Self Tuning Low Frequency Phase Shift Coin Examination Method and Apparatus

The present invention relates to examination of coins for authenticity and denomination, and more particularly to an adjustment-free mechanism especially useful for the examination of coin material characteristics through the use of a low frequency electromagnetic field.

It has long been recognized in the coin examining art that the interaction of an object with a low frequency electromagnetic field can be used to indicate, at least in part, the material composition of the object and thus whether or not the object is an acceptable coin and if acceptable its denomination. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,749. It has also been recognized that such low frequency tests are advantageously combined with one or more tests at a higher frequency. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,137 assigned to the assignee of the present application. The optimum methods for low frequency testing have, in the past, used bridge circuits which incorporate testing of both phase and amplitude effects of coin interaction with an electromagnetic field.

Another technique which has been popular in the testing of coins has been the transmit-receive technique in which an electromagnetic field is created by an inductor adjacent one face of a coin and characteristics of the received signal adjacent the other face are examined as a step in determining the coin's authenticity and denomination. For example, each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,599,771 and 3,741,363 discloses a transmitter coil creating an electromagnetic field at either end. Spaced adjacent each end of the transmitter coil is a secondary coil. The two secondary coils are electrically connected in series, and have opposing orientations with respect to the transmitting coil field. An unknown coin is placed between one secondary coil and the transmitting coil and a known coin is placed between the other secondary coil and the transmitting coil. The unknown coin is accepted only if the signal delivered by the secondary coils does not exceed a threshhold value. Such an arrangement, of course, is suitable only for examination of one coin denomination per testing station.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,034, assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a phase sensitive coin discrimination method and apparatus operating by the transmit-receive technique with particular utility in distinguishing between two similar coins such as the British 5 P and the West German 1 DM. Unlike the present invention, the detailed embodiments of that patent operate at relatively high frequencies (for example 320 kHz) and rely upon differences in coin volume to help distinguish between otherwise similar coins.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,527, discloses a transmit-receive type coin examining apparatus in which the transmitter coil is driven by a controlled variable frequency oscillator operated at one or more selected frequencies in the range of 5-300 kHz. The secondary or receiving coil is connected to an undisclosed "quantifying operator" circuit which obtains quantitative information regarding amplitude of the secondary signal and its phase with respect to the primary (transmitted) signal.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,626, assigned to the assignee of the present application discloses a transmit-receive type coin examination method and apparatus in which a nonlinear amplifier is employed between the receiving inductor and the phase shift measuring means in order to introduce an additional phase shift which is inversely related to the amplitude of the output of the receiving inductor. The additional phase shift improves the capability of the apparatus of the application to discriminate between various coins and particularly to discriminate between coins which produce nearly the same phase shift as measured by phase shift measuring circuitry lacking the nonlinear amplifier disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,626.

European Patent Application No. 0 048 557, filed Sept. 2, 1981, discusses an electronic coin validator having a transmit coil and a receive coil for performing tests of coin face area and coin resistance. An automatic gain control circuit is described for use in modifying signal amplitude to provide compensation. This gain control circuit apparently has as its basic input the received signal amplitude for a transmitted signal having a frequency below 1 kHz. At least one absolute adjustment is needed to set up the validator in production.

Generally, low frequency test apparatus require at least one tuning element and at least one tuning adjustment during the manufacturing of such apparatus to compensate for components having slightly different values within tolerance and for variations in component positioning which occur during the construction of the test apparatus. For example, in low frequency coin test apparatus employing a bridge circuit, the bridge circuit is normally tuned to both the amplitude and the phase of the signal received when an acceptable coin is in the test position. An additional problem long recognized in the coin testing art is the problem of how to compensate for component aging, for changes in the environment of the coin apparatus such as temperature changes, and for similar disruptive variations which result in undesirable changes in the operating characteristics of the electronic circuits employed in coin test apparatus. Various discrete compensation circuits have been developed to meet this problem. See, for example, U.S. Application No. 308,548, filed Oct. 2, 1981 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for examining the interaction of coins with a relatively low frequency electromagnetic field at which the coin material plays a significant role. The transmit-receive technique is used and the phase shift that results from the presence of a coin or other object between the transmitting inductor, which creates the field, and the receiving inductor is used as an indication of the identity of the coin. The present invention provides a novel method and apparatus which eliminates the need for any tuning adjustments related to the low frequency test and also eliminates the need for discrete compensation circuitry. The benefits of the present invention are achieved by monitoring the frequency of the transmitted signal and adjusting the coin identification criterion based upon the monitored frequency of the transmitted signal.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be clear from the drawings and the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention which follows.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the coin examining circuit in accordance with the invention;

FIGS. 2a-d graphically illustrate the signals produced at the points (a)-(d) in the coin examining circuit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a graph of phase shift count versus reference period for 25-cent coins;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the incorporation into a coin handling mechanism of transmit and receive inductors suitable for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a coin passageway along line 3--3 of FIG. 4 showing one arrangement of transmitting and receiving inductors suitable for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates a transmitting inductor suitable for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a detailed schematic diagram of a circuit suitable for the embodiment of FIG. 1.

