Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ ~ g i g g PCT/US95/11393
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISCRIMINATING, AUTHENTICATING
AND/OR COUNTING DOCUMENTS
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to document identification. More
specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for
discriminating among a plurality of document types such as currency bills of
different
denominations, authenticating the genuineness of the same, and/or sorting the
same.
According to one embodiment the present invention also relates to a mechanism
and
method for detecting and clearing a jam from a machine which discriminates and
counts currency bills.
Background of the Invention
In some currency discriminators bills are transported, one at a time, passed a
discriminating unit. As the bills pass the discriminating unit, the
denomination of
each bill is determined and a running total of each particular currency
denomination
and/or of the total value of the bills that are processed is maintained. A
number of
discriminating techniques may be employed by the discriminating unit including
optical or magnetic scanning of bills. A plurality of output bins are provided
and the
discriminator includes means for sorting bills into the plurality of bins. For
example,
a discriminator may be designed to recognize a number of different
denominations of
U.S. bills and comprise an equal number of output bins, one associated with
each
denomination. These discriminators also include a reject bin for receiving all
bills
which cannot be identified by the discriminating unit. These bills may later
be
examined by an operator and then either re-fed through the discriminator or
set aside
as unacceptable.
Depending on the design of a discriminator, bills may be transported and
scanned either along their long dimension or their narrow dimension. For a
discriminator that transport bills in their narrow dimension, it is possible
that a given
bill may be oriented either face up or face down and either top edge first
("forward"
direction) or top edge last ("reverse" direction). For discriminators that
transport
bills in their long dimension, it is possible that a given bill may be
oriented either
WO 96/10800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
2
face up or face down and either left edge first ("forward" direction) or left
edge last
("reverse" direction). The manner in which a bill must be oriented as it
passes a
discriminating unit depends on the characteristics of the discriminator. Some
discriminators are capable of identifying the denomination of a bill only if
it is fed
with a precise orientation, e.g., face up and top edge first. Other
discriminators are
capable of identifying bills provided they are "faced" (i.e., fed with a
predetermined
face orientation, that is all face up or all face down). For example, such a
discriminator may be able to identify a bill fed face up regardless of whether
the top
edge is fed first or last. Other discriminators are capable of identifying the
denomination fed with any orientation. However, whether a given discriminator
can
discriminate between bills fed with different orientations depends on the
discriminating method used. For example, a discriminator that discriminates
bills
based on patterns of transmitted light may be able to identify the
denomination of a
forward fed bill regardless of whether the bill is fed face up or face down,
but the
same discriminator would not be able to discriminate between a bill fed face
up and a
bill fed face down.
There remains a need for a discriminator that can detect and flag the presence
of a bill oriented with an incorrect forward/reverse orientation and a
discriminator
that can sort between forward-oriented bills and reverse-oriented bills.
Furthermore, for a number of reasons, a discriminating unit may be unable to
determine the denomination of a bill. These reasons include a bill being
excessively
soiled, worn, or faded, a bill being torn or folded, a bill being oriented in
a manner
that the discriminating unit cannot handle, and the discriminating unit having
poor
discriminating performance. Furthermore, the discriminating unit and/or a
separate
authenticating unit may determine that a bill is not genuine. In current
discriminators, such unidentified or non-genuine bills are deposited in a
reject
receptacle.
A characteristic of the above described discriminators is that the value of
any
rejected unidentified bills is not added to the running total of the aggregate
value of
the stack of bills nor do the counters keeping track of the number of each
currency
denomination reflect the rejected unidentified bills. While this is desirable
with
respect to bills which are positively identified as being fake, it may be
undesirable
~~~s~~~
WO 96110800 PCT/US95111393
3
with respect to bills which were not identified for other reasons even though
they are
genuine bills. While the bills in a reject receptacle may be re-fed through
the
discriminator, the operator must then add the totals from the first batch and
the
second batch together. Such a procedure can be inefficient in some situations.
Also,
if a bill was rejected the first time because it was, for example, excessively
soiled or
too worn, then it is likely that the bill will remain unidentified by the
discriminating
unit even if re-fed.
A problem with the above described situations where the totals and/or counts
do not reflect all the genuine bills in a stack is that an operator must then
count all
the unidentified genuine bills by hand and add such bills to separately
generated
totals. As a result the chance for human error increases and operating
efficiency
decreases. Take for example a bank setting where a customer hands a teller a
stack
of currency to be deposited. The teller places the stack of bills in a
discriminator,
the display on the discriminator indicates that a total of $730 has been
identified.
However, fourteen genuine bills remain unidentified. As a result, the teller
must
count these fourteen bills by hand or re-fed through the discriminator and
then add
their total to the $730 total. An error could result from the teller
miscounting the
unidentified bills, the teller forgetting to add the two totals together, or
the teller
overlooking the unidentified bills entirely and only recording a deposit of
$730.
Moreover, even if the teller makes no mistakes, the efficiency of the teller
is reduced
by having to manually calculate additional totals. The decrease in efficiency
is
further aggravated where detailed records must be maintained about the
specific
number of each denomination processed during each transaction.
Therefore, there is a need for a currency discriminator which is capable of
conveniently and efficiently accommodating genuine bills that, for whatever
reason,
remain unidentified after passing through the discriminating unit of a
discriminator.
There is also a need for a currency discriminator that makes it easy for an
operator to reconcile the value of any flagged bills so that their value will
be
reflected in appropriate counters keeping track of processed bills.
Additionally, there
is a need for a discriminator that will prompt the operator as to the
denominations of
any flagged bills.
WO 96/10800 ~, ~
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4
Additionally, in processing stacks of documents such as currency bills, it is
often desirable to sort out specific types of documents such as currency bills
having a
specific denomination.
For a currency scanning and discriminating machine to operate, currency bills
are conveyed by a transport mechanism along a transport path from an input
receptacle, past a sensing device, and to an output receptacle. In normal
operation, a
controller monitors the signals received from the sensing device and
determines the
denomination of each currency bill that is scanned. However, a bill or bills
can
become jammed in the transport path, especially near the sensing device. Any
jamming results in the machine being nonoperational. Thus, it is desirable to
detect
and clear the jammed currency bills in a simplistic and timely manner.
Summary Of The Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and
apparatus for identifying, authenticating, and/or counting currency bills
comprising a
plurality of currency denominations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved currency
scanning and counting machine which is relatively simple and compact, while at
the
same time providing a variety of advanced features which make the machine
convenient and useful to the operator.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a machine that is
capable of operating at a faster throughput rate than any previous machine
able to
determine the denomination of the scanned bills.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved document
counting and discriminating apparatus that is capable of flagging unidentified
bills or
bills meeting or failing to meet certain criteria. Bills may be flagged, for
example,
by routing flagged bills to a special location and/or suspending operation of
the
apparatus.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved document
counting and discriminating apparatus of the above type that can conveniently
be
caused to resume operation after an operator of the apparatus has examined an
unidentified bill.
WO 96/10800 - PCT/US95/11393
S
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved document
counting and discriminating apparatus of the above type whereby the
denomination or
kind of any unidentified bill may be conveniently added to appropriate
counters and
the operation of the apparatus conveniently resumed when an operator
determines that
an unidentified bill is acceptable and whereby the operatibn of the apparatus
may be
conveniently resumed without adversely affecting any counter when an operator
determines that an unidentified bill is not acceptable.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved document
counting and discriminating apparatus whereby the discriminator prompts the
operator
as to the identity of any flagged bills, such as by prompting the operator as
to the
denomination of any bill whose denomination has not been determined by the
discriminator.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved document
discriminating apparatus that can flag and/or sort documents based on the
forward or
reverse orientation, i.e., top edge first or top edge last, of the document.
It is another object of this invention to provide a document discriminating
apparatus that can detect and clear jammed currency bills in a simplistic and
timely
manner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method
and apparatus for authenticating documents which improves the ability of a
system to
accurately reject improper documents while reducing the likelihood of
rejecting
genuine documents.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the foregoing
objectives are realized by providing a currency counting and discrimination
device for
receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly counting and discriminating the
bills in the
stack, and then re-stacking the bills. This device includes an input
receptacle for
receiving a stack of currency bills to be discriminated, a discriminating unit
for
discriminating the currency bills by denomination, one or more output
receptacles for
receiving the currency bills after they have been discriminated, and a
transport
mechanism for transporting the currency bills, one at a time, from the input
receptacle past the discriminating unit and to one or more output receptacles.
In one
embodiment of the present invention, scanheads are positioned on both sides of
a
21 '~ ~ .~ 9 ~
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
6
document transport path so as to permit scanning of either or both sides of a
document.
According to one embodiment, each bill is scanned by the discriminating unit
and generated scanned patterns are compared to and correlated against stored
master
patterns associated with genuine bills of one or more denominations. According
to
one embodiment, two or four characteristic patterns are generated and stored
within
system memory for each detectable bill-type. The stored patterns correspond,
respectively, to optical scans performed on one or both sides of a bill along
"forward" and "reverse" directions relative to the pattern printed on the
bill.
According to the correlation technique of one embodiment, the pattern
generated by scanning a bill under test and processing the sampled data is
compared
with each of the prestored characteristic patterns to generate, for each
comparison, a
correlation number representing the extent of similarity between corresponding
ones
of the plurality of data samples for the compared patterns. Bill
identification is based
on designating the scanned bill as belonging to the bill-type corresponding to
the
stored characteristic pattern for which the correlation number resulting from
pattern
comparison is determined to be the highest.
In one embodiment, the invention is particularly adapted to be implemented
with a system programmed to track each identified currency identity so as to
conveniently present aggregate totals for bills that have been identified at
the end of a
scan run.
According to one embodiment a currency discriminator is provided that counts
and discriminates bills as they pass a discriminating unit and that flags an
unidentified
bill or one having a predetermined characteristic, for example a bill having a
specified orientation, by transferring the flagged bill to a location where it
can be
conveniently examined by an operator and then suspending the operation of the
discriminator. The operator may then examine the bill and determine whether
the
bill is acceptable or not. Denomination selection elements such as keys are
provided
to enable the operator with the depression of a single button to indicate the
denomination of an unidentified but acceptable bill, to cause the value of the
bill to
be reflected in any appropriate counters, and to cause the discriminator to
resume
operation. A continuation selection element is also provided to enable the
operator to
WO 96110800 PCTIUS95111393
7
cause the discriminator to resume operation without adversely affecting any
counters
when an unidentified bill is determined to be unacceptable.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a discriminator is
provided with a single output receptacle in which all bills are stacked after
they pass
by the discriminating unit. When an unidentified bill is detected, the
discriminator
halts operation with the unidentified bill positioned at a predetermined
location within
the stack such as at the top or back of the stack of bills in the output
receptacle or at
a predetermined position just prior to the stack. The bill may then be
conveniently
examined by the operator.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a discriminator is
provided with an examining station where unidentified bills are transferred
before the
discriminator halts operation. Upon determination that a bill is acceptable,
the bill
may then be transferred to the output receptacle in a single output receptacle
discriminator or to an output receptacle associated with the denomination or
other
characteristic of the bill in a mufti-output receptacle discriminator.
Additionally, a
reject receptacle may be provided for receiving bills which are determined to
be
unacceptable.
In one embodiment, a discriminator is provided with two or more output
receptacles. All flagged bills are delivered to a separate output receptacle
while the
discriminator continues to process any remaining bills. Alternatively, bills
that are
positively determined to be suspect bills may be delivered to one output
receptacle,
all other flagged bills may be delivered to a second output receptacle, and
all
unflagged and identified bills may be delivered to one or more additional
output
receptacles. In another embodiment, suspect bills are routed to a separate
output
receptacle while all other bills are routed to one or more additional output
receptacles.
The discriminator, in another embodiment is designed to suspend operation
upon encountering one or more types of flagged bills. For example, the
discriminator may halt operation when a no call bill is detected but not when
a
suspect bill is detected, e.g., when suspect bills are routed to an output
receptacle
separate from the output receptacle or receptacles to which other bills are
routed.
According to another embodiment, the discriminator does not suspend its
operation
WO 96/10800
PCT/US95/11393
8
upon detecting a flagged bill but rather continues processing any remaining
bills,
e.g., when flagged bills are routed to one or more output receptacles separate
from
the output receptacle or receptacles to which non-flagged bills are delivered.
According to one embodiment, the value of any flagged bill such as a no call
is reconciled on-the-fly, that is, at the time such bill is encountered.
According to
one such embodiment, the discriminator suspends operation until the value of
the
flagged bill is reconciled.
According to another embodiment, the value of any flagged bills is reconciled
after all bills have been processed. Alternatively, the reconciliation process
may
begin before all bills have been processed but without suspending the
processing of
the remaining bills.
According to one embodiment, denomination indicating means are provided to
permit the operator to indicate the value of a flagged bill such as a no call.
Examples of denomination indicating means include, for example, denomination
selection elements such as keys, buttons, switches, lights, and displayed
keys,
denominations, or messages. Such elements may be selected by, for example,
pressing an appropriate one of such elements or using scroll keys. The
selection of a
denomination may cause that denomination to be indicated to the discriminator
or,
alternatively, a denomination may first have to be selected and then indicated
to the
discriminator by selecting an accept, yes, or enter key.
According to one embodiment, prompting means are provided whereby the
discriminator is able to suggest a denomination to the operator of the
discriminator in
connection with a flagged bill such a no call. Examples of criteria used in
prompting
a denomination to the operator in connection with a flagged bill include
suggesting a
denomination or a sequence of denominations based on a default basis, random
basis,
user-defined basis, manufacturer defined basis, last bill information, last no
call
information, last called denomination information, historical information,
comparison
of scanned and reference information such as correlation information. Means
for
prompting a denomination may include, for example, displaying a message,
highlighting or illuminating a denomination selection or indicating element or
associated light.
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95111393
9
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a discriminator
discriminates a stack of bills and flags bills having a given forward/reverse
orientation. Accordingly, when a stack of bills predominately oriented in the
forward
or reverse direction is discriminated by the discriminator, any bills oriented
in the
opposite forward/reverse direction may be flagged. Any' flagged bills may
either be
removed without replacement or re-oriented in the appropriate forward or
reverse
direction. As a result, a stack of bills may be generated in which all bills
have the
same forward/reverse orientation. Alternatively, in a mufti-output receptacle
discriminator, instead of flagging bills based on their forward/reverse
orientation,
~ bills having a forward orientation may be routed to one output receptacle
and those
having a reverse orientation may be routed to another output receptacle.
Likewise a discriminator may flag or sort bills based on their face
orientation,
that is face up or face down, or bills not belonging to a given denomination.
Furthermore, the above criteria may be combined in various operating modes of
the
discriminator.
According to a sorting mode according to one embodiment, the operator of a
document discriminator embodying a sorting mode according to the embodiment
selects a document type to be separated from the remaining document types. For
example, the operator may designate $20 bills to be off-sorted from a stack of
U.S.
currency bills having a plurality of denominations. When a stack of currency
bills is
subsequently processed by the currency discriminator, the discriminator
proceeds to
process all bills in the stack until it encounters the first $20 bill. The
discriminator
then halts operation with the first $20 bill being the last bill deposited in
the output
receptacle of the discriminator. The operator may then remove all the bills in
the
output receptacle and separate the $20 bill from the other bills. The currency
discriminator may restart automatically when all the bills in the output
receptacle are
removed or alternatively, the discriminator may be designed to require the
selection
of a continuation key. The discriminator then continues to process the
remaining
bills until it encounters the first non-$20 bill. Upon encountering the first
non-$20
bill, the discriminator halts operation with the non-$20 bill being the last
bill
deposited in the output receptacle. The operator may then remove all the bills
in the
output receptacle, separate the non-$20 bill from the preceding $20 bills, and
place
WO 96!10800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
the bills in appropriate stacks. The discriminator then proceeds processing
the
remaining bills, now halting upon encountering the first $20 bill. The
operation
proceeds as above with the discriminator toggling between halting upon
detecting the
first bill not of the designated denomination and the first bill of the
designated
5 denomination. In this way, the operator may conveniently separate a
designated
denomination from bills having a plurality of denominations. Likewise the
above
operation may be repeated with the remaining bills to son out a different
denomination, for example, $10 bills. The above sorting operation is
particularly
suited for sorting bills in a stack wherein like denominated bills are grouped
together.
10 For example, it has been noticed that when customers make deposits at
banks, the
stacks of currency they give to the teller or otherwise deposit with the bank,
e.g.,
night deposit box or automatic teller machine, tend to have bills grouped
together by
denomination.
The above sorting operation is particularly useful when employed with a
currency discriminator having a single output receptacle. Nonetheless, the
above
sorting operation may be performed on mufti-output receptacle discriminators
as well,
e.g., in a two output pocket discriminator wherein one pocket is dedicated to
a
specific purpose such as collecting suspect or unrecognized documents.
According to a jam detection and clearing embodiment of the present
invention, a medium for detection and clearing of a jam in a currency scanning
and
discriminating machine is provided. The jam detection and clearing mechanism
advantageously minimizes the efforts required by the machine operator and,
therefore, reduces the time required to clear the jam. Furthermore, by
minimizing
the efforts of the operator, the likelihood the operator will become injured
is lessened
as is the probability the operator will damage the sensing device adjacent the
transport path.
In accordance with the present invention, if a bill becomes jammed during
normal operation, a controller within the machine detects the jam through at
least one
of several methods. The controller may monitor the time required for a
currency bill
to pass by two sets of optical sensors which perform different functions.
Additionally, the controller may monitor the speed of the transport mechanism
to
~ ,
WO 96110800 ~ , ~ PCT/US95111393
11
detect whether the speed is significantly less than the normal operational
speed. Once
a jam is detected, the controller interrupts the driving of the transport
mechanism.
The invention then provides for various manual and automatic devices which
relieve the pressure exerted on the jammed bill by the transport mechanism.
One
such device for relieving the pressure is by providing a sensing device that
may
moved away from the transport path thereby increasing the gap between the
sensing
device and the transport path. The operator then can activate the transport
mechanism in a reverse or forward direction to remove the jammed currency
bill.
The transport mechanism is then returned to its operational position, and the
currency
scanning and discriminating machine is ready to be operated.
According to one embodiment a document to be authenticated is illuminated
with ultraviolet light and the amount of ultraviolet light which is reflected
off the
document is measured. Based on the amount of ultraviolet light which is
detected,
the document is either authenticated or rejected. In the case of documents
being
authenticated relative to United States currency, a bill is rejected if a high
level of
reflected ultraviolet light is not detected.
In another embodiment, a document is illuminated with ultraviolet light and
both the amount of reflected ultraviolet light and the amount of emitted
visible light
are measured. Based on the amount of ultraviolet light detected and the amount
of
visible light detected, a document is either authenticated or rejected. In the
case of
documents being authenticated relative to United States currency, a bill is
rejected if
either a high level of reflected ultraviolet light is not detected or even a
low level of
visible light is detected.
It is known that some counterfeit United States bills fluoresce, or emit
visible
light, when illuminated by ultraviolet light. As genuine United States
currency does
not fluoresce, the emission of visible light has been employed as a means of
detecting
counterfeit United States currency. However, it has been found that not all
counterfeit United States bills fluoresce; and hence, such counterfeits will
not be
detected by the above described fluorescence test.
It has been found that genuine United States currency reflects a high level of
ultraviolet light when illuminated by an ultraviolet light source. It has also
been
found that some counterfeit United States bills do not reflect a high level of
WO 96/10800
PCT/US95/11393
12
ultraviolet light. Such counterfeit bills may or may not also fluoresce under
ultraviolet light. The present invention employs an authentication test
wherein the
amount of reflected ultraviolet light is measured and a bill is rejected if it
does not
reflect a high amount of ultraviolet light. By employing such a test,
counterfeit
United States bills which do not reflect a high level of ultraviolet light may
be
properly rejected.
While not all counterfeit United States bills fail to reflect a high level of
ultraviolet light and hence not all counterfeit United States bills will be
detected using
this test, the present invention provides an additional means for detecting
counterfeit
bills which might otherwise go undetected. Furthermore, the likelihood of a
counterfeit United States bill going undetected may be further reduced by
employing
an alternative embodiment of the present invention wherein both the amount of
reflected ultraviolet light and the amount of emitted visible light are
measured. In
such a system, a bill is rejected as counterfeit if either it fails to reflect
a high level
of ultraviolet light or it fluoresces.
The above described embodiments may be adapted to authenticate currencies
from other countries and other types of documents such as food stamps and
checks.
For instance some genuine documents may be designed to reflect ultraviolet
light only
in certain locations and/or in a predetermined pattern. An alternative
embodiment of
the present invention may be designed to accept documents which exhibit
similar
characteristics while rejecting those which do not. Likewise, an alternative
embodiment of the present invention may be employed to authenticate documents
based on both their characteristics with respect to reflected ultraviolet
light and their
characteristics with respect to fluorescent emissions, e.g., detecting the
amount,
location, and/or pattern of fluorescent emissions.
According to one embodiment, the thresholds for one or more authentication
tests such as ultraviolet, fluorescence, and/or magnetic tests may be
adjustable
between high or low sensitivity settings. Each setting may be adjusted among a
plurality of settings of varying sensitivity. These tests and plurality of
setting may be
employed in, for example, note counters or currency discriminators.
n t
WO 96110800 ~,~ '~ ~ 9 PCT/US95111393
13
According to one embodiment, the selection of a high or low setting for one
or more of the above tests may be on a global basis, that is, the same setting
will
apply to all processed documents.
According to one embodiment, the selection of a high or low setting for one
or more of the above tests may be on an individual document-type basis such as
by
providing for various settings based on the denomination of a currency bill.
For
example, the settings for the above tests may be set to lower sensitivities
for bills of
lower denomational value such as $1 s and $2s and to higher sensitivities for
bills of
higher denomination value such as $20s, $SOs, and $100s. Accordingly the
chance of
wrongly flagging genuine bills of low denominational values as suspect can be
reduced while at the same time the chance of wrongly failing to detect
counterfeit
bills of higher denominational values can also be reduced.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to represent each
embodiment, or every aspect of the present invention. This is the purpose of
the
figures and detailed description which follow.
Brief Description Of The Drawings
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a currency scanning and counting machine
embodying the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the currency scanning and counting
machine of FIG. 1 illustrating an embodiment in which a scanhead is arranged
on
each side of a transport path;
Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of operations involved in
determining the bill denomination from the correlation results;
FIG. 4a is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of operations involved in
determining the bill denomination from the correlation results using data
retrieved
from the green side of U.S. bills according to one embodiment of the present
invention;
FIGs. 4b and 4c are a flow chart illustrating the sequence of operations
involved in determining the bill denomination from the correlation results
using data
retrieved from the black side of U.S. bills;
! I
2178 egg
14
Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view approximately through the center of the
-- machine of FIG.1 which illustrates the transport rolls and mechanisms in a
side
elevation;
Fig. 6 is a section view of the sensing device;
FIG. 7a is a section view of the lower member of the sensing device and an
end elevation of the upper member of the sensing device;
FIG. 7b is a section view of the lower member of the sensing device and an
end elevation of the upper member of the sensing device in which the handles
are
latched onto a shaft;
FIG. 8 is a section view of the sensing device incorporating solenoids for
separating the two members of the sensing device;
FIG. 9 is an enlarged bottom plan view of the lower member of the scanning
device of Fig. 6 or 8 and the passive transport rolls mounted on the lower
member;
FIG. 10 is a bottom plan view of the upper member in the scanning device of
Fig. 6 or 8 which includes the upper scanhead;
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating the components used by the jam
detection and clearing mechanism;
FIG. 12 is an enlarged plan view of the control panel and the display panel of
the machine in FIG. 1;
FIGS. 13a-13c are flow charts illustrating the sequential procedure followed
in
clearing a jammed currency bill according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
Fig. 14 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a
document authenticator and discriminator according to the present invention;
Fig. 15 is a functional block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a
document authenticator and discriminator according to the present invention;
Fig. 16a is a functional block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a
document authenticator and discriminator according to the present invention;
Fig. 16b is a functional block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a
document authenticator and discriminator according to the present invention;
Fig. 17 is an enlarged plan view of the control and display panel in the
machine of FIG. 1;
WO 96/10800 21'~ 819 9 PCT/US95111393
Fig. 18 is a flow chart illustrating the sequential procedure involved in a
sorting operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 19-24 are enlarged plan views of various embodiments of control
panels;
5 Fig. 25 is an exploded perspective view of a touch screen device.
FIG. 26a is a side view of one embodiment of a document authenticating
system according to the present invention;
FIG. 26b is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 26a along the direction
26b;
10 FIG. 26c is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 26a along the direction
26c; and
Fig. 27 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a
document authenticating system according to the present invention.
Detailed Description Of The Embodiments
15 While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative
forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the
drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood,
however,
that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms
disclosed, but on
the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and
alternatives
falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the
appended claims.
Referring now to FIGs. 1 and 2, there is shown one embodiment of a
currency scanning and counting machine 10 according to the present invention.
The
machine 10 includes an input receptacle or bill accepting station or input
hopper 12,
209 where stacks of currency bills that need to be identified and counted are
positioned. Bills in the input receptacle are acted upon by a bill separating
station 14
which functions to pick out or separate one bill at a time for being
sequentially
relayed by a bill transport mechanism 16 (FIG. 2), according to a precisely
predetermined transport path, between a pair of sensors or scanheads 18a, 18b
where
the currency denomination of the bill is scanned and identified. In one
embodiment,
bills are scanned and identified at a rate in excess of 800 bills per minute.
In the
embodiment depicted, each scanhead 18a, 18b is an optical scanhead that scans
for
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
16
characteristic information from a scanned bill 17 which is used to identify
the
denomination of the bill. The scanned bill 17 is then transported to an output
receptacle or bill stacking station 20, 217 where bills so processed are
stacked for
subsequent removal. As seen in FIG. 1, the output receptacle 217 comprises
slacker
wheels 212, 213 which project upwardly through a pair of openings in a slacker
plate
214 to receive the bills as they are advanced across the downwardly sloping
upper
surface of the slacker plate 214. The slacker wheels 212 and 213 are supported
for
rotational movement about a shaft 215 journalled on the rigid frame and driven
by a
slacker motor 216.
The operation of the currency scanning and counting machine 10 of FIGs. 1
and 2 is described in more detail in PCT application Serial No.
PCT/US95/02992.
See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,196. Such discrimination systems may process
bills at
speeds of the order of 800 to 1500 bills per minute, including speeds in
excess of 800
and 1000 bills per minute according to various embodiments.
Each optical scanhead 18a, 18b preferably comprises a pair of light sources 22
directing light onto the bill transport path so as to illuminate a
substantially
rectangular light strip 24 upon a currency bill 17 positioned on the transport
path
adjacent the scanhead 18. Light reflected off the illuminated strip 24 is
sensed by a
photodetector 26 positioned between the two light sources. The analog output
of the
photodetector 26 is converted into a digital signal by means of an analog-to-
digital
(ADC) convertor unit 28 whose output is fed as a digital input to a central
processing
unit (CPU) 30.
While scanheads 18a, 18b of FIG. 2 are optical scanheads, it should be
understood that it may be designed to detect a variety of characteristic
information
from currency bills. Additionally, the scanhead may employ a variety of
detection
means such as magnetic, optical, electrical conductivity, and capacitive
sensors.
Referring again to FIG. 2, as a bill 17 traverses the scanheads 18a, 18b, the
coherent light strip 24 effectively scans the bill. A series of detected
reflectance
signals are obtained across the the bill and the resulting analog signals are
digitized
under control of the CPU 30 to yield a fixed number of digital reflectance
data
samples. The normalized reflectance data represents a characteristic pattern
that is
n
WO 96!10800 ~' ~~ "~ 819 9 PCTlUS95/11393
17
unique for a given bill denomination and provides sufficient distinguishing
features
among characteristic patterns for different currency denominations.
In order to ensure strict correspondence between reflectance samples obtained
by scanning of successive bills, the reflectance sampling process is
preferably
S controlled through the CPU 30 by means of an optical encoder 32 which is
linked to
the bill transport mechanism 16 and precisely tracks the physical movement of
the
bill 17 between the scanheads 18a, 18b. More specifically, the optical encoder
32 is
linked to the rotary motion of the drive motor which generates the movement
imparted to the bill along the transport path. In addition, the mechanics of
the feed
mechanism ensure that positive contact is maintained between the bill and the
transport path, particularly when the bill is being scanned by the scanheads.
Under
these conditions, the optical encoder 32 is capable of precisely tracking the
movement
of the bill 17 relative to the light strips 24 generated by the scanheads 18a,
18b by
monitoring the rotary motion of the drive motor.
The optical sensing and correlation technique is based upon using the above
process to generate a series of stored intensity signal patterns using genuine
bills for
each denomination of currency that is to be detected. According to one
embodiment,
two or four sets of master intensity signal samples are generated and stored
within the
system memory, preferably in the form of an EPROM 34 (see FIG. 2), for each
detectable currency denomination. According to one embodiment these are sets
of
master green-surface intensity signal samples. In the case of U.S. currency,
the sets
of master intensity signal samples for each bill are generated from optical
scans,
performed on the green surface of the bill and taken along both the "forward"
and
"reverse" directions relative to the pattern printed on the bill.
Alternatively, the
optical scanning may be performed on the black side of U.S. currency bills or
on
either surface of foreign bills. Additionally, the optical scanning may be
performed
on both sides of a bill.
The CPU 30 is programmed to identify the denomination of the scanned bill
as corresponding to the set of stored intensity signal samples for which the
correlation
number resulting from pattern comparison is found to be the highest. If a
"positive"
call can not be made for a scanned bill, an error signal is generated.
~ .~ '~ 8 ~ .~ .9
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
18
Using the above sensing and correlation approach, the CPU 30 is programmed
to count the number of bills belonging to a particular currency denomination
as part
of a given set of bills that have been scanned for a given scan batch, and to
determine the aggregate total of the currency amount represented by the bills
scanned
during a scan batch. The CPU 30 is also linked to an output unit 36 (FIG. 2)
which
is adapted to provide a display of the number of bills counted, the breakdown
of the
bills in terms of currency denomination, and the aggregate total of the
currency value
represented by counted bills. The output unit 36 can also be adapted to
provide a
print-out of the displayed information in a desired format.
A correlation formula which may be used in the present invention is disclosed
and explain in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,196 and PCT application Serial No.
PCT/US95/02992. FIGS. 3 and 4a-4c illustrated thresholding tests which may be
peformed by the discriminator in conjunction with determining the
denominations of
scanned bills. These figures are described in more detail in PCT application
Serial
No. PCT/US95/02992.
In some embodiments of the present invention the operation of the
discriminator is suspended when a bill such as a no call is to be flagged. In
some
embodiments the transport mechanism is brought to a halt so that the flagged
bill is
the last bill deposited in an output receptacle or inspection station. The
manner of
suspending the operation of the discriminator and halting of the transport
mechanism
is explained in more detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,196 and PCT application
Serial
No. PCT/US95/02992.
Referring now to Fig. 5, the mechanical portions of a currency scanning and
counting machine 10 include a rigid frame formed by a pair of side plates 201
(only
one shown), a pair of top plates 203a and 203b, and a lower front plate 204.
The
input receptacle region for receiving a stack of bills to be processed is
formed by
downwardly sloping and converging walls 205 and 206 which are parts of
removable
covers 207 and 208, respectively, that snap onto the frame. The rear wall 206
supports the removable input hopper 209 which includes a pair of vertically
disposed
side walls 210a and 210b (both shown in FIG. 1).
To initiate the scanning process, currency bills are stacked on the bottom
wall
205 and are stripped, one at a time, from the bottom of the stack. The bills
are
~ .... T
PCTIUS95111393
WO 96110800
19
in turn, is supported across the side walls 201. The auxiliary feed wheels 220
project
through a pair of slots formed in the cover 207. Each auxiliary feed wheel 220
includes a raised high-friction, serrated surface 222 around a portion of the
periphery
which engages the bottom bill of the input stack as the auxiliary feed wheels
220
rotate to initiate the movement of the bottom bill from the stack. The
serrated
surface 222 projects radially beyond the rest of the wheel periphery so that
the
wheels "jog" the bill stack during each revolution so as to loosen the bottom
currency
bill within the stack and the bottom bill from the stack. The auxiliary feed
wheels
220 move each stripped bill onto a drive roll 223 mounted on a driven shaft
224
' supported across the side walls 201.
To ensure firm engagement between the drive roll 223 and the currency bill
being fed, an idler roll 230 urges each incoming bill against a smooth central
surface
of the drive roll 223. The idler roll 230 is journalled on a pair of arms
which are
pivotally mounted on a support shaft. A pair of stripping wheels 233 and 234
are
also mounted on the shaft 232 on opposite sides of the idler roll 230. The
grooves in
these two stripping wheels 233, 234 are registered with the central ribs in
the two
grooved surfaces of the drive roll 223. Although the idler roll 230 and the
stripping
wheels 233, 234 are mounted behind the guideway 211, the guideway 211 is
apertured to allow the idler roll 230 and the stripping wheels 233, 234 to
engage the
bills on the front side of the guideway 211.
To prepare the bills for scanning, the bills transported by the drive roll 223
engage a flat guide plate 240 on which a sensing device is mounted at the
lower end
of the curved guideway 211. Currency bills are positively driven along the
flat plate
240 by means of a transport roll arrangement which includes the drive roll 223
at one
end of the flat plate 240 and a smaller drive roll 241 at the other end of the
plate.
Both the drive roll 223 and the smaller drive roll 241 include pairs of smooth
raised
cylindrical surfaces which hold the bill flat against the plate 240. A
transport motor
260 drives both drive roll 223 and smaller drive roll 241 through a series of
belts and
pulleys. Additionally, the auxiliary feed wheels 220 are driven by the
transport
motor 260 via a pulley or belt attached on drive roll 223. A pair of O rings
245
(only one shown) fit into grooves formed in both the smaller drive roll 241
and the
WO 96/10800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
drive roll 223 to continuously engage the bill between the two rolls 223 and
241 and
transport the bill while holding it flat against the guide plate 240.
The flat guide plate 240 is provided with openings through which the raised
surfaces of both the drive roll 223 and the smaller driven roll 241 are
subjected to
5 counter-rotating contact with corresponding pairs of passive transport rolls
250 and
251 having high-friction rubber surfaces. The passive rolls 250, 251 are
mounted on
the underside of the flat plate 240 in such a manner as to be freewheeling
about their
axes and biased into counter-rotating contact with their corresponding drive
rolls 223,
241. The passive rolls 250, 251 are biased into contact with their
corresponding
10 drive rolls 223 and 241 by means of a pair of leaf springs 252, 253 (shown
in FIG.
9).
The points of contact between the drive rolls 223, 241 and passive rolls 250,
251 are preferably coplanar with the level surface of the flat plate 240 so
that
currency bills can be positively driven along the upper surface of the flat
plate 240 in
15 a smooth, flat manner. The distance between the axes of the two drive rolls
223 and
241 is selected to be just short of the length of the narrow dimension of the
currency
bills. Accordingly, the bills are firmly gripped under uniform pressure
between both
pairs of transport rolls, thereby minimizing the possibility of bills being
skewed or
twisted which enhances the reliability of the overall scanning process.
20 The sensing device which includes a pair of scanheads 18a and 18b is shown
in detail in FIGS. 6, 7a, and 7b. It can be seen that the housing for each
scanhead
18a and 18b is formed as an integral part of a unitary molded plastic support
member
280 and 281. The lower member 281 forms the flat plate 240 that receives the
bills
from the drive roll 223 and supports the bills as they are driven past the
scanheads
18a and 18b.
Each of the two optical scanheads 18a and 18b housed in the support members
280, 281 includes a pair of light sources acting in combination to uniformly
illuminate strips of a desired dimension on opposite sides of a bill as it is
transported
across the flat guide plate 240. Thus, the upper scanhead 18a includes a pair
of
LEDs 22a directing light downwardly through an optical mask on top of a lens
282
onto a bill traversing the flat guide plate 240 beneath the scanhead 18a. Both
LEDs
22a are angularly disposed relative to the vertical axis of the upper scanhead
18a so
21 7 g ~ gg
21
that their respective light beams combine to illuminate the desired light
strip defined
by an aperture in the mask. The scanhead 18a also includes a photodetector Z6a
mounted directly over the center of the illuminated strip for sensing the
light reflected
off the strip. The photodetector 26a is linked to a CPU 30 (See Fig. 11)
through an
analog-to-digital convertor (ADC) for processing the sensed data. Similarly,
the
lower scanhead 18b which includes a pair of LEDs 22b, a lens 283, and a
photodetector 26b communicates with the CPU 30 through an ADC. The manner in
which this data is processed is explained in detail in
published PCT patent application Serial No. PCT/US95/02992.
The upper member 280 and lower member 281 are mounted facing each other
so that the lenses 282 and 283 of the two scanheads 18a, 18b define a narrow
gap
through which each bill is transported. Generally, the gap is approximately
0.025
inch when the machine is in the operational mode. The upper support member 280
includes a tapered entry guide 280a which guides an incoming bill into the gap
between the opposed lenses 282 and 283.
Doubling or overlapping of bills in the illustrative transport mechanism is
detected by two additional photosensors which are located on a common
transverse
axis that is perpendicular to the direction of bill flow. The photosensors
include
photodetectors 293 and 294 mounted within the lower member 281 in immediate
opposition to corresponding light sources 295 and 296 mounted in the upper
member
280. The photodetectors 293, 294 detect beams of light directed downwardly
onto
the bill transport path from the light sources 295, 296 and generate analog
outputs
which correspond to the sensed light passing through the bill. Each such
output is
converted into a digital signal by a conventional ADC unit whose output is
input to,
and processed by, the CPU 30.
The presence of a bill adjacent the photosensors causes a change in the
intensity of the detected light, and the corresponding changes in the analog
outputs of
the photodetectors 293 and 294 serve as a convenient means for density-based
measurements for detecting the presence of "doubles" (two or more overlaid or
overlapped bills) during the currency scanning process. For instance, the
photodetectors 293, 294 may be used to collect a predefined number of density
measurements on a test bill, and the average density value for a bill may be
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
22
compared to predetermined density thresholds (based, for instance, on
standardized
density readings for master bills) to determine the presence of overlaid bills
or
doubles. Thus, this density detecting system ensures that no more than one
bill is
being scanned at a time.
Although the machine has been designed to greatly minimize the jamming of
currency bills while being moved along the transport path, situations arise in
which
the machine will become jammed, especially in the area of the scanheads 18a,
18b.
For example, an older currency bill which is not as "crisp" as a newer bill
tends to
buckle when its leading edge engages the guiding members within the transport
path,
especially in the region adjacent the sensing devices. As it begins to
obstruct the
transport path, the buckled bill in the transport path loses its velocity. The
bills
trailing the buckled bill then come into contact with the buckled bill and
cause the
transport path to become jammed. Additionally, currency bills with bent
corners or a
bill in the stack that is folded can catch on edges along the transport path
as well. In
any event, it is useful to have a simple means in which to clear a jam that
may occur,
especially beneath the upper member 280.
The lower member 281 is attached rigidly to the machine frame. However,
the upper member 280 is slidably mounted on a pair of posts 285 and 286 on the
machine frame thereby providing limited vertical movement. A pair of springs
287
and 288 bias the upper member 280 to its lowermost position in the operational
mode. In one embodiment, a pair of handles 297 connected to upper member 280
are exposed once an access cover is opened. For example, removing the
removable
hopper 209 exposes the handles 297. Once exposed, the operator lifts the
handles
297 by their gripping portion 298 and moves the connecting portion 299 over a
structure rigidly affixed to the frame. An engagement surface 299a then
engages the
rigid structure to support the upper member 280. In FIG. 7b, the engagement
surface 299a of each handle 297 is semi-circular and the structure to which it
is
connected is the shaft 221 which is also shown in Fig. 5. When positioned in
this
retracted position, the gap between the lenses 282 and 283 of the two
scanheads 18a,
18b increases and is in the range from about 0.075 inch to about 0.20 inch.
Generally, the handles 297 are flexible to allow them to be deflected in a
direction parallel to the direction a currency bill moves along the transport
path.
n r
WO 96110800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
23
Thus, when attaching the handles 297 to and detaching them from the shaft 221
in
FIGS. 7a and 7b, the operator can move the connecting portion 299 laterally
across
the shaft 221.
Alternatively, the upper member 280 can be locked into the retracted position
by a brace member which engages the posts 285, 286. Small handles connected to
the upper member 280 near the posts 285, 286 are grasped to lift the upper
member
280. When in the retracted position, the rigid brace member attached to the
frame or
handles is positioned between the posts 285, 286 and a portion of the handles
which
acts against the springs 287, 288 and restrains the upper member 280 from
returning
to the operational position. In another alternative, small handles having a
profile
similar to the handle 297 in FIGS. 7a and 7b could latch onto rigid structures
attached to the frame near the posts 285, 286.
In yet another alternative, the upper member 280 is separated from the lower
member 281 without removing any access cover like the removable hopper 209.
The
operator moves a lever which is connected to one of the members 280, 281 and
is
exposed on the exterior of the machine. The movement of the lever then
increases
the gap between the two members 280, 281. For example, the lever is attached
to a
cam which when rotated forces the two members 280, 281 apart.
In yet a further alternative, the upper member 280 could be automatically
converted between the operational position and the retracted position by use
of a pair
of solenoids 300, 302 as shown in Fig. 8. The solenoids 300, 302 are affixed
onto
the rigid frame near the posts 285, 286. Each solenoid 300, 302 has a
displacing
member 304 which attaches to the upper member 280. When energized, the
displacing member 304 of the solenoids 300, 302 act against the force of the
springs
286, 287 and move the upper member 280 from the operational position to the
retracted position. Although the solenoids 300, 302 are shown attached to the
upper
member 280, they can also be attached to the lower member 281. In such an
embodiment, the solenoids 300, 302 then push the upper member 280 away from
the
lower member 281 against the force of the springs 287, 288.
Fig. 9 shows a bottom plan view of the lower member 281 of the scanning
device and the passive transport rolls 250, 251. Fig. 10 illustrates a bottom
plan
WO 96/10800 s~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
24
view of the upper member 280 including the upper scanhead 18. Both figures are
applicable to the scanning device illustrated in Fig. 6 or 5.
As shown in Fig. 11, the CPU 30 of the machine 10 is coupled to various
components within the jam detection and clearing mechanism. The CPU 30 is
coupled to a memory device 38 and receives inputs from a crystal 40 which
serves as
the time base for the CPU 30. The CPU 30 also receives operator input signals
from
the keypad 62 on the control panel 61 and provides the user with information
via the
display 63 on the control panel 61. The- CPU 30 also controls the operation of
both
the stacker motor 261 and the transport mechanism motor 260.
With respect to the detection of a jam which is described in detail below in
reference to FIGS. 13a-13c, the CPU 30 processes the output of the
denomination
sensors 26a, 26b and the density sensors 293, 294. The outputs of both of
these
sensors are converted to digital signals by standard ADCs before being
received by
the CPU 30. Also, the CPU 30 monitors the velocity of the drive shaft or the
transport mechanism via the encoder 32 which is described in detail below.
Additionally, the CPU 30 monitors a hopper sensor 42 placed adjacent the
removable
hopper 209 which indicates whether the hopper 209 is installed or detached
from the
machine 10.
Once the lower member 281 and the upper member 280 are separated, the
jammed currency bill must still be removed from the transport path. This is
accomplished by operating the bill transport mechanism in a reverse or forward
motion to clear the jammed bill. As shown in Fig. 12, the control panel 61
(also
shown in FIG. 1) includes the display 63 as well as the keypad 62 having a
plurality
of keys actuated by the operator to perform various functions. A reverse key
67 and
a forward key 68 on the keypad 62 send a reverse signal and a forward signal,
respectively, to the CPU 30 which instructs the transport mechanism to operate
in the
reverse or forward mode. Thus, when the operator actuates the reverse key 67,
the
CPU 30 receives a reverse signal and instructs the transport motor 260 to
rotate in a
reverse direction. The jammed currency bill then moves back through the
guideway
211 and can be accessed at the opening near wall 205 adjacent the nips formed
by
roll 223 and stripping wheels 233, 234 as shown in Fig. S. If the jammed
currency
bill is not accessible after actuation of the reverse key 67, then the
operator can
n r
WO 96/10800 ~ f~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
activate the forward key 68 to attempt to move the jammed bill forward. This
will
result in the currency bill being accessible at the output receptacle 217. No
data is
processed at this point and the jammed bill must be returned to the stack. The
operator then returns the upper member 280 to the operational position by
utilizing
S the handles 297 or activating a key on the control panel '261 if the
separation of the
members 280, 281, occurs via solenoids.
Alternatively, the machine can include a manual turn-knob which is connected
to the drive shaft 221 of the drive roll 223 instead of utilizing the reverse
key 67 and
the forward key 68. After the members 280, 281 are separated, the operator
then
10 manually turns the knob in a forward or reverse direction to transport the
jammed
currency bill along the transport path and clear the jam.
FIGS. 13a-13c are flow charts which illustrate the process in which a jammed
bill is detected and the resultant actions by the operator and the machine.
After a bill
becomes jammed along the transport path (step 400), the machine detects the
jam
15 (step 401). Three examples of ways the machine may accomplish this task
include
the following. First, if the time required for a currency bill to pass by one
of the
density photodetector sensors 293, 294 exceeds a threshold limit, then a jam
has
likely occurred. Second, if the time required for a bill to pass through the
currency
denomination photodetectors 26a and 26b exceeds a threshold limit, then a jam
is
20 probable. Generally, these upper threshold limits are approximately 0.25
second (the
normal time required for a bill to pass by one of these sensors is
approximately 0.025
second). The third method by which a jam can be detected is by monitoring the
encoder 32 which indicates the shaft speed of the transport motor 260 powering
the
transport mechanism. More specifically, the optical encoder 32 is linked to
the
25 output shaft of the transport motor 260 which drives the transport
mechanism that
moves the bill along the transport path. The optical encoder 32 sends signals
to the
CPU 30 corresponding to successive increments of angular displacement of the
drive
shaft of the transport motor 260. Thus, if the signals received by the CPU 30
from
the encoder 32 drop below a threshold limit in a selected time period, then
the shaft
speed of the transport motor 260 has been reduced by the occurrence of the jam
which increases the load on the transport motor 260
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
26
Once the CPU 30 receives a jam signal from any of these three jam detection
mechanisms, the transport motor 260 is disabled by the CPU 30. The CPU 30 then
sends a signal to the display 63 on the control panel 61 which informs the
operator
that a jam has been detected (step 402). To access and lift the handles 297 to
relieve
the pressure applied to the jammed bill by the transport mechanism, the
operator
must remove the hopper tray 209 (step 403).
The hopper sensor 42 (in Fig. 11) is positioned adjacent the hopper tray 209
and detects whether the hopper tray 209 is in position. If the CPU 30
determines the
hopper tray 209 has been removed (step 404), then the display 63 on the
control
panel 61 instructs the operator to lift the handles 297 and position their
engagement
surfaces 299a over the drive shaft 221 (step 406). After lifting the handles
297 and
attaching them to the feed shaft (step 407), the upper member 280 and lower
member
281 are now in the retracted position, and the operator can begin the process
of
removing the jammed bill from the transport path.
If an automatic separation technique is utilized, such the solenoids 300, 302
described above in connection with Fig. 8, then steps 403-407 are obviated.
The operator uses the keys on the control panel 61 to activate the transport
mechanism and remove the jammed bill. If the operator chooses the forward key
267
(step 408), the machines starts the stacker motor 216 since the bill will be
expelled
near the output receptacle by the stacker wheels 212, 213 (step 410). The
transport
motor 260 driving the transport mechanism is then run at full forward speed
for 0.25
second (step 412) to remove the jammed bill and then for an additional 1.25
seconds
at half forward speed (step 414). The stacker motor 216 and the transport
motor 260
are then stopped (step 416) and the operator removes the formerly jammed bill
from
the output receptacle (step 418).
The operator can also choose the reverse key 267 on the control panel 61
when attempting to remove a jammed bill (step 420). Because the reverse mode
will
not result in the bill being expelled from the output receptacle, there is no
need to
activate the stacker motor 216. The transport motor 260 driving the transport
mechanism is then run at full reverse speed for 0.25 second (step 422) and
then at
half speed reverse for an additional 1.25 seconds to remove the jammed bill to
the
input receptacle. The transport motor 260 is then stopped (step 426) and the
operator
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
27
removes the formerly jammed bill from the input receptacle (step 428). The
operator
can continuously alternate between the reverse key 67 and the forward key 68
until
the jammed bill is successfully removed.
Once the formerly jammed bill is retrieved, the operator then grasps the
handles 297 and returns the upper member 280 to its operational position (step
430).
The machine may also have a sensor which detects whether the upper member 280
is
in the retracted position. For example, a switch which is activated only when
the
upper member 280 is in the retracted position may be employed. Alternatively,
the
amount of light received by the density photodetectors 293, 294 depends on
their
distance from the light source. Thus, the retracted position can be
distinguished from
the operational position by the density photodetectors 293, 294 assuming the
jammed
bill is cleared. Thus, the CPU 30 can then prompt the operator to perform the
next
steps ~in the procedure based on whether the upper member 280 is in the
operational
or retracted position.
The operator returns the hopper tray 209 to its normal position (step 432) and
selects a continue key 65 (step 434) on the control panel 61 (shown in Fig.
12). The
machine then checks the density photodetectors 293, 294 and the currency
denomination photodetectors 26a and 26b to ensure that the jam has been
completely
cleared (step 436). If the machine still detects the presence of a jammed
bill, then
the machine performs the entire clearance process again.
If no bill is detected, then the display 63 returns to its normal counting
mode
(step 438) and all totals are reset to the recorded amount prior to the
processing of
the initial bill in the stack of bills which produced the jam (step 440). The
operator
then gathers all bills in the stack which produced the jam from the output
receptacle
and the input receptacle including the jammed bills, and returns them as a
stack to the
input receptacle to be recounted and rediscriminated (step 441). The stacker
motor
216 and the transport motor 260 are then started (step 442) and the CPU 30
begins to
run the main programming loop (step 444). Currency bills in the input
receptacle
will now be transported by the transport mechanism and undergo the scanning
process.
Fig. 14 is a functional block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a
currency discriminator system 1662 according to the present invention. The
~~ 2178 1 99
28
discriminator system 1662 comprises an input receptacle 1664 for receiving a
stack of
currency bills. A transport mechanism defining a transport path (as
represented by
arrows A and B) transports the bills in the input receptacle past one or more
sensors
of an authenticating and discriminating unit 1666 to an output receptacle 1668
where
the bills are re-stacked such that each bill is stacked on top of or behind
the previous
bill so that the most recent bill is the top-most or rear-most bill. The
authenticating
and discriminating unit scans and determines the denomination of each passing
bill.
Any variety of discriminating techniques may be used. For example, the
discriminating method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,196 may be employed
to optically scan each bill. Depending on the
characteristics of the discriminating unit employed, the discriminator may be
able to
recognize bills only if fed face up or face down, regardless of whether fed
face up or
face down, only if fed in a forward orientation or reverse orientation,
regardless of
whether fed in a forward or reverse orientation, or some combination thereof.
Additionally, the discriminating unit may be able to scan only one side or
both sides
of a bill. In addition to determining the denomination of each scanned bill,
the
authenticating and discriminating unit 1666 may additionally include various
authenticating tests such as an ultraviolet authentication test as disclosed
in PCT
patent application Serial No. PCT/US95/02992.
Signals from the authenticating and discriminating unit 1666 are sent to a
signal processor such as a central processor unit ("CPU") 1670. The CPU 1670
records of results of the authenticating and discriminating tests in a memory
1672.
When the authenticating and discriminating unit 1666 is able to confirm the
genuineness and denomination of a bill, the value of the bill is added to a
total value
counter in memory 1672 that keeps track of the total value of the stack of
bills that
were inserted in the input receptacle 1664 and scanned by the authenticating
and
discriminating unit 1666. Additionally, depending on the mode of operation of
the
discriminator system 1662, counters associated with one or more denominations
are
maintained in the memory 1672. For example, a $1 counter may be maintained to
record how many $1 bills were scanned by the authenticating and discriminating
unit
1666. Likewise, a $5 counter may be maintained to record how many $5 bills
were
scanned, and so on. In an operating mode where individual denomination
counters
WO 96!10800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
29
are maintained, the total value of the scanned bills may be determined without
maintaining a separate total value counter. The total value of the scanned
bills and/or
the number of each individual denomination may be displayed on a display 1674
such
as a monitor or LCD display.
As discussed above, a discriminating unit such a$ the authenticating and
discriminating unit 1666 may not be able to identify the denomination of one
or more
bills in the stack of bills loaded into the input receptacle 1664. For
example, if a bill
is excessively worn or soiled or if the bill is torn a discriminating unit may
not be
able to identify the bill. Furthermore, some known discrimination methods do
not
have a high discrimination efficiency and thus are unable to identify bills
which vary
even somewhat from an "ideal" bill condition or which are even somewhat
displaced
by the transport mechanism relative to the scanning mechanism used to
discriminate
bills. Accordingly, such poorer performing discriminating units may yield a
relatively large number of bills which are not identified. Alternatively, some
discriminating units may be capable of identifying bills only when they are
fed in a
predetermined manner. For example, some discriminators may require a bill to
be
faced in a predetermined manner. Accordingly, when a bill is fed face down
past a
discriminating unit which can only identify bills fed face up, the
discriminating unit
can not identify the bill. Likewise, other discriminators require a specific
edge of a
bill to be fed first, for example, the top edge of a bill. Accordingly, bills
which are
not fed in the forward direction, that is, those that are fed in the reverse
direction,
are not identified by such a discriminating unit.
According to one embodiment, the discriminator system 1662 is designed so
that when the authenticating and discriminating unit is unable to identify a
bill, the
transport mechanism is stopped so that the unidentified bill is the last bill
transported
to the output receptacle. After the transport mechanism stops, the
unidentified bill is
then, for example, positioned at the top of or at the rear of the stack of
bills in the
output receptacle 1668. The output receptacle 1668 is preferably positioned
within
the discriminator system 1662 so that the operator may conveniently see the
flagged
- 30 bill and/or remove it for closer inspection. Accordingly, the operator is
able to
easily see the bill which has not been identified by the authenticating and
discriminating unit 1666. The operator may then either visually inspect the
flagged
WO 96/10800 2 ~'~ 819 9 PCT/US95/11393
bill while it is resting on the top of or at the rear of the stack, or
alternatively, the
operator may chose to remove the bill from the output receptacle in order to
examine
the flagged bill more closely. The discriminator system 1662 may be designed
to
continue operation automatically when a flagged bill is removed from the
output
5 receptacle or, according to one embodiment of the present invention, may be
designed to require a selection element to be depressed. Upon examination of a
flagged bill by the operator, it may be found that the flagged bill is genuine
even
though is was not identified by the discriminating unit. However, because the
bill
was not identified, the total value and/or denomination counters in the memory
1672
10 will not reflect its value. According to one embodiment, such an
unidentified bill is
removed from the output stack and either re-fed through the discriminator or
set
aside. In the latter case, any genuine set aside bills are counted by hand.
In some discriminators, unidentified bills are routed to a separate reject
receptacle. In prior such systems, an unidentified genuine bill would have to
be
15 removed from a reject receptacle and re-fed through the discriminator or
the stack of
rejected bills would have to be counted by hand and the results separately
recorded.
Furthermore, because re-fed bills have gone unidentified once, they are more
likely
to go unidentified again and ultimately may have to be counted by hand.
However,
as discussed above, such procedures may increase the chance for human error or
at
20 least lower the efficiency of the discriminator and the operator.
In order to avoid problems associated with re-feeding bills, counting bills by
hand, and adding together separate totals, according to one embodiment of the
present invention a number of selection elements associated with individual
denominations are provided. In FIGs. 1 and 14, these selection elements are in
the
25 form of keys or buttons of a keypad 1676. Other types of selection elements
such as
switches or displayed keys in a touch-screen environment may be employed. The
operation of the selection elements will be described in more detail in
connection with
Fig. 17 but briefly when an operator determines that a flagged bill is
acceptable, the
operator may simply depress the selection element associated with the
denomination
30 of the flagged bill and the corresponding denomination counter and/or the
total value
counter are appropriately incremented and the discriminator system 1662 or 10
resumes operating again. As discussed above, a bill may be flagged for any
number
n
WO 96110800 PCT/US95/11393
31
of reasons including the bill being a no call or suspect bill. In non-
automatic restart
discriminators, where an operator has removed a genuine flagged bill from the
output
receptacle for closer examination, the bill is first replaced into the output
receptacle
before a corresponding selection element is chosen. An advantage of the above
described procedure is that appropriate counters are incremented and the
discriminator is restarted with the touch of a single key, greatly simplifying
the
operation of the discriminator system 1662 or 10 while reducing the
opportunities for
human error. When an operator determines that a flagged bill is not
acceptable, the
operator may remove the unacceptable flagged bill from the output receptacle
without
replacement and depress a continuation key on the keypad 1676 or 62. When the
continuation key is selected the denomination counters and the total value
counter are
not affected and the discriminator system 1662 or 10 will resume operating
again. In
automatic restart discriminators, the removal of a bill from the output
receptacle is
treated as an indication that the bill is unacceptable and the discriminator
automatically resumes operation without affecting the denomination counters
and/or
total value counters.
Turning now to Fig. 15, there is shown a functional block diagram illustrating
another embodiment of a document authenticator and discriminator according to
the
present invention. The discriminator system 1680 comprises an input receptacle
1682
for receiving a stack of currency bills. A transport mechanism defining a
transport
path (as represented by arrow C) transports the bills in the input receptacle,
one at a
time, past one or more sensors of an authenticating and discriminating unit
1684.
Based on the results of the authenticating and discriminating unit 1684, a
bill is either
transported to one of a plurality of output receptacles 1686 (arrow D), to a
reject
receptacle 1688 (arrow E), or to an operator inspection station 1690 (arrow
F).
When is bill is determined to be genuine and its denomination has been
identified, the
bill is transported to one of a plurality of output receptacles. For example,
the
discriminator system 1680 may comprise seven output receptacles 1686, one
associated with each of seven U.S. denominations, i.e., $1, $2, $5, $10, $20,
$50,
and $100. The transport mechanism directs (arrow D) the identified bill to the
corresponding output receptacle. Alternatively, where the authenticating and
discriminating unit determines that a bill is a fake, the bill is immediately
routed
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ ~ $ 1 ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
32
(arrow E) to the reject receptacle 1688. Finally, if a bill is not determined
to be fake
but for some reason the authenticating and discriminating unit 1684 is not
able to
identify the denomination of the bill, the flagged bill is routed (arrow F) to
an
inspection station and the discriminator system 1680 stops operating. The
inspection
station is preferably positioned within the discriminator system 1680 so that
the
operator may conveniently see the flagged bill and/or remove it for closer
inspection.
If the operator determines that the bill is acceptable, the operator returns
the bill to
the inspection station if it was removed and selects a selection element (not
shown)
corresponding to the denomination of the flagged bill. Appropriate counters
(not
~ shown) are incremented, the discriminator system 1680 resumes operation, and
the
flagged bill is routed (arrow G) to the output receptacle associated with the
chosen
selection element. On the other hand, if the operator determines that the
flagged bill
is unacceptable, the operator returns the bill to the inspection station if it
was
removed and selects a continuation element (not shown). The discriminator
system
1680 resumes operation, and the flagged bill is routed (arrow H) to the reject
receptacle 1688 without incrementing the counters associated with the various
denomination and/or the total value counters. Alternatively, the discriminator
system
1680 may permit the operator to place any unacceptable unidentified bills
aside or
into the reject receptacle by hand. While transport paths D and G and paths E
and H
are illustrated as separate paths, paths D and G and paths E and H,
respectively, may
be the same path so that all bills proceeding to either one of the output
receptacles
1686 or the reject receptacle 1688, respectively, are routed through the
inspection
station 1690.
Turning now to Fig. 16a, there is shown a functional block diagram
illustrating another embodiment of a document authenticator and discriminator
according to the present invention. The discriminator system 1692 comprises an
input receptacle 1694 for receiving a stack of currency bills. A transport
mechanism
(as represented by arrow I) transports the bills in the input receptacle, one
at a time,
past one or more sensors of an authenticating and discriminating unit 1696.
Based on
the results of the authenticating and discriminating unit 1684, a bill is
either
transported to a single output receptacle 1698 (arrow n or to an operator
inspection
station 1699 (arrow K). When is bill is determined to be genuine and its
WO 96/10800 . ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
33
denomination has been identified, the bill is transported to the single output
receptacle. Alternatively, where the authenticating and discriminating unit
determines
that a bill is a fake or for some reason the authenticating and discriminating
unit 1684
is not able to identify the denomination of the bill, the flagged bill is
routed (arrow
K) to an inspection station and the discriminator system ' 1692 stops
operating. The
inspection station is preferably positioned within the discriminator system
1692 so
that the operator may conveniently see the flagged bill and/or remove it for
closer
inspection. Where a bill has been positively determined to be a fake by the
authenticating and discriminating unit 1696, an appropriate indication, for
example,
via a message in a display or the illumination of a light, can be given to the
operator
as to the lack of genuineness of the bill. The operator may then remove the
bill
without replacement from the inspection station 1699 and select a continuation
element. Where a bill has not been positively identified as a fake nor has had
its
denomination identified and where the operator determines that the bill is
acceptable,
the operator returns the bill to the inspection station if it was removed and
selects a
selection element (not shown) corresponding to the denomination of the flagged
bill.
Appropriate counters (not shown) are incremented, the discriminator system
1692
resumes operation, and the flagged bill is routed (arrow L) to the single
output
receptacle 1698. On the other hand, if the operator determines that the
flagged bill is
unacceptable, the operator removes the bill without replacement form the
inspection
station and selects a continuation element (not shown). The discriminator
system
1692 resumes operation without incrementing the counters associated with the
various
denomination and/or the total value counters. While transport paths J and L
are
illustrated as separate paths, they may be the same path so that all bills
proceeding to
the single output receptacle 1698 are routed through the inspection station
1699.
Turning now to Fig. 16b, there is shown a functional block diagram
illusuating another embodiment of a document authenticator and discriminator
according to the present invention. The discriminator system 2202 comprises an
input receptacle 2204 for receiving a stack of currency bills. A transport
mechanism
defining a transport path (as represented by arrow M) transports the bills in
the input
receptacle, one at a time, past one or more sensors of an authenticating and
discriminating unit 2206. Bills are then transported to one of a plurality of
output
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ PCT/US95I11393
34
receptacles 2208 (arrow N). In one embodiment, where the authenticating and
discriminating unit determines that a'-bill is a fake, the flagged bill is
routed to a
separate one of said output receptacles. The operation of the discriminator
may or
may not then be suspended. When a bill is not determined to be fake but for
some
reason the authenticating and discriminating unit 1684 is not able to identify
the
denomination of the bill, the no call bill may be transported one of the
output
receptacles. In one embodiment, no call bills are transported to a separate
one of the
output receptacles. In another embodiment, no calls are not delivered to a
special
separate output receptacle. The operation of the discriminator may or may not
then
be suspended. For example, in a two output pocket discriminator, all bills may
be
transported to the same output receptacle regardless of whether they are
determined
to be suspect, no call, or properly identified. In this example, the operation
of the
discriminator may be suspended and an appropriate message displayed when a
suspect
or no call bill is encountered. Alternatively, suspect bills may be delivered
to one of
the output receptacles (i.e., a reject receptacle) and no calls and identified
bills may
be sent to the other output receptacle. In this example, the operation of the
discriminator need not be suspended when a suspect bill is encountered but may
be
suspended when a no call bill is encountered. If the operation is suspended at
the
time the no call bill is detected and the operator determines that the no call
bill is
acceptable, the operator returns the bill to the output receptacle from which
it was
removed (if it was removed) and selects a selection element (not shown)
corresponding to the denomination of the flagged bill. Appropriate counters
(not
shown) are incremented, the discriminator system 2202 resumes operation. On
the
other hand, if the operator determines that the flagged bill is unacceptable,
the
operator removes the bill without replacement form the output receptacle and
selects
a continuation element (not shown). The discriminator system 2202 resumes
operation without incrementing the counters associated with the various
denomination
and/or the total value counters. In another embodiment, no call bills are
delivered to
an output receptacle separate from the one or more output receptacles
receiving
identified bills. The operation of the discriminator need not be suspended
until all
the bills placed in the input receptacle have been processed: The value of any
no call
bills may then be added to the appropriate counters after the stack of bills
has been
WO 96/10800 . ~ PCT/US95/11393
processed through a reconciliation process. The entering of the value of no
call bills
is discussed in more detail below in connection with FIGs. 19-24.
