A coin processing apparatus eliminates quickly and surely a coin congestion in the cases where (a) a Tawara state and/or a Keirin phenomenon of coins is/are generated on a conveying surface, (b) additional coins are overlapped or stacked on existing coins having a Tawara state or a Keirin phenomenon, and (c) additional coins are placed on the conveying surface on the upstream side of the existing coins. A conveying belt has a protrusion on its conveying surface. A reversing roller is provided opposite to the conveying surface. Screw-like members with spiral projections on their outer surfaces are respectively provided at two sides of the conveying surface. Coins placed on the conveying surface in their standing state are moved backward due to engagement with the screw-like members to topple down naturally toward the conveying surface during conveyance and then, moved forward due to engagement with the protrusion.

The invention relates to a device for determining the filling level of at least one coin tube that can be filled with coins, comprising at least one optical radiation transmitter that is arranged in a defined position relative to the at least one coin tube in such a way that optical radiation transmitted by the optical radiation transmitter impinges on coins filled into the at least one coin tube and is reflected by coins filled into the at least one coin tube, also comprising at least one optical radiation receiver that is arranged in a defined position relative to the at least one coin tube in such a way that optical radiation, which is transmitted by the at least one optical radiation transmitter and reflected by coins filled into the at least one coin tube, is received by the at least one optical radiation receiver as a measurement signal, and comprising a control and evaluation apparatus which is connected to the at least one optical radiation transmitter and the at least one optical radiation receiver, and which is designed to control the at least one optical radiation transmitter for the transmission of optical radiation and to determine the filling level of the at least one coin tube having coins, based on a time period between the transmission of optical radiation and the receiving of the corresponding measurement signal by the at least one optical receiver.

An inspection system inspects gaming chips each having a color or a display indicating a value on an outer surface in a state where the gaming chips are stored in a case in which a maximum number of gaming chips to be stored is limited, and a radio tag storing gaming chip information is embedded in each of the gaming chips. The gaming chips are stored in the case capable of containing a row of gaming chips stacked in a thickness direction, and the inspection system includes a reading device that reads the radio tag of the gaming chip in the case and acquires gaming chip information of the gaming chip and a determining unit that compares the gaming chip information with a maximum number of gaming chips storable in the case and determines an abnormality of the gaming chip in the case when the number of gaming chips obtained from the gaming chip information is different from a maximum number of storable gaming chips.

An apparatus comprising a money item singulator and a money item validator. The money item singulator and the money item validator may each comprise a rotatable money item conveying element. The rotatable conveying elements may rotate synchronously so that money items are singulated on the rotatable element of the singulator and fed directly to be validated on the rotatable element of the validator.

A coin processing device including: a material detection sensor including first and second coils facing each other with a coin passage interposed therebetween; an outer diameter detection sensor including ring-shaped third and fourth coils that surround the first and second coils, respectively; a first oscillation circuit connected to the material detection sensor that oscillates a first oscillation signal in an individual connection state and a series connected state and is connected to the material detection sensor and the outer diameter detection sensor; a second oscillation circuit connected to the outer diameter detection sensor that oscillates a second oscillation signal in the individual connection state; a switching unit that switches the individual connection state and the series connection state; a coin identification unit that detects an outer diameter of a coin using the second oscillation signal in the individual connection state or the first oscillation signal in the series connection state.

An apparatus comprising a money item singulator and a money item validator. The money item singulator and the money item validator may each comprise a rotatable money item conveying element. The rotatable conveying elements may rotate synchronously so that money items are singulated on the rotatable element of the singulator and fed directly to be validated on the rotatable element of the validator.

A coin discrimination apparatus capable of discriminating the denomination and authenticity of coins including bimetallic coins. A first coin detection sensor, located near a guide, obtains a physical characteristic of a peripheral part of a coin moved on a carrying path. A second coin detection sensor, located apart from the guide, obtains a physical characteristic about a central part of the coin. A third coin detection sensor, located on a downstream side of respect to the first sensor, obtains a physical characteristic about the peripheral part of a coin. A fourth coin detection sensor, located downstream of the second sensor and apart from the guide, obtains a physical characteristic about a central part of the coin. An additional physical characteristic about the peripheral part of the coin is obtained by cooperation of the second and third sensors when the coin reaches the third sensor.

The present invention provides a coin handling device that enables a simple and easy change of a way of handling a coin of which a type is difficult to determine according to the user needs. The coin handling device includes a detector that detects a feature of a coin, a determiner that determines a type of the coin based on the feature of the coin detected by the detector, a reception unit that receives from an operating person handling settings that designate a way of handling the coin that is an indeterminate coin of which the type is not determined and for which multiple options of the type are extracted by the determiner, and a handling unit that handles the indeterminate coin based on the handling settings received by the reception unit.

A method for authenticating a high-value item, wherein an optically identifiable code is generated and applied to the item by being integrated into a surface region of the item that is provided with graphics or a surface structure, wherein the code is in the form of a two-dimensional arrangement of code elements and the outline of the two-dimensional arrangement is adapted to the outline of the surface region or of part of a surface region, and wherein the code is linked to an information source that provides information, able to be displayed on a display, in relation to the item, and wherein a reader, such as for example a smartphone, is provided with programming for detecting and reading the code and, when the code is read, the link to the information source is activated and the information is displayed on the display of the reader.

A money item handling apparatus in which a conveying apparatus includes a first track section comprising at least one first money item conveying element, a second track section comprising at least one second money item conveying element and a static support section located between the first track section and the second track section. One or more money item sensors may be embedded in the static support. Surplus money items and money items in disruption configurations may be removed from the conveying apparatus.