Although coin selector apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention may be designed to identify and accept any number of coins from the coin sets of many countries, the invention will be adequately illustrated by explanation of its application to identifying the U.S. 5-, 10-, and 25-cent coins. The figures are intended to be representational and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Throughout this specification the term "coin" is intended to include genuine coins, tokens, counterfeit coins, slugs, washers, and any other item which may be used by persons in an attempt to use coin-operated devices. Furthermore, from time to time in this specification, for simplicity, coin movement may be described as rotational motion; however, except where otherwise indicated, translational and other types of motion also are contemplated. Similarly, although specific types of logic circuits are disclosed in connection with the embodiments described below in detail, other logic circuits can be employed to obtain equivalent results without departing from the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a block schematic diagram of a coin examining circuit 1 in accordance with the present invention. The coin examining circuit 1 includes a transmitter 10 having a transmitting inductor 32, a receiver 20 having a receiving inductor 32a, a first squaring circuit 30 with one input connected to the transmitter 10 and its output connected as a feedback input to the transmitter 10, a second squaring circuit 40 with an input connected to the receiver 20, gating circuit 50 connected to outputs of the squaring circuits 30 and 40, a counter 60 connected to the output of gating circuit 50, and a logic control means 80. The logic control means 80 is connected to the transmitter 10, the output of the first squaring circuit 30, one input of gating circuit 50, a reset input of the counter 60 and the output of the counter 60 which is shown in FIG. 1 as an eight bit parallel connection.

The operation of coin examining circuit 1 is as follows. The transmitter 10 produces a sine wave oscillator signal which drives transmitting inductor 32. In this embodiment, this sine signal is a low frequency signal with a resonant frequency of 5 kHz. Inductor 32 produces an electromagnetic field in a test region of a coin passageway (see FIG. 4 and the discussion thereof below for details of the relationship of the transmitting inductor 32, coin passageway and receiving inductor 32a). The oscillator signal is transmitted by transmitting inductor 32 across the low frequency test region. As a coin passes through the test region between inductors 32 and 32a, it is subjected to the electromagnetic field and a phase shift dependent upon the coin's material is introduced. The receiving inductor 32a receives a phase shifted signal which has been transmitted across the coin passageway.

The phase difference between the signal transmitted by transmitter 10 (transmitted signal) and the signal received by receiver 20 (received signal) is indicative of coin material and is measured as discussed below. The sine wave signal produced by transmitter 10 is fed as an input to the first squaring circuit 30. Squaring circuit 30 transforms by conventional means the sine wave connected to its input into a square wave which appears at its output. The signal received by receiver 20 is connected to the input of the second squaring circuit 40 which inverts the sine wave at its input and similarly transforms the inverted sine wave into a square wave appearing at its output. The square wave outputs of both the squaring circuits 30 and 40 along with a rapid clock signal from logic control means 80 serve as the inputs of gating circuit 50. Gating circuit 50 ANDs together the signals applied to its inputs. The output of the gating circuit 50 consists of a series of bursts of pulses with the number of pulses in each burst being indicative of the phase shift between the transmitted and the received signals.

The relationship of the various waveforms and signals discussed above is illustrated in FIG. 2. Waveforms 2(a)-2(d) are representative of typical waveforms which might be observed at the points (a)-(d) shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2(a) shows a sine wave output signal for transmitter 10 having a period (T) of 200 usec and a frequency (f) of 5 kHz. FIG. 2(b) shows the square wave output of first squaring circuit 30 when the waveform of FIG. 2(a) is applied as its input. It should be noted that this square wave output has the same frequency as the input sine wave. FIG. 2(c) shows the output of second squaring circuit 40. The output of second squaring circuit 40 consists of its input signal squared and inverted. Finallly, FIG. 2(d) shows the output of the gating circuit 50 which consists of a series of bursts of pulses.

The output of gating circuit 50 is connected to an input of the counter 60 which counts the number of pulses in each burst and produces an output count signal indicative thereof. The output count signal of counter 60 is supplied as one input to the logic control means 80. Between bursts, a reset signal is supplied by the logic control means 80 to an input of counter 60 so that the counter 60 is reset before each burst.

A second input of logic control means 80 is connected to the output of the first squaring circuit 30. The logic control means 80 continually monitors the frequency of the transmitted signal by monitoring the frequency of the output of the first squaring circuit 30. Based upon the frequency of the transmitted signal just prior to or just after the time when an output count signal is fed to logic control means 80 by counter 60, the logic control means 80 determines an acceptable phase shift for an acceptable coin. For example, the logic control means 80 may produce a signal indicative of a number or a range of numbers corresponding to those for an acceptable coin at the monitored frequency. This signal is then compared with the output from counter 60 and the logic control means 80 produces an output signal indicative of whether the coin passing through the test region of the coin passageway is an acceptable coin or not.

FIG. 3 shows a plot of phase shift count .phi. for acceptable 25-cent coins versus the reference period T in microseconds of the transmitted signal, where the reference period T is the reciprocal of the reference or monitored frequency f of the transmitted signal. This plot was experimentally determined using apparatus according to the present invention. From the plot of FIG. 3, it can be seen that for 25-cent coins the phase shift count .phi.=86+0.30 (T-175) or .phi..apprxeq.86+(1/4+1/32+1/64) (T-175). Such information can be stored in logic control means 80 using any suitable means, such as storing a look-up table, or can be generated by a program such as microprocessor program or a similar computing means. Like information for 10-cent and 5-cent coins can similarly be determined and stored in the logic control means 80 when the coin examining circuit 1 is to be used for examining United States coins. It is readily apparent that the system described above can be easily adapted to any other coin set by storing the appropriate phase count information for that coin set in the logic control means 80.

The above-described coin examining circuit 1 avoids the need for factory tuning to adjust for different component values within component tolerance or for positioning errors within manufacturing tolerance in positioning the transmitting inductor 32 and the receiving inductor 32a. Further, the above described coin examining circuit 1 avoids the need for returning due to component aging, power supply drift or the like and also avoids the need for discrete compensation circuitry to compensate for component aging, drift or the like and environmental changes such as temperature changes. The adjustment free operation of coin examining circuit 1 results from the fact that for apparatus according to the invention, the phase shift count depends only on the frequency of the transmitted signal which is continually monitored and taken into consideration by logic control means 80 in making the coin acceptance decision. Other variables such as the value of the transmitter and receiver inductances, the separation of the transmitter and receiver inductors 32 and 32a, the coin position with respect to the coils 32 and 32a when the coin is in the test position and variations in the component values of other components in the coin examining circuit 1, either have an insignificant effect on the phase shift count or result in a change in the frequency of the transmitted signal and consequently are compensated for by logic control means 80.

The incorporation of this embodiment into a coin handling mechanism is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIGS. 4 and 5 show the mechanical portion of a coin handling apparatus 11 including transmitter and receiver inductors 32 and 32a appropriately located along a coin passageway. (A relatively higher frequency inductive coin examining circuit, such as that disclosed in a U.S. patent application entitled "Coin Examination Apparatus Employing an RL Relaxation Oscillator", Ser. No. 294,997, filed Aug. 21, 1981 and assigned to the assignee of this application, can be advantageously incorporated in the same apparatus for more complete testing of coin characteristics. The locations of inductors as disclosed in an embodiment of that application are indicated by the broken lines 37 and 39 in FIG. 4 of the present application.)

The coin handling apparatus 11 also includes a conventional coin receiving cup 31, two spaced sidewalls 36 and 38, connected by a hinge and spring assembly 34 in a manner similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,086, except that the retarding apparatus for sidewall closing disclosed in that patent is not necessarily used. The sidewalls 36, 38 are tipped slightly from the vertical so that the coins bear facially on the sidewall in which the receiver inductor 32a is located, here the front sidewall 38. The portions of the apparatus 11 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 also include a first coin track 33 under the coin entry cup 31 comprising an edge of a first energy dissipating device, and a second coin track 35 comprising an edge of a second energy dissipating device 35a, which forms the initial track section, and a terminal track section which is molded from plastic along with the sidewall 36. The energy dissipating devices 33, 35a, track 35 and sidewalls 36 and 38 form a coin passageway from the coin entry cup 31 past the coin testing inductors 32 and 32a. Coins entering the apparatus 11 fall edgewise onto a first energy dissipating element 33, roll off and fall onto a second energy dissipating element 35a which forms the initial section of a coin track 35 on which the coins roll past the transmitter inductor 32 and the receiver inductor 32a.

The transmitter inductor 32, shown in FIG. 6, is of a type designed to produce a projecting magnetic field from its ends. The core 26 of the transmitter inductor 32 is dumbbell shaped, in this case, having two relatively large diameter cylindrical end pieces connected by a smaller diameter central section. The coil 27 is wound about the central section of the core 26 and the ends of the coil 27 are connected to leads 28a and b.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the transmitter inductor 32 is located in a recess in the plastic back sidewall 36 of the coin apparatus with one end 29 adjacent the coin passageway formed by sidewalls 36 and 38. In a recess in the opposite, front sidewall 38 is the receiver inductor 32a. It is of the conventional pot core type. The axes of the two inductors 32 and 32a coincide in this embodiment, although they need not do so in all embodiments of the invention.