The operation of the selection elements according to one embodiment will now
be described in more detail in conjunction with Fig. 17 which is a front view
of a
5 control panel 61 of one embodiment of the present invention. The control
panel 61
comprises a keypad 62 and a display section 63. The keypad 62 comprises a
plurality of keys including seven denomination selection elements 64a-64g,
each
associated with one of seven U.S. currency denominations, i.e., $1, $2, $5,
$10,
$20, $50, and $100. For foreign bill discriminators, the denomination
selection
10 elements may be labeled according to the currency system which a
discriminator is
designed to handle and accordingly, there may be more or less than seven
denomination selection elements. The $1 denomination selection key 64a also
serves
as a mode selection key. The keypad 62 also comprises a "Continuation"
selection
element 65. Various information such as instructions, mode selection
information,
l5 authentication and discrimination information, individual denomination
counter
values, and total batch counter value are communicated to the operator via an
LCD
66 in the display section 63. A discriminator according to one embodiment of
the
present invention has a number of operating modes including a mixed mode, a
stranger mode, a sort mode, a face mode, and a forward/reverse orientation
mode.
20 The operation of a discriminator having the denomination selection elements
64a-64g
and the continuation element 65 will now be discussed in connection with
several
operating modes.
(A) Mixed Mode
Mixed mode is designed to accept a stack of bills of mixed denomination,
25 total the aggregate value of all the bills in the stack and display the
aggregate value in
the display 63. Information regarding the number of bills of each individual
denomination in a stack may also be stored in denomination counters. When an
otherwise acceptable bill remains unidentified after passing through the
authenticating
and discriminating unit, operation of the discriminator may be resumed and the
30 corresponding denomination counter and/or the aggregate value counter may
be
appropriately incremented by selecting the denomination selection key 64a-64g
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ r~ ~ .. _ PCT/US95/11393
36
associated with the denomination of the unidentified bill. For example, if the
discriminator system 62 of Fig. 14 or 10 of FIG. 1 stops operation with an
otherwise
acceptable $5 bill being the last bill deposited in the output receptacle, the
operator
may simply select key 64b. When key 64b is depressed, the operation of the
discriminator is resumed and the $5 denomination counter is incremented and/or
the
aggregate value counter is incremented by $5. Furthermore, in the
discriminator
systems 1680 of Fig. 15 and 1692 of Fig. 16, the flagged bill may be routed
from the
inspection station to an appropriate output receptacle. Otherwise, if the
operator
determines the flagged bill is unacceptable, the bill may be removed from the
output
receptacle of FIGs. 1 or 14 or the inspection station of FIGs. 15 and 16a (or
in the
system 1680 of Fig. 15, the flagged bill may be routed to the reject
receptacle 1688).
The continuation key 65 is depressed after the unacceptable bill is removed,
and the
discriminator resumes operation without affecting the total value counter
and/or the
individual denomination counters.
B) Stranger Mode
Stranger mode is designed to accommodate a stack of bills all having the same
denomination, such as a stack of $10 bills. In such a mode, when a stack of
bills is
processed by the discriminator the denomination of the first bill in the stack
is
determined and subsequent bills are flagged if they are not of the same
denomination.
Alternatively, the discriminator may be designed to permit the operator to
designate
the denomination against which bills will be evaluated with those of a
different
denomination being flagged. Assuming the first bill in a stack determines the
relevant denomination and assuming the first bill is a $10 bill, then provided
all the
bills in the stack are $10 bills, the display 63 will indicate the aggregate
value of the
bills in the stack and/or the number of $10 bills in the stack. However, if a
bill
having a denomination other than $10 is included in the stack, the
discriminator will
stop operating with the non-$10 bill or "stranger bill" being the last bill
deposited in
the output receptacle in the case of the discriminator system 62 of Fig. 14 or
10 of
FIG. 1 (or the inspection station of FIGs. 15 and 16a). The stranger bill may
then be
removed from the output receptacle and the discriminator is started again
either
automatically or by depression of the "Continuation" key 65 depending on the
set up
WO 96/10800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
37
of the discriminator system. An unidentified but otherwise acceptable $10 bill
may
be handled in a manner similar to that described above in connection with the
mixed
mode, e.g., by depressing the $10 denomination selection element 64c, or
alternatively, the unidentified but otherwise acceptable $10 bill may be
removed from
the output receptacle and placed into the input hopper to be re-scanned. Upon
the
completion of processing the entire stack, the display 63 will indicate the
aggregate
value of the $10 bills in the stack and/or the number of $10 bills in the
stack. All
bills having a denomination other than $10 will have been set aside and will
not be
included in the totals. Alternatively, these stranger bills can be included in
the totals
via operator selection choices. For example, if a $S stranger bill is detected
and
flagged in a stack of $10 bills, the operator may be prompted via the display
as to
whether the $S bill should be incorporated into the running totals. If the
operator
responds positively, the $5 bill is incorporated into appropriate running
totals,
otherwise it is not. Alternatively, when the discriminator stops on a stranger
bill,
such as a $5, the operator may depress the denomination selection element
associated
with that denomination to cause the value of the stranger bill to be
incorporated into
the totals. Likewise for other types of flagged bills such as no calls.
Alternatively, a
set-up selection may be chosen whereby all stranger bills are automatically
incorporated into appropriate running totals.
(C) Sort Mode
According to one embodiment, the sort mode is designed to accommodate a
stack of bills wherein the bills are separated by denomination. For example,
all the
$1 bills may be placed at the beginning of the stack, followed by all the $5
bills,
followed by all the $10 bills, etc. Alternatively, the sort mode may be used
in
conjunction with a stack of bills wherein the bills are mixed by denomination.
The
operation of the sort mode is similar to that of the stranger mode except that
after
stopping upon the detection of a different denomination bill, the
discriminator is
designed to resume operation upon removal of all bills from the output
receptacle.
Returning to the above example, assuming the first bill in a stack determines
the
relevant denomination and assuming the first bill is a $1 bill, then the
discriminator
processes the bills in the stack until the first non-$1 bill is detected,
which in this
WO 96/10800 2 ~ ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
38
example is the first $5 bill. At that point, the discriminator will stop
operating with
the first $5 being the last bill deposited in the output receptacle. The
display 63 may
be designed to indicate the aggregate value of the preceding $1 bills
processed and/or
the number of preceding $1 bills. The scanned $1 bills and the first $5 bill
are
removed from the output receptacle and placed in separate $1 and $5 bill
stacks. The
discriminator will start again automatically and subsequent bills will be
assessed
relative to being $5 bills. The discriminator continues processing bills until
the first
$10 bill is encountered. The above procedure is repeated and the discriminator
resumes operation until encountering the first bill which is not a $10 bill,
and so on.
Upon the completion of processing the entire stack, the display 63 will
indicate the
aggregate value of all the bills in the stack and/or the number of bills of
each
denomination in the stack. This mode permits the operator to separate a stack
of bills
having multiple denominations into separate stacks according to denomination.
(D) Face Mode
Face mode is designed to accommodate a stack of bills all faced in the same
direction, e.g., all placed in the input hopper face up (that is the portrait
or black
side up for U.S. bills) and to detect any bills facing the opposite direction.
In such a
mode, when a stack of bills is processed by the discriminator, the face
orientation of
the first bill in the stack is determined and subsequent bills are flagged if
they do not
have the same face orientation. Alternatively, the discriminator may be
designed to
permit designation of the face orientation to which bills will be evaluated
with those
having a different face orientation being flagged. Assuming the first bill in
a stack
determines the relevant face orientation and assuming the first bill is face
up, then
provided all the bills in the stack are face up, the display 63 will indicate
the
aggregate value of the bills in the stack and/or the number of bills of each
denomination in the stack. However, if a bill faced in the opposite direction
(i.e.,
face down in this example) is included in the stack, the discriminator will
stop
operating with the reverse-faced bill being the last bill deposited in the
output
receptacle. The reverse-faced bill then may be removed from the output
receptacle.
In automatic re-start embodiments, the removal of the reverse-faced bill
causes the
discriminator to continue operating. The removed bill may then be placed into
the
rt. T .
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
39
input receptacle with the proper face orientation. Alternatively, in non-
automatic re-
start embodiments, the reverse-faced bill may be either placed into the input
receptacle with the proper face orientation and the continuation key 65
depressed, or
placed back into the output receptacle with the proper face orientation.
Depending on
the set up of the discriminator when a bill is placed back into the output
receptacle
with the proper face orientation, the denomination selection key associated
with the
reverse-faced bill may be selected, whereby the associated denomination
counter
and/or aggregate value counter are appropriately incremented and the
discriminator
resumes operation. Alternatively, in embodiments wherein the discriminator is
capable of determining denomination regardless of face orientation, the
continuation
key 65 or a third key may be depressed whereby the discriminator resumes
operation
and the appropriate denomination counter and/or total value counter is
incremented in
accordance with the denomination identified by the discriminating unit. In
discriminators that require a specific face orientation, any reverse-faced
bills will be
unidentified bills. In discriminators that can accept a bill regardless of
face
orientation, reverse-faced bills may be properly identified. The later type of
discriminator may have a discriminating unit with a scanhead on each side of
the
transport path. Examples of such dual-sided discriminators are disclosed above
(see
e.g., FIGs. 2, 5, and 6. The ability to detect and correct for reverse-faced
bills is
important as the Federal Reserve requires currency it receives to be faced in
the same
direction.
In a mufti-output receptacle discriminator, the face mode may be used to route
all bills facing upward to one output receptacle and all bills facing downward
to
another output receptacle. In single-sided discriminators, reverse-faced bills
may be
routed to an inspection station such as 1690 of Fig. 15 for manual turnover by
the
operator and the unidentified reverse-faced bills may then be passed by the
discriminator again. In dual-sided discriminators, identified reverse-faced
bills may
be routed directly to an appropriate output receptacle. For example, in dual-
sided
discriminators bills may be sorted both by face orientation and by
denomination, e.g.,
face up $1 bills into pocket #1, face down $1 bills into pocket #2, face up $5
bills
into pocket #3, and so on or simply by denomination, regardless of face
orientation,
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
e.g., all $1 bills into pocket #1 regardless of face orientation, all $2 bills
into pocket
#2, etc.
(E) Forward/Reverse Orientation Mode
Forward/Reverse Orientation mode ("Orientation"' mode) is designed to
5 accommodate a stack of bills all oriented in a predetermined forward or
reverse
orientation direction. For example in a discriminator that feeds bills along
their
narrow dimension, the forward direction may be defined as the fed direction
whereby
the top edge of a bill is fed first and conversely for the reverse direction.
In a
discriminator that feeds bills along their long dimension, the forward
direction may
10 be defined as the fed direction whereby the left edge of a bill is fed
first and
conversely for the reverse direction. In such a mode, when a stack of bills is
processed by the discriminator, the forward/reverse orientation of the first
bill in the
stack is determined and subsequent bills are flagged if they do not have the
same
forward/reverse orientation. Alternatively, the discriminator may be designed
to
15 permit the operator to designate the forward/reverse orientation against
which bills
will be evaluated with those having a different forward/reverse orientation
being
flagged. Assuming the first bill in a stack determines the relevant
forward/reverse
orientation and assuming the first bill is fed in the forward direction, then
provided
all the bills in the stack are also fed in the forward direction, the display
63 will
20 indicate the aggregate value of the bills in the stack and/or the number of
bills of
each denomination in the stack. However, if a bill having the opposite
forward/reverse orientation is included in the stack, the discriminator will
stop
operating with the opposite forward/reverse oriented bill being the last bill
deposited
in the output receptacle. The opposite forward/reverse oriented bill then may
be
25 removed from the output receptacle. In automatic re-start embodiments, the
removal
of the opposite forward/reverse oriented bill causes the discriminator to
continue
operating. The removed bill may then be placed into the input receptacle with
the
proper face orientation. Alternatively, in non-automatic re-start embodiments,
the
opposite forward/reverse oriented bill may be either placed into the input
receptacle
30 with the proper forward/reverse orientation and the continuation key 65
depressed, or
placed back into the output receptacle with the proper forward/reverse
orientation.
n
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
..
41
Depending on the set up of the discriminator when a bill is placed back into
the
output receptacle with the proper forward/reverse orientation, the
denomination
selection key associated with the opposite forward/reverse oriented bill may
be
selected, whereby the associated denomination counter and/or aggregate value
counter
are appropriately incremented and the discriminator resumes operation.
Alternatively, in embodiments wherein the discriminator is capable of
determining
denomination regardless of forward/reverse orientation, the continuation key
65 or a
the third key may be depressed whereby the discriminator resumes operation and
the
appropriate denomination counter and/or total value counter is incremented in
accordance with the denomination identified by the discriminating unit. In
single-
direction discriminators, any reverse-oriented bills will be unidentified
bills. In dual-
direction discriminators, reverse-oriented bills may be properly identified by
the
discriminating unit. An example of a dual-direction discriminating system is
described above connection with FIGs. 1-2 and in United States Pat. No.
5,295,196.
The ability to detect and correct for reverse-oriented bills is important as
the Federal
Reserve may soon require currency it receives to be oriented in the same
forward/reverse direction.
In a mufti-output receptacle discriminator, the orientation mode may be used
to route all bills oriented in the forward direction to one output receptacle
and all
bills oriented in the reverse direction to another output receptacle. In
single-direction
discriminators, reverse-oriented bills may be routed to an inspection station
such as
1690 of Fig. 15 for manual turnover by the operator and the unidentified
reverse-
oriented bills may then be passed by the discriminator again. In
discriminators
capable of identifying bills fed in both forward and reverse directions ("dual-
direction
discriminators"), identified reverse-oriented bills may be routed directly to
an
appropriate output receptacle. For example, in dual-direction discriminators
bills
may be sorted both by forward/reverse orientation and by denomination, e. g. ,
forward $1 bills into pocket #1, reverse $1 bills into pocket #2, forward $5
bills into
pocket #3, and so on or simply by denomination, regardless of forward/reverse
orientation, e.g., all $1 bills into pocket #1 regardless of forward/reverse
orientation,
all $2 bills into pocket #2, etc.
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95111393
42
(F) Off Sort Mode
Fig. 18 is a flow chart illustrating the sequential procedure involved in the
performing a sorting operation according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
The operator of a currency discriminating device embodying a sorting method in
accordance with the present invention selects a desired denomination to be off-
sorted.
A stack of currency to be processed is then placed in the input receptacle of
the
discriminator and the discriminator begins processing the bills. The
discriminator
determines the denomination of each bill in the stack. A bill whose
denomination the
discriminator is unable to determine to a requisite degree of certainty is
termed a no
call bill. The discriminator may also incorporate various authentication
means. A
bill failing one or more authentication tests is termed a suspect bill.
