Method and apparatus for validating a paper-like piece

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus for validating a paper-like piece capable of performing accurate validation and collation taking into account the parts and assembling errors of an optical sensor.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus for validating a paper-like piece capable of performing accurate validation and collation taking into account the parts and assembling errors regardless of variation in the measuring data due to soil or fatigue of a paper-like piece or soil or deterioration of the sensor.
The apparatus for validating a paper-like piece according to the invention comprises a detection section for producing a detection signal corresponding to a pattern onto a deposited paper-like piece by irradiating light on the paper-like piece, a reference level data providing section for preparing reference level data on the basis of a detection signal produced by said detection section in response to deposition of a reference paper-like piece on which no particular pattern is provided and providing this reference level data, a standard pattern providing section for providing a predetermined standard pattern corresponding to a pattern of a true paper-like piece, a data-to-be-examined providing section for providing data to be examined which is obtained by converting a detection signal produced by said detection section in response to deposition of a paper-like piece to be validated to a ratio to or deviation from the reference level data provided by said reference level data providing section, and a determination section for determining whether the paper-like piece to be validated is true or false by collating the data to be examined provided by said data-to-be examined providing section with the standard pattern provided by said standard pattern providing section.
According to the invention, reference level data for normalization is provided by using a reference paper-like piece having no particular pattern (e