In this embodiment, which is designed primarily for identification of United States coinage, the nearest faces of the inductors 32 and 32a are about 3.8 mm apart. The axes of the inductors 32 and 32a are located 9.77 mm above the track 35 on which coins roll as they pass through the coin testing section of the apparatus. It is an important benefit of the present invention that positioning errors within normal manufacturing tolerances have no significant effect on the effectiveness of the low frequency test and such positioning errors do not result in a requirement for a tuning adjustment. The transmitter inductor 32 is 10 mm long by 8 mm in diameter with a central section 3.6 mm long, and has an inductance of 10 mH. The receiver inductor 32a is approximately 7 mm deep by 13.63 mm in diameter and has an inductance of 23 mH.

FIG. 7 is a detailed schematic diagram of the circuit 1 shown in FIG. 1 in block form. As discussed above, the transmitter 10 includes a transmitter inductor 32 and produces a low frequency sine wave signal, the transmitted signal, which is coupled to the input of the squaring circuit 30. FIG. 7 shows this coupling as being through a capacitor C2. The squaring circuit 30 is based upon a comparator 135 which may suitably be one section of a National Semiconductor type LM339 open collector comparator. The output of comparator 135 is a first square wave having the same frequency as the sine wave signal produced by transmitter 10. This first square wave output provides pulses of drive current through resistor R1 to the base of transistor T1. The square wave output of comparator 135 also serves as one input of gating circuit 50.

A second input of gating circuit 50 is connected to the output of the second squaring circuit 40. A first comparator 145 in squaring circuit 40 inverts the received signal from receiver 20. A second comparator 146 transforms the inverted output from comparator 145 into a second square wave output. Both of the comparators 145 and 146 may consist of one section of a National Semiconductor type LM339 open collector comparator.

A third input of gating circuit 50 is connected to a clock output of a logic means 80 such as an Intel type 8048 microprocessor. The gating circuit 50 consists of two 3-input NAND gates 151 and 152, such as National Semiconductor type 74LS10, connected together as an AND gate. The three inputs to gating circuit 50 are connected as the three inputs of NAND gate 151 and the output of NAND gate 151 is connected to all three inputs of NAND gate 152 so that NAND gate 152 serves as an inverter.

The output of gating circuit 50 is a series of pulse bursts with the number of pulses in each burst being indicative of the phase shift between the transmitted signal and the received signal. The number of pulses in each burst relates to the phase shift as follows. Each burst occurs during the time that the outputs of the squaring circuits 30 and 40 are both high. The number of pulses in each burst is the number of clock pulses from the clock output of microprocessor 80 occurring during that time. Since the time of coincidence of high outputs from the squaring circuits 30 and 40 is directly related to the phase shift between the transmitted and the received signals, the number of pulses in each burst is an indication of the phase shift.

The number of pulses at the output of gating circuit 50 and the phase shift produced by any coin under test will vary depending on the frequency of the transmitted signal. Circuit 1 compensates for any frequency change as follows. Microprocessor 80 monitors the frequency of the signal applied to its input 181. The output of first squaring circuit 30 is connected to the input 181. Since the output of squaring circuit 30 is a square wave having the same frequency as the transmitted signal, the microprocessor 80 monitors the frequency of the transmitted signal by monitoring the output of squaring circuit 30. Depending upon the frequency of the signal applied to input 181, microprocessor 80 determines a count or a range of counts corresponding to those for an acceptable coin and the monitored frequency. For example, microprocessor 80 may store phase shift counts or an equation for computing phase shift counts from the monitored frequency for 5-, 10-, and 25-cent coins as discussed above with regard to FIG. 3 and determine therefrom an appropriate count for the monitored frequency.

The output of gating circuit 50 is connected to a counter 60, such as a National Semiconductor type 4520 counter, which produces an output count signal corresponding to the number of pulses in each burst of the output of gating circuit 50. This count signal is fed as an eight-bit parallel input to inputs 182-189 of microprocessor 80. The microprocessor 80 compares the count fed to inputs 182-189 with the count determined for an acceptable coin and the monitored frequency, and determines if the coin under test has the material of an acceptable coin. An output 191 of microprocessor 80 is connected to a reset input of counter 60. After each count is fed from counter 60 to microprocessor 80, microprocessor 80 produces a reset signal at its output 191 so that counter 60 is reset between the bursts appearing at the output of gating circuit 50.

In a preferred embodiment of the circuit 1, the following components and component values are used:

Also, in the preferred embodiment, the following microprocessor program is used to control the functioning of microprocessor 80: ##SPC1## ##SPC2## ##SPC3##