The procedure of Fig. 18 begins at subroutine step 100 and it is first
determined whether the discriminator is expecting the current bill to be a
bill having
the desired or specified denomination (step 102). If the answer is no,
processing
proceeds to step 104 where it is determined whether the current bill is a bill
of the
desired denomination. If the answer is no, the value of the current bill is
added to
the total (step 106) and the subroutine is ended (step 108). If the answer is
yes, the
next bill is also expected to be a bill of the desired denomination and
accordingly a
flag bit is set indicating that the next bill is expected to be a bill of the
desired
denomination (step 110). Subsequently, a denomination change message is
displayed
(step 112) and a flag is set causing the discriminator to halt operation with
the current
bill being the last bill deposited in the output receptacle (step 114). A flag
may be
set to handle the processing of the first bill in the stack so that the
discriminator will
not halt if the first bill has the specified denomination. The denomination
change
message indicates why the discriminator has stopped operating and aids in
distinguishing from other reasons why the discriminator may have stopped such
as the
detection of a no call or suspect bill. According to one embodiment, when the
discriminator flags a bill, the bill immediately upstream of the flagged bill
is scanned
by the discriminator before the discriminator halts and the flagged bill is
the last bill
output to the output receptacle. The value of the current bill is added to the
total
(step 106) and the subroutine is ended (step 108).
n f
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
_ 43
Returning to step 102, if the current bill is expected to have the desired
denomination, i.e., the preceding bill had the desired denomination, the
subroutine
branches to step 116 where it is determined whether the current bill indeed
has the
desired denomination. If the current does have the desired denomination, its
value is
added to the running total (step 106) and the subroutine ended (step 108). If
at step
116 the current bill does not have the desired denomination, the expecting the
desired
denomination flag bit is reset (step 118), a denomination change message is
displayed
(step 112), and a flag is set causing the discriminator to halt operation with
the
current bill being the last bill deposited in the output receptacle (step
114). The
value of the current bill is added to the total (step 106) and the subroutine
is ended
(step 108).
For example, assume the desired off sort denomination is selected to be $20
bills and a stack of bills having the following denominations is inserted into
the input
receptacle of a discriminator possessing an embodiment of the sorting
operating mode
according to the present invention: $1, $1, $5, $5, $1, $20, $20, $20, $20,
$5, $5,
$20, $20, $20. When the stack is placed in the input receptacle or hopper, the
discriminating device may automatically start processing the bills or
alternatively may
require the selection of a start key. The currency discriminator processes the
first six
bills, discriminates their denomination, totals their values, and halts with
the sixth
bill, i.e., the first $20 bill, being the last bill in the output receptacle.
Depending on
the setup of the discriminator, the discriminator may halt after one or more
bills
upstream of the sixth bill are scanned but before they are output to the
output
receptacle. The operator then removes all six bills and separates the first
five bills
into one pile, e.g., pile A, and the sixth bill, namely, the $20 bill, into
another pile,
e.g., pile B. Depending on the setup of the currency discriminator, the
discriminating device may continue to process the remaining bills
automatically when
the stack of six bills is removed or may continue processing the remaining
bills when
a continue element is selected. The discriminator then processes the next four
bills,
discriminates their denomination, adds their values to the running total, and
halts with
the tenth bill, i.e., the $5 bill, being the last bill output to the output
receptacle. The
operator may then remove all the bills from the output receptacle, placing the
three
$20 bills in pile B and the last $5 bill in pile A. The discriminator then
processes the
WO 96/10800
PCT/US95/11393
44
next two remaining bills, discriminates their denomination, adds their values
to the
running total, and halts with the twelfth bill, i.e., the $20 bill, being the
last bill
output to the output receptacle. The operation then continues to proceed in
the
manner described above.
In an alternative embodiment, instead of halting the device with the flagged
bill being the last bill output to the output receptacle, the device may halt
with the
flagged bill being at an identifiable location, e. g. , the second to last
bill output to the
output receptacle, and the display may indicate the location of the flagged
bill, e. g. ,
"denomination changed with second to the last bill in the output bin. "
Suspect Mode
In addition to the above modes, a suspect mode may be activated in
connection with these modes whereby one or more authentication tests may be
performed on the bills in a stack. When a bill fails an authentication test,
the
discriminator will stop with the failing or suspect bill being the last bill
transported to
the output receptacle. The suspect bill then may be removed from the output
receptacle and set aside.
Likewise, one or more of the above described modes may be activated at the
same time. For example, the face mode and the forward/reverse orientation mode
may be activated at the same time. In such a case, bills that are either
reverse-faced
or opposite forward/reverse oriented will be flagged
According to one embodiment, when a bill is flagged, for example, by
stopping the transport motor with the flagged bill being the last bill
deposited in the
output receptacle, the discriminating device indicates to the operator why the
bill was
flagged. This indication may be accomplished by, for example, lighting an
appropriate light, generating an appropriate sound, and/or displaying an
appropriate
message in the display section 63 (Fig. 17). Such indication might include,
for
example, "no call", "stranger", "failed magnetic test", "failed UV test", "no
security
thread", etc.
Means for entering the value of no call bills were discussed above in
connection with Fig. 17 and the operating modes discussed above. Now several
n T
WO 96/10800 ~ ~r PCT/US95/11393
additional means will be discussed in connection with FIGs. 19-24 Fig. 19 is a
front
view of a control panel 2302 similar to that of Fig. 17. The control panel
2302
comprises a display area 2304, several denomination selection elements 2306x-g
in
the form of keys, left and right scroll keys 2308x-b, an accept selection
element
5 2310, and a continuation selection element 2312. Each' denomination
selection
element 2306x-g has a prompting means associated therewith. In Fig. 19, the
prompting means are in the form of small lights or lamps 2314x-g such as LEDs.
In
Fig. 19, the light 2314d associated with the $10 denomination key 2306d is
illuminated so as to prompt the operator that a denomination of $10 is being
10 suggested. Alternatively, instead of the lamps 2314x-g being separate from
the
denomination keys 2306x-g, the denomination keys could be in the form of
illuminable keys whereby one of the keys 2306x-g would light up to suggest its
corresponding denomination to the operator. In place of, or in addition to,
the
illuminable lights 2314x-g or keys, the display area 2304 may contain a
message to
15 prompt or suggest a denomination to the operator. In Fig. 19, the display
area 2304
contains the message "$10?" to suggest the denomination of $10. In the
embodiment
of Fig. 17, the display area 63 may be used to suggest a denomination to the
operator
without the need of illuminable lights and keys.
The control panel 2402 of Fig. 20 is similar to the control panel 2302 of Fig.
20 19; however, the denomination selection elements 2406x-g, scroll keys 2408x-
b,
accept key 2410, and continuation key 2412 are displayed keys in a touch-
screen
environment. To select any given key, the operator touches the screen in the
area of
the key to be selected. The operation of a touch screen is described in more
detail in
connection with Fig. 25. The discriminator may contain prompting means to
suggest
25 a denomination to the operator. For example, an appropriate message may be
displayed in a display area 2404. Alternatively, or additionally, the
prompting means
may include means for highlighting one of the denomination selection elements
2406x-g. For example, the appearance of one of the denomination selection
elements
may be altered such as by making it lighter or darker than the remaining
30 denomination selection elements or reversing the video display (e. g. ,
making light
portions dark and making the dark portions light or swapping the background
and
foreground colors). Alternatively, a designated denomination selection element
may
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
46
be highlighted by surrounding it with a box, such as box 2414 surrounding the
$10
key 2406d.
Another embodiment of a control panel 2502 is depicted in Fig. 21. The
control panel 2502 has several denomination indicating elements 2506a-g in the
form
of menu list 2505, scroll keys 2508a-b, an accept selection element 2510, and
a
continuation selection element 2512. The various selection elements may be,
for
example, physical keys or displayed keys in a touch screen environment. For
example, the menu list 2505 may be displayed in a non-touch screen activated
display
area while the scroll keys 2508a-b, accept key 2510, and continuation key 2512
may
be physical keys or displayed touch screen keys. In such an environment a user
may
accept a denominational selection by pressing the accept key 2510 when the
desired
denomination indicating element is highlighted and may use the scroll keys
2508a-b
to vary the denomination indicating element that is highlighted.
Alternatively, the
denomination indicating elements 2506a-g may themselves be selection elements
such
as by being displayed touch screen active keys. In such an embodiment a given
denomination element may be made to be highlighted and/or selected by touching
the
screen in the area of one of the denomination selection elements 2506a-g. The
touching of the screen in the area of one of the denomination selection
elements may
simply cause the associated denomination selection element to become
highlighted
requiring the touching and/or pressing of the accept key 2510 or alternatively
may
constitute acceptance of the associated denomination selection element without
requiring the separate selection of the accept key 2510. The discriminator may
contain prompting means to suggest a denomination to the operator. For
example, an
appropriate message may be displayed in a display area 2504. Alternatively, or
additionally, the prompting means may include means for highlighting one of
the
denomination indicating elements 2506a-g. For example, the appearance of one
of
the denomination indicating elements may be altered such as by making it
lighter or
darker than the remaining denomination indicating elements or by reversing the
video
display (e.g., making light portions dark and making the dark portions light
or
swapping the background and foreground colors). In Fig: 21, the hash marks are
used to symbolize the alternating of the display of the $10 denomination
indicating
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
47
element 2506d relative to the other denomination indicating elements such as
by
using a reverse video display.
Control panel 2602 of Fig. 22 is similar to control panel 2502 of Fig. 21;
however, the control panel 2602 does not have a separate display area.
Additionally,
the order of the denomination indicating elements 2606a-g of menu list 2605 is
varied
relative to those of menu list 2505. The order of the denomination selection
element
may be user-defined (i.e., the operator may preset the order in which the
denominations should be listed) or may be determined by the discriminator and
be,
for example, based on the historical occurrence of no calls of each
denomination,
based on the denomination of the most recently detected no call, based on
calculated
correlation values for a given no call bill, or perhaps based on random
selection.
Such criteria will be described in more detail below.
The control panel 2702 of FIGS. 23a and 23b comprises a display area 2704,
an accept key 2710, a next or other denomination key 2711, and a continuation
key
2712. Alternatively, the accept key may be designated a "YES" key while the
other
denomination key may be designated a "NO" key. These keys may be physical keys
or displayed keys. The discriminator prompts or suggest a denomination by
displaying an appropriate message in the display area 2704. If the operator
wishes to
accept this denomination suggestion, the accept key 2710 may be selected. If
other
the operator wishes to select a different denomination, the other denomination
key
2711 may be selected. If in the example given in FIG. 23a the operator wishes
to
select a denomination other than the $5 prompted in the display area 2704, the
other
denomination key 2711 may be selected which results in prompting of a
different
denomination, e.g., $2 as shown in FIG. 23b. The "OTHER DENOM" key 2711
may be repeatedly selected to scroll through the different denominations.
The control panel 2802 of Fig. 24 is similar to that of FIGS. 23a-b and
additionally comprises scroll keys 2808a-b. These scroll keys 2808a-b may be
provided in addition to or in place of the other denomination key 2811. The
order in
which denominations are suggested to an operator, for example, in FIGS. 23 and
24,
may be based on a variety of criteria as will be discussed below such as user-
defined
criteria or order, historical information, previous bill denomination,
correlation
values, or previous no call information.
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
- 48
Now several embodiments of the operation of discriminators embodying
control panels such as those of FIGS. 17 and 19-24 will be discussed. In
particular,
several methods for reconciling the value of no call bills will be discussed
in
connection with these control panels. As discussed above, for example, in
connection
with the several previously described operating modes, when a discriminator
encounters a no call bill, that is, when a discriminator is unable to
determine or call
the denomination of a bill, any counters keeping track of the number or value
of each
denomination of bills or of the total value of the bills processed will not
include the
no call bill. Traditionally, any no calls bills had to be set aside and
manually
counted by hand with the operator being required to add their values to the
totals
provided by the discriminator. As discussed above, this can lead to errors and
reduced efficiency. To counter this problem, according to an embodiment of the
present invention, means are provided for incorporating the value of no call
bills. In
single pocket discriminators, reconciliation may be accomplished on-the-fly
with the
discriminator suspending operation when each no call is encountered, prompting
the
operator to enter the value of the no call, and then resuming operation. In
multi-
output pocket discriminators, no call bills may be reconciled either on-the-
fly or after
the completion of processing all the bills placed in the input hopper or after
completion of processing some other designated batch of bills. Under the first
approach, the operation of the discriminator is suspended when each no call
bill is
detected with or without the no call bill being routed to a special location.
The
operator is then prompted to enter the value of the no call where upon the
discriminator resumes operation. Based on the value indicated by the operator,
appropriate counters are augmented. Under the second approach, any no call
bills
are routed to a special location while the discriminator continues processing
subsequent bills. When all the bills have been processed, the operator is
prompted to
reconcile the values of any intervening no call bills. For example, assume a
stack of
fifty bills is placed in the input hopper and processed with four no calls
being routed
to a separate output receptacle from the receptacle or receptacles into which
the bills
whose denominations have been determined. After all fifty bills have been
processed, the operation of the transport mechanism is halted and the operator
is
prompted to reconcile the value of the four no call bills. The methods for
reconciling
WO 96/10800 _ ~ PCT/U595/11393
49
these four no calls will be discussed below after describing several
denomination
indicating and/or prompting means and methods. Alternatively, instead of
waiting
until all the bills in the stack have been processed, the discriminator may
prompt the
operator to reconcile the value of any no call bills while the remaining bills
are still
being processed. When the operator indicates the denominations of the no call
bills,
appropriate counters are augmented to reflect the value of the no call bills.
Several embodiments of means for permitting the operator to indicate the
value of a flagged bill such as a no call and/or for prompting the operator as
to the
value of a flagged bill such as a no call will no w be discussed. A first
method was
discussed above in connection with several operating modes and in connection
with
Fig. 17. According to one embodiment, the control panel of Fig. 17 comprises
denomination indicating means in the form of the denomination selection
elements
64a-g for permitting the operator to indicate the denomination of a bill but
does not
additionally comprise means for prompting the operator as to the denomination
of a
particular bill. Under this method, the operator examines a no call bill. If
the bill is
acceptable, the operator selects the denomination selection element associated
with
the denomination of the no call bill and the appropriate counters are
augmented to
reflect the value of the no call bill. For example, if the operator determines
a no call
bill is an acceptable $10 bill, the operator may press the $10 selection
element 64c of
Fig. 17. If the operation of the discriminator had been suspended, the
selection of a
denomination selection causes the operation of the discriminator to resume. In
a on-
the-fly reconciliating machine (i.e., one that suspends operation upon
detection of
each no call bill), if the operator determines that a particular no call bill
is
unacceptable, a continuation selection element may be selected to cause the
discriminator to resume operation without negatively affecting the status of
any
counters. Under this approach, the denomination selection elements provide the
operator with means for indicating the value of a no call bill. In FIGS. 19-
24,
additional examples of means for indicating the value of no call bills are
provided.
For example, in FIGs. 19-22, according to one embodiment, a denomination may
be
indicated in a similar manner by pressing one of the denomination selection
elements.
Alternatively, or additionally, a denomination may be indicated by selecting
one of
the denomination selection elements and selecting an accept key. Another
example of
WO 96110800 PCT/US95/11393
~~781~9
So
a method of indicating a particular denomination selection element would be by
utilizing one or more scroll keys. The selection of a denomination selection
element
may be indicated by, for example, the lights 2314 of Fig. 19, or by
highlighting a
particular selection element as in FIGs. 20-22. Alternatively a displayed
message, as
in FIGS. 19-21, 23, and 24, may be used to indicate which denomination is
currently
selected. The scroll keys could be used to alter which denomination is
presently
selected, for example, by altering which light 2314 is illuminated, which
selection
element is highlighted, or which denomination appears in the displayed
message.
Selection of an accept key while a particular denomination is selected may be
used to
indicate the selected denomination to the discriminator.
In addition to means for permitting the operator to indicate the denomination
of one or more no calls, a discriminator may be provided with one or more
means of
prompting the operator as to the denomination of a no call bill. These means
can be
the means used to indicate which denomination is currently selected, e.g., the
lights
2314 of Fig. 19, the highlighting of FIGs. 20-22, and/or the displayed message
of
FIGs. 19-21, 23, and 24. Several methods that may be employed in prompting the
operator to enter the value of one or more no call bills will now be
discussed.
