Zweig et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,602, assigned to the assignee herein, discloses a coin sorter having a circular sorting track with an outside reference edge. The coins are moved by a coin moving disk with fingers that press down on and push the coin along its path. An upstanding half shaft of semicircular cross section is disposed along the reference edge to allow coins to pass, and is rotated to urge a selected coin away from the rim to an offsort location inward of the reference edge. The offsorting is actuated by an induction coil located beneath the track in advance of the diverter mechanism, when the signals generated from that coin do not fall within a range of acceptable values.
In Brandle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,461, assigned to the assignee herein, an optical sensor is used to detect coins by denomination by measuring a size of each coin. Inductive sensors measure alloy characteristics. These measurements are used to detect invalid coins, which are then offsorted. The offsorting arrangement in Brandle contained a transition area for diverting the coin out of the coin track to an opening, which was similar to the arrangement in U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,602.
It is now desired to improve the optical sensor, both as to cost and performance. As a result, it is also necessary to modify the coin moving disk to reduce the width of the fingers. Therefore, it is also necessary in such a system to provide a new type of offsorting.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds