COIN DISTINGUISHING METHOD AND DEVICE

摘要

A coin distinguishing method capable of concurrently picking up the images of the surface and the side of a coin by using two light sources, downsizing a device, and providing high-accuracy coin distinguishing. The side of a coin (C) falling through a coin passage (101) in an advancing direction is irradiated with a first light (105) from a flash shooting first light source (104), and the outer periphery portion of the surface of the coin (C) is irradiated with a second light (107) from a flash shooting second light source (106). Then, a first reflection light (108) reflected off the side of the coin (C) and a second reflection light (109) reflected off the outer peripheral portion of the coin (C) are input to an image sensor (110) to concurrently obtain the images of the side and the surface of the coin (C). A mill direction distinguishing unit (113) detects the presence/absence of mills from the picked up images of the coin (C), and a projecting pattern distinguishing unit (114) detects projecting patterns to distinguish the coin (C) based on the detection results.