Method and apparatus for currency discrimination

Abstract

Abstract of the DisclosureA currency evaluation device for receiving a stack of U.S. currency bills and rapidly evaluating all the bills in the stack comprises an input receptacle adapted to receive a stack of U.S. currency bills of a plurality of denominations to be evaluated. According to one embodiment, a transport mechanism transports the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle along a transport path at a rate of at least about 800 bills per minute. A denomination discriminating unit which includes a detector positioned along the transport path evaluates the bills. The device comprises a single denominated bill output receptacle positioned to receive bills whose denomination have been determined by the discriminating unit including bills of a plurality of denominations. A separate stacker bin is provided and a diverter positioned along the transport path routes bills whose denomination cannot be determined to the separate stacker bin.

Description

Detailed Description of the InventionCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001] This application is a continuation of pending prior application Serial No. 10 / 163,757, filed June 6, 2002 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Discrimination and Counting." Application 10 / 163,757 is a continuation of prior application Serial No. 09 / 453,200, filed December 2, 1999 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Discrimination and Counting" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,806 on October 1, 2002. Application 09 / 453,200 is a continuation of application Serial No. 08 / 841,203, filed April 29, 1997 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Currency Discrimination and Counting" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,951 on February 22, 2000. Application Serial No. 08 / 841,203 is a continuation of 08 / 339,337, filed on November 14, 1994, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Currency Discrimination And Counting" and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,067 on November 25, 1997, which in turn is a continuation of 08 / 127,334, fil...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] It is another object of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus of the above kind which is capable of efficiently discriminating among and counting bills of several currency denominations at a high speed and w

Problems solved by technology

A major obstacle implementing automated currency discrimination systems is obtaining an optimum compromise between the criteria used to adequately define the characteristic pattern for a particular currency denomination, the time required to analyze test data and compare it to predefined parameters in order to identify the currency bill under scrutiny, and the rate at which successive currency bills may be mechanically fed through and scanned.

Even with the use of microprocessors for processing the test data resulting from the scanning of a bill, a finite amount of time is required for acquiring samples and for the process of comparing the test data to stored parameters to identify the denomination of the bill.

Most of the optical scanning systems available today utilize complex algorithms for obtaining a large number of reflectance data samples as a currency bill is scanned by an optical scanhead and for subsequently comparing the data to corresponding stored parameters to identify the bill denomination.

The use of the large number of data samples slows down the rate at which incoming bills may be scanned and, more importantly, requires a correspondingly longer period of time to process the data in accordance with the discrimination algorithm.

A major problem associated with conventional systems is that, in order to obtain the required large number of reflectance samples required for accurate currency discrimination, such systems are restricted to scanning bills along the longer dimension of currency bills.

Lengthwise scanning, in turn, has several inherent drawbacks including the need for an extended transport path for relaying the bill lengthwise across the scanhead and the added mechanical complexity involved in accommodating the extended path as well as the associated means for ensuring uniform, non-overlapping registration of bills with the sensing surface of the scanhead.

The end result is that systems capable of accurate currency discrimination are costly, mechanically bulky and complex, and generally incapable of both currency discrimination and counting at high speeds with a high degree of accuracy.

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