A discriminator containing means for prompting an operator as to the value of
a no call bill may base its selection of the denomination to be prompted to
the
operator on a variety of criteria. According to one embodiment, default
denomination or sequence of denominations may be employed to prompt a
denomination to an operator. For example, the discriminator may begin by
prompting the lowest denomination, e.g., $1. Alternatively, the operator may
begin
by prompting the operator with the first denomination in a pre-defined
sequence or on
a menu list. The order of the denominations in the sequence or on the menu
list may
be a default order, e.g., increasing or decreasing denominational order, user-
defined
order, manufacturer-defined order.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on a random basis. The discriminator simply randomly or
pseudo-randomly chooses one of a plurality of denominations and suggests this
denomination to the operator. The denomination prompted to an operator may
remain the same for all no call bills or alternatively, a new randomly
selected
_. ,
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
_ 51
denomination may be chosen for each no call encountered. If the operator
agrees that
a given no call bill is of the denomination suggested by the prompting means
and
finds the particular no call bill to be acceptable, the operator may simply
choose the
accept element or the corresponding denomination selection element depending
on the
embodiment of the control panel employed. If the operator fords a particular
bill to
be acceptable but does not have the suggested denomination, the operator may
alter
the denomination that is selected by, for example, altering the displayed
suggested
denomination by using the scroll keys, scrolling among the plurality of
denomination
selection and/or indicating elements, or directly selecting the appropriate
denomination by pressing or touching the appropriate denomination selection
element.
If the operator finds that a no call bill is not acceptable, the operator may
simply
select a continuation key.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on the basis of the denomination of the last bill that
was
identified by the discriminator. For example, suppose the tenth bill in a
stack was
determined by the discriminator to be a $10, the eleventh bill was a no call
and
indicated by the operator to be a $5 bill, and the twelfth was a no call bill.
According to this embodiment, the discriminator would suggest to the operator
that
the twelfth bill is a $10 bill. The operator may accept this suggestion or
alter the
suggested denomination as described above.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined oa the basis of the denomination of the last no call
bill as
indicated by the operator. For example, suppose the tenth bill was a no call
and
indicated by the operator to be a $5 bill, the eleventh bill in a stack was
determined
by the discriminator to be a $10, and the twelfth was a no call bill.
According to this
embodiment, the discriminator would suggest to the operator that the twelfth
bill is a
$5 bill. The operator may accept this suggestion or alter the suggested
denomination
as described above.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on the basis of the denomination of the immediately
preceding
bill, regardless of whether the denomination of that bill was determined by
the
discriminator or was indicated by the operator. For example, suppose the tenth
bill
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
52
in a stack was determined by the discriminator to be a $10, the eleventh bill
was a no
call and indicated by the operator to be a $5 bill, and the twelfth was also a
no call
bill. According to this embodiment, the discriminator would suggest to the
operator
that the twelfth bill is a $5 bill. The operator may accept this suggestion or
alter the
suggested denomination as described above.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on the basis of historical information concerning no
call bills
such as statistical information regarding previous no call bills. For example,
suppose
that for a given discriminator 180 no calls had been encountered since the
discriminator was placed in service. According to this embodiment, information
regarding these no calls is stored in memory. Assume that. of these 180 no
call bills,
100 were indicated by the operator to be $Ss, 50 were $lOs, and the remaining
30
were $20s. According to this embodiment, the discriminator would suggest to
the
operator that a no call bill was a $5. The operator may accept this suggestion
or
alter the suggested denomination as described above. Variations on the data
which
constitute the historical basis may be made. For example, the historical basis
according to this embodiment may be all no calls encountered since a given
machine
was place in service as in the above example, the last predetermined number of
no
calls detected, e.g., the last 100 no calls detected, or the last
predetermined number
of bills processed, e.g., the no calls encountered in the last 1000 bills
processed.
Alternatively, the historical basis may be set by the manufacturer based on
historical
data retrieved from a number of discriminators.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on the basis of a comparison of information retrieved
from a
given no call bill and master information associated with genuine bills. For
example,
in some discriminators, the denomination of a bill is determined by scanning
the bill,
generating a scanned pattern from ~ information retrieved via the scanning
step, and
comparing the scanned pattern with one or more master patterns associated with
one
or more genuine bills associated with one or more denominations. If the
scanned
pattern su~ciently matches one of the master patterns, the denomination of the
bill is
called or determined to be the denomination associated with the best matching
master
pattern. However, in some discriminators, a scanned pattern must meet some
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ ~ ~ PCT/US95111393
53
threshold degree of matching or correlation before the denomination of a bill
will be
called. In such discriminators, bills whose scanned pattern does not
sufficiently
match one of the master patterns are not called, i.e., they are no calls.
According to
the present embodiment, the discriminator would suggest to the operator that a
no
call had the denomination associated with the master pattern that most closely
matched its scanned pattern even though that match was insufficient to call
the
denomination of the bill without the concurrence of the operator. The operator
may
accept this suggestion or alter the suggested denomination as described above.
For
example, in a discriminator similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No.
5,295,196, the
discriminator may prompt the operator with the denomination associated with
the
master pattern that has the highest correlation with the scanned pattern
associated
with the given no call bill. Additional examples may be made with reference to
FIGs. 3 and 4a-c. For example, with respect to Fig. 3, if the highest
correlation for
a bill is below 800, the bill is a no call bill. In such a case, assume the
highest
correlation is 790 and this correlation is associated with a $1 bill. When
this no call
bill is to be reconciled, the discriminator would suggest to the operator that
the no
call was a $1 bill.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on the basis of preset criteria established by the
manufacturer.
For example, in Fig. 21, the denomination indicating elements are arranged in
increasing denominational order. The discriminator may be designed to default
so
that a given one of these denomination selection elements is initially
highlighted when
no call bills are to be reconciled. For example, for each no call the $10
element
2506d may initially be selected. Alternatively, the discriminator may be
designed to
default to the first denomination selection element listed, e.g., the $1
denomination
element 2506a.
According to another embodiment, a denomination to be prompted to the
operator is determined on the basis of user-defined criteria set by the
operator of a
discriminator. For example, in Fig. 21, the operator may designate the
discriminator
to default so that a given one of the denomination indicating elements is
initially
highlighted when no call bills are to be reconciled. For example, for each no
call the
operator may designate that the $10 element 2506d is to be initially selected.
The
WO 96/10800 ~ ,~ _
PCT/US95/11393
54
operator may be permitted to set the default no call denomination, for
example, in a
set up mode entered into before bills in a stack are processed.
In addition to the ways discussed above whereby an initial denomination is
prompted to the operator in connection with the reconciling a no call bill,
according
to other embodiments one or more alternate denominations are may also be
suggested. For example, according to the method whereby the initial bill is
suggested to the operator based on the denomination associated with a master
pattern
having the highest correlation relative to a scanned pattern, if the operator
rejects the
initial suggestion, the discriminator may be designed to then suggest an
alternate
denomination based on the master pattern associated with a genuine bill of a
different
denomination having the next highest correlation value. If the operator
rejects the
second suggestion, the discriminator may be designed to then suggest a second
alternate denomination based on the master pattern associated with a genuine
bill of a
different denomination having the next highest correlation value, and so on.
For example, suppose the highest correlation was associated with a $1, the
second highest correlation was associated with $10, and the third highest
correlation
was associated with $50. According to this embodiment, the discriminator would
initially suggest that the no call was a $1. If the operator determined the no
call was
not a $1, the discriminator would then suggest that the no call was a $10. If
the
operator determined the no call was not a $10, the discriminator would then
suggest
that the no call was a $50. For example, according to the embodiment of FIGs.
23a-
b, the discriminator would first ask whether the no call was a $1 by
displaying the
message "$1?" in the display area 2704. If the no call was a $1, the operator
would
depress the accept or yes key 2710. If the no call was not a $1 bill, the
operator
would depress the other denomination or no key 2711, in which case, the
display
area would display the message "$10?" and so on. Alternatively, the
denomination
selection elements may be arranged so that their relative order is based on
the
correlation results. For example, taking the menu list 2605 of Fig. 22, the
denomination elements may be ordered in the order of decreasing correlation
values,
e.g., according to the previous example with the $1 denomination element being
listed first, the $10 denomination element being listed second, the $50
denomination
element being listed third and so on. Alternatively, the denomination elements
may
n ,
PCT/US95/11393
WO 96!10800
be listed in the reverse order. According to another embodiment, the
denomination
element associated with the highest correlation may be listed in the middle of
the list
surrounded by the denomination elements associated with the second and third
highest
correlations, and so on. For the above example, the $1 element 2606a would be
5 listed in the middle of the menu list 2605 surrounded by the $10 element
2606d on
one side and the $50 element 2606f on the other side.
Likewise the order in which denominations are suggested to the operator
and/or arranged on the control panel may be based on other criteria such as
those
described above, such as the prior bill information (e.g., last bill, last no
call, last
10 call denomination), historical information, user-defined order,
manufacturer-defined
order, and random order. For example, using the historical data example given
above based on 180 no calls (100 $5 no calls, SO $10 no calls, and 30 $20 no
calls),
the order that denominations are suggested to the operator may be first $5,
then $10,
and then $20. Alternatively, using the last bill information and assuming the
15 following sequence of bills ($2, $5, $5, $5, $20, $10, no call indicated to
be a $50,
no call); the discriminator would suggest denominations for the last no call
in the
following order: $50, $10, $20, $5, $2. Likewise the order in which the
denominations are arranged on a control panel such as in FIGs. 22 and 20 may
be
determined based on such information, for example, according to the orders
20 described above in connection with using correlation values. For example,
the
denominations may be listed in the prompting order suggested above (e.g., $5,
$10,
$20 in the historical information example and $50, $10, $20, $5, $2 in the
last bill
example). Alternatively they may be listed in the reverse order.
Alternatively, they
may be arranged with the first suggested denomination being in the center of
the list
25 and being initially highlighted or selected. This first suggested
denomination may be
surrounded by the second and third suggested denominations which are in turn
surrounded by the fourth and fifth suggested denomination, and so on. A
default
sequence may be used to provide the order for any remaining denominations
which
are not dictated by a particular prompting criteria in a given situation. In
the above
30 examples, the denominations might be arranged on a menu list in the
following
orders: $2, $1, $10, $5, $20, $50, $100 for the historical information example
and
$1, $5, $10, $50, $20, $2, $100. In general, an example of a listing order
according
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
56
to this approach could be from top to bottom: 6th priority or suggested
denomination,
4th, 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th.
Embodiments arranging the respective order in which denominations are
suggested to the operator and/or displayed on the control panel will likely
aid the
S operator by reducing the projected number of times the operator will need to
hit one
of the scroll keys and/or "OTHER DENOM" or "NO" key.
Now several methods will be described in connection reconciliation of no calls
in mufti-output pocket machines after all bills in a stack have been
processed.
Recalling a previous example in which four no call bills were separated out
from a
stack of fifty bills and the machine halted after processing all fifty bills,
the
discriminator then prompts the operator to reconcile the value of the four no
call
bills. For example, assume the no call bills corresponded to the 5th, 20th,
30th, and
31st bills in the stack and were $2, $S0, $10, and $2 bills respectively. The
degree
of intelligence employed by the discriminator in prompting the operator to
reconcile
the value of the no call bills may vary depending on the particular embodiment
employed. According to one embodiment the operator may depress or select the
denomination selection elements corresponding the denominations of the no call
bills
without any prompting from the discriminator as to their respective
denominations.
For example, using the control panel of Fig. 17, the operator would depress
the $2
selection element 64g twice, the $10 selection element 64c once, and the $50
selection element 64e once. The discriminator may or may not inform the
operator
that four no call bills must be reconciled and may or may not limit the
operator to
entering four denominations. Likewise, in other embodiments, the operator may
use
the scroll keys to cause the desired denomination to become selected and then
depress
the accept key. Alternatively, a numerical keypad may be provided for
permitting
the operator to indicate the number of bills of each denomination that have
not been
called. For example, the above example, the operator could use the scroll keys
so
that the $2 denomination was selected, then press "2" on the keypad for the
number
of $2 no calls in the batch, and then press an enter or accept key. Then the
operator
could use the scroll keys so that the $10 denomination was selected, then
press " 1 "
on the keypad for the number of $10 no calls in the batch, and then press an
eater or
~~.'~8199
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
57
accept key and so on. The keypad may comprise, for example, keys or selection
elements associated with the digits 0-9.
Alternatively, the discriminator may prompt the operator as to the
denomination of each no call bill, for example, by employing one of the
prompting
methods discussed above, e.g., default, random, user-defined criteria,
manufacturer
defined criteria, prior bill information (last bill, last no call, last called
denomination), historical information, scanned and master comparison
information
(e.g., highest correlation). For example, the discriminator may serially
interrogate
the examiner as to the denomination of each no call, for example, the display
may
initially query "Is 1st no call a $2?". Depending on the embodiment of the
control
panel being used, the operator could then select "ACCEPT" or "YES" or select
the
$2 denomination selection element, select "OTHER DENOM" or "NO" or use the
scroll keys or select the appropriate denomination selection element, or if
the
operator finds the first bill unacceptable, the operator may put the first no
call bill
aside and select "CONT" . The discriminator may then query the operator as to
the
denomination of the second no call bill, and so on. The denomination prompted
to
the operator would depend on the prompting criteria employed. For example,
suppose the prompting criteria was the denomination of the preceding bill and
further
suppose that in the four no call example given above that the first bill was a
$2, the
2nd bill was a $10, the 3rd bill was a $1, the 4th bill was a $1, the 19th
bill was a
$50, the 29th bill was a $10, and as stated above, the 30th bill was a $10.
The
discriminator would then prompt the operator as to whether the first no call
was a $1.
Since the first no call is a $2, the operator would choose "NO", "OTHER
DENOM",
scroll, or hit the $2 selection element depending on the embodiment be used.
If the
"NO" or "OTHER DENOM" key were pressed, the discriminator would review the
preceding bills in reverse order and suggest the first denomination
encountered that
had not already been suggested, in this case a $10. If the "NO" or "OTHER
DENOM" key were pressed again, the discriminator would then suggest a $2. A
predetermined default sequence may be utilized when prior bill information
does not
contain the desired denomination. Once the operator indicates that the first
no call is
a $2, the discriminator would then prompt the operator as to whether the
second no
call was a $50. Since the second no call was indeed a $50 the operator would
choose
WO 96/10800 ~ ~ '~ PCT/US95/11393
58
"ACCEPT", "YES", or select the $50 denomination selection element depending on
the embodiment chosen. The discriminator would then suggest that the third no
call
was a $10 and the operator would similarly indicate acceptance of the $10
suggested
denomination. Finally, the discriminator would suggest that the fourth no call
was a
$10. Since the last no call was a $2, the operator would reject the $10
suggestion
and indicate that the fourth no call bill was a $2 as described above. The
operation
of the discriminator using a different prompting criteria would proceed in a
similar
manner and as described above with respect to each of the described prompting
methods.
While discussed above with respect to no calls, the above embodiments could
also be employed in connection with other types of flagged bills such as
reverse-faced
bills, reverse forward/reverse oriented bills, unfit bills, suspect bills,
etc.
Referring now to Fig. 25, the touch screen I/O device 2956 includes a touch
screen 2960 mounted over a graphics display 2961. In one embodiment, the
display
2961 is a liquid crystal display (LCD) with backlighting. The display may
have, for
example, 128 vertical pixels and 256 horizontal pixels. The display 2961
contains a
built-in character generator which permits the display 2961 to display text
and
numbers having font and size pre-defined by the manufacturer of the display.
Moreover, a controller such as a CPU is programmed to permit the loading and
display of custom fonts and shapes (e.g., key outlines) on the display 2961.
The
display 2961 is commercially available as Part No. GMF24012EBTW from Stanley
Electric Company, Ltd., Equipment Export Section, of Tokyo, Japan.
The touch screen 2960 may be an X-Y matrix touch screen forming a matrix
of touch responsive points. The touch screen 2960 includes two closely spaced
but
normally separated layers of optical grade polyester film each having a set of
parallel
transparent conductors. The sets of conductors in the two spaced polyester
sheets are
oriented at right angles to each other so when superimposed they form a grid.
