic information of the paper sheet, the characteristic information of the acquired paper sheet, A control unit that detects that a rejection failure has occurred, and information on the rejection failure of the paper sheet, the characteristic information of the paper sheet, and the time when the failure occurred, based on the analysis of the failure by the control unit And a storage unit for storing the information in association with each other. 11. The paper sheet transaction apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the control unit obtains the time from a timer provided in the paper sheet handling unit or from a time measuring means included in the paper sheet transaction apparatus. A method for referring to failure information related to a paper sheet handling unit that is used by being mounted on a paper sheet transaction apparatus that performs paper sheet transactions according to user operations,
The sensor that acquires the characteristic information of the paper sheet, the type or authenticity of the paper sheet is determined from the characteristic information of the acquired paper sheet, and a rejection failure of the paper sheet has occurred. A control unit to detect, and a storage unit that stores information relating to the rejection failure of the paper sheet, the feature information of the paper sheet, and the time when the failure occurred in association with the analysis of the failure by the control unit A fault information reference method comprising: connecting a paper sheet handling unit having a display unit to a computer having a display unit via connection means, and displaying information stored in the storage unit on the display unit.

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