Along
the outside edge of each polyester layer is a bus which interconnects the
conductors
supported on that layer. In this manner, electrical signals from the
conductors are
transmitted to the controller. When pressure from a finger or stylus is
applied to the
upper polyester layer, the set of conductors mounted to the upper layer is
deflected
downward into contact with the set of conductors mounted to the lower
polyester
t 2~~8~99
59
layer. The contact between these sets of conductors acts as a mechanical
closure of a
._ switch element to complete an electrical circuit which is detected by the
controller
through the respective buses at the edges of the two polyester layers, thereby
providing a means for detecting the X and Y coordinates of the switch closure.
A
matrix touch screen 2960 of the above type is commercially available from
Dynapro
Thin Film Products, Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
As illustrated in Fig. 25, the touch screen 2960 forms a matrix of ninety-six
optically transparent switch elements having six columns and sixteen rows. The
controller is programmed to divide the switch elements in each column into
groups of
three to form five switches in each column. Actuation of any one of the three
switch
elements forming a switch actuates the switch. The uppermost switch element in-
each column remains on its own and is unused.
Although the touch screen 2960 uses an X-Y matrix of optically transparent
switches to detect the location of a touch, alternative types of touch screens
may be
substituted for the touch screen 2960. These alternative touch screens use
such well
known techniques as crossed beams of infrared light, acoustic surface waves,
capacitance sensing, and resistive membranes to detect the location of a
touch. The
structure and operation of the alternative touch screens are described and
illustrated,
for example, in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,317,140, 5,297,030, 5,231,381, 5,198,976,
5,184,115, 5,105,186, 4,931,782, 4,928,094, 4,851,616, 4,811,004, 4,806,709,
and
4,782,328.
Referring now to FIGs. 26a-26c, there is shown a side view of one
embodiment of a document authenticating system according to the present
invention,
a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 26a along the direction 26b, and a top
view of
the embodiment of FIG. 26a along the direction 26c, respectively. An
ultraviolet
("UV") light source 2102 illuminates a document 2104. Depending upon the
characteristics of the document, ultraviolet light may be reflected off the
document
and/or fluorescent light may be emitted from the document. A detection system
2106
is positioned so as to receive any light reflected or emitted toward it but
not to
receive any UV light directly from the light source 2102. The detection system
2106
comprises a UV sensor 2108, a fluorescence sensor 2110, filters, and a plastic
housing. The light source 2102 and the detection system 2106 are both mounted
to a
CA 02178199 2000-11-17
printed circuit board 2112. The document 2104 is transported in the direction
indicated by arrow A by a transport system (not shown). The document is
transported over a transport plate 2114 which has a rectangular opening 2116
in it to
permit passage of light to and from the document. In one embodiment of the
present
invention, the rectangular opening 2116 is 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) by 0.375
inches
(0.953 cm). To minimize dust accumulation onto the light source 2102 and the
detection system 2106 and to prevent document jams, the opening 2116 is
covered
with a transparent UV transmitting acrylic window 2118. To further reduce dust
accumulation, the UV light source 2102 and the detection system 2106 are
completely
10 enclosed within a housing (not shown) comprising the transport plate 2114.
Referring now to Fig. 27, there is shown a functional block diagram
illustrating one embodiment of a document authenticating system according to
the
present invention. Fig. 27 shows an UV sensor 2202, a fluorescence sensor
2204,
and filters 2206, 2208 of a detection system such as the detection system 2106
of
FIGs. 26a-c. Light from the document passes through the filters 2206, 2208
before
striking the sensors 2202, 2204, respectively. An ultraviolet filter 2206
filters out
visible light and permits UV light to be transmitted and hence to strike UV
sensor
2202. Similarly, a visible light filter 2208 filters out UV light and permits
visible
light to be transmitted and hence to strike fluorescence sensor 2204.
Accordingly;
20 UV light, which has a wavelength below 400 nm, is prevented from striking
the
fluorescence seasor 2204 and visible light, which has a wavelength greater
than 400
nm, is prevented from striking the UV sensor 2202. In one embodiment the UV
filter 2206 transmits light having a wavelength between about 260 nm and about
380
nm and has a peak transmittance at 360 nm. In one embodiment, the visible
light
filter 2208 is a blue filter and preferably transmits light having a
wavelength between
about 415 nm and about 620 nm and has a peak transmittance at 450 nm. The
above
preferred blue filter comprises a combination of a blue component filter and a
yellow
component filter. The blue component filter transmits light having a
wavelength
between about 320 nm and about 620 nm and has a peak transmittance at 450 nm.
30 The yellow component filter transmits light having a wavelength between
about 415
nm and about 2800 nm. Examples of suitable filters are UG1 (UV filter), BG23
(blue bandpass filter), and GG420 (yellow longpass filter), all manufactured
by
g ~ ~ ~ PCT/US95/11393
WO 96/10800
61
Schott. In one embodiment the filters are about 8 mm in diameter and about 1.5
mm
thick.
The UV sensor 2202 outputs an analog signal proportional to the amount of
light incident thereon and this signal is amplified by amplifier 2210 and fed
to a
microcontroller 2212. Similarly, the fluorescence sensor 2204 outputs an
analog
signal proportional to the amount of light incident thereon and this signal is
amplified
by amplifier 2214 and fed to a microcontroller 2212. Analog-to-digital
converters
2216 within the microcontroller 2212 convert the signals from the amplifiers
2210,
2214 to digital and these digital signals are processed by the software of the
microcontroller 2212. The UV sensor 2202 may be, for example, an ultraviolet
enhanced photodiode sensitive to light having a wavelength of about 360 nm and
the
fluorescence sensor 2204 may be a blue enhanced photodiode sensitive to light
having
a wavelength of about 450 nm. Such photodiodes are available from, for
example,
Advanced Photonix, Inc., Massachusetts. The microcontroller 2212 may be, for
example, a Motorola 68HC 16.
The exact characteristics of the sensors 2202, 2204 and the filters 2206, 2208
including the wavelength transmittance ranges of the above filters are not as
critical
to the present invention as the prevention of the fluorescence sensor from
generating
an output signal in response to ultraviolet light and the ultraviolet sensor
from
generating an output signal in response to visible light. For example, instead
of, or
in addition to, filters, a authentication system according to the present
invention may
employ an ultraviolet sensor which is not responsive to light having a
wavelength
longer than 400 nm and/or a fluorescence sensor which is not responsive to
light
having a wavelength shorter than 400 nm.
?5 Calibration potentiometers 2218, 2220 permit the gains of amplifiers 2210,
2214 to be adjusted to appropriate levels. Calibration may be performed by
positioning a piece of white fluorescent paper on the transport plate 2114 so
that it
completely covers the rectangular opening 2116 of FIGS. 26a-c. The
potentiometers
2218, 2220 may then be adjusted so that the output of the amplifiers 2210,
2214 is 5
volts. Alternatively, calibration may be performed using genuine currency such
as a
piece of genuine U.S. currency. Potentiometers 2218 and 2220 may be replaced
with
electronic potentiometers located, for example, within the microcontroller
2212.
WO 96/10800
PCT/US95/11393
62
Such electronic potentiometers may permit automatic calibration based on the
processing of a single genuine document or a plurality of documents as will be
described below.
The implementation of one embodiment of a document authenticating system
according to the present invention as illustrated in Fig.' 27 with respect to
the
authentication of U.S. currency will now be described. As discussed above, it
has
been determined that genuine United States currency reflects a high level of
ultraviolet light and does not fluoresce under ultraviolet illumination. It
has also been
determined that under ultraviolet illumination counterfeit United States
currency
exhibits one of the four sets of characteristics listed below:
1) Reflects a low level of ultraviolet light and fluoresces;
2) Reflects a low level of ultraviolet light and does not fluoresce;
3) Reflects a high level of ultraviolet light and fluoresces;
4) Reflects a high level of ultraviolet light and does not fluoresce.
Counterfeit bills in categories (1) and (2) may be detected by a currency
authenticator
employing an ultraviolet light reflection test according to one embodiment of
the
present invention. Counterfeit bills in category (3) may be detected by a
currency
authenticator employing both an ultraviolet reflection test and a fluorescence
test
according to another embodiment of the present invention. Only counterfeits in
category (4) are not detected by the authenticating methods of the present
invention.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, fluorescence is
determined by any signal that is above the noise floor. Thus, the amplified
fluorescent sensor signal 2222 will be approximately 0 volts for genuine U.S.
currency and will vary between approximately 0 and 5 volts for counterfeit
bills
depending upon their fluorescent characteristics. Accordingly, an
authenticating
system according to one embodiment of the present invention will reject bills
when
signal 2222 exceeds approximately 0 volts.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a high level of
reflected UV light ("high UV") is indicated when the amplified UV sensor
signal
2224 is above a predetermined threshold. The high/low UV threshold is a
function
of lamp intensity and reflectance. /amp intensity can degrade by as much as
50%
over the life of the lamp and can be further attenuated by dust accumulation
on the
n
WO 96/10800 ~ PCT/US95/11393
63
lamp and the sensors. The problem of dust accumulation is mitigated by
enclosing
the lamp and sensors in a housing as discussed above. An authenticating system
according to one embodiment of the present invention tracks the intensity of
the UV
light source and readjusts the high/low threshold accordingly. The degradation
of the
UV light source may be compensated for by periodically feeding a genuine bill
into
the system, sampling the output of the UV sensor, and adjusting the threshold
accordingly. Alternatively, degradation may be compensated for by periodically
sampling the output of the UV sensor when no bill is present in the
rectangular
opening 2116 of the transport plate 2114. It is noted that a certain amount of
UV
light is always reflected off the acrylic window 2118. By periodically
sampling the
output of the UV sensor when no bill is present, the system can compensate for
light
source degradation. Furthermore, such sampling could also be used to indicate
to the
operator of the system when the ultraviolet light source has burned out or
otherwise
requires replacement. This may be accomplished, for example, by means of a
display reading or an illuminated light emitting diode ("LED"). The amplified
ultraviolet sensor signal 2224 will initially vary between 1.0 and 5.0 volts
depending
upon the UV reflectance characteristics of the document being scanned and will
slowly drift downward as the light source degrades. In an alternative
embodiment to
one embodiment wherein the threshold level is adjusted as the light source
degrades;
the sampling of the UV sensor output may be used to adjust the gain of the
amplifier
2210 thereby maintaining the output of the amplifier 2210 at its initial
levels.
It has been found that the voltage ratio between counterfeit and genuine U.S.
bills varies from a discernible 2-to-1 ratio to a non-discernible ratio.
According to
one embodiment of the present invention a 2-to-1 ratio is used to discriminate
between genuine and counterfeit bills. For example, if a genuine U.S. bill
generates
an amplified UV output sensor signal 2224 of 4.0 volts, documents generating
an
amplified UV output sensor signal 2224 of 2.0 volts or less will be rejected
as
counterfeit. As described above, this threshold of 2.0 volts may either be
lowered as
the light source degrades or the gain of the amplifier 2210 may be adjusted so
that
2.0 volts remains an appropriate threshold value.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the determination of
whether the level of UV reflected off a document is high or low is made by
sampling
2178199
64
the output of tlae UV sensor at a number of intervals, averaging the readings,
and
._ comparing the average level with the predetermined high/low threshold.
Alternatively, a comparison may be made by measuring the amount of UV light
reflected at a number of locations on the bill and comparing these
measurements with
those obtained from genuine bills. Alternatively, the output of one or more UV
sensors may be processed to generate one or more patterns of reflected UV
light and
these patterns may be compared to the patterns generated by genuine bills.
Such a
pattern generation and comparison technique may be performed by modifying an
optical pattern technique such as that disclosed in United States Pat. No.
5,295,196.
In a similar manner, the presence of fluorescence may be performed by
sampling the output of the fluorescence sensor at a number of intervals.
However, in
one embodiment, a bill is rejected as counterfeit U.S. currency if any of the
sampled
outputs rise above the noise floor. However, the alternative methods discussed
above
with respect to processing the signal or signals of a UV sensor or sensors may
also
be employed, especially with respect to currencies of other countries or other
types of
documents which may employ as security features certain
locations or patterns of fluorescent materials.
A currency authenticating system according to the present invention may be
provided with means, such as a display, to indicate to the operator the
reasons why a
document has been rejected, e.g., messages such as "UV FAILURE" or
"FLUORESCENCE FAILURE. " A currency authenticating system according to the
present invention may also permit the operator to selectively choose to
activate or
deactivate either the UV reflection test or the fluorescence test or both. A
currency
authenticating system according to the present invention may also be provided
with
means for adjusting the sensitivities of the UV reflection and/or fluorescence
test, for
example, by adjusting the respective thresholds. For example, in the case of
U.S.
currency, a system according to the present invention may permit the high/low
threshold to be adjusted, for example, either in absolute voltage terms or in
genuine/suspect ratio terms.
* ...~
~.~~~ ,i
i Z'7g~99
The UV and fluorescence authentication test may be incorporated into various
document handlers such as currency counters and/or currency denomination
discriminators such as that disclosed in connection with FIGS. 1 and 14-16b
and U.S.
Patent No. 5,295,196. In such systems, calibration may be
5 performed by processing a stack of genuine documents.
An example of a method of calibrating such a device will now be discussed.
As mentioned above, the acrylic window 818 reflects a certain amount of UV
light even when no bill is present. The amount of UV light reflected in the
absence
of bills is measured. A stack of genuine bills may then be processed with the
10 potentiometer 2218 set to some arbitrary value and the resulting UV
readings
averaged. The difference between the average reading and the reading made in
the
absence of bills may then be calculated. The potentiometer 2218 may then be
adjusted so that the average reading would be at least 0.7 volts greater then
the no
bill reading. It is also desirable to adjust the potentiometer 2218 so that
the amplifier
15 2210 operates around the middle of its operating range. For example, if a
reading of
1.0 volt results when no bills are present and an average reading of 3.0 volts
results
when a stack of genuine bills are processed, the resulting difference is 2.0
volts
which is greater than 0.7 volts. However, it is desirable for the amplifier to
be
operating in the range of about 2.0 to 2.5 volts and preferably at about 2.0
volts.
20 Thus in the above example, the potentiometer 2218 may be used to adjust the
gain of
the amplifier 2210 so that an average reading of 2.0 volts would result. Where
potentiometer 2218 is an electronic potentiometer, the gain of the amplifier
2210 may
be automatically adjusted by the microcontroller 2212. In general, when the
average
reading is too high the potentiometer is adjusted to lower the resulting
values to the
25 center of the operating range of the amplifier and vice versa when the
average
reading is too low.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the operator of a
document handling device such as a currency counter or a currency denomination
discriminator is provided with the ability to adjust the sensitivity of a UV
reflection
30 test, a fluorescence test, and a magnetic test. For example, a note counter
embodying an embodiment of the present invention may provide the operator the
ability to set the authentication tests to a high or a low sensitivity. For
example, the
WO 96/10800 PCT/US95/11393
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66
note counter may be provided with a set up mode which enables the operator to
adjust the sensitivities for each of the above tests for both the high and the
low
modes. This may be achieved through appropriate messages being displayed on,
for
example, display 36 of FIG. 2 and the input of selection choices via an input
device
such as a keyboard or buttons. In one embodiment, the device permits the
operator
to adjust the LJV test, the fluorescent test, and the magnetic test in a range
of
sensitivities 1 - 7, with 7 being the most sensitive, or to turn each test
off. The
device permits setting the sensitivity as described above for the three
authentication
tests for both a low sensitivity (low denomination) mode and a high
sensitivity (high
denomination) mode. The above setting options are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1
Mode UV Test Fluorescent Test Magnetic Test
Sensitivity Sensitivity Sensitivity
High off, 1-7 off, 1-7 off, 1-7
Low off, 1-7 off, 1-7 off, 1-7
According to an alternate embodiment, the above high/low modes are replaced
with denomination modes, for example, one for each of several denominations of
currency (e.g., $1, $2, $S, $10, $20, $50 and $100). For each denomination,
the
sensitivity of the three tests may be adjusted between 1-7 or off. According
to one
embodiment for operator manually selects either the high or low mode or the
appropriate denomination mode based on the values of the notes to be
processed.
This manual mode selection system may be employed in, for example, either a
note
counter or a currency denomination discriminator. According to another
embodiment
the document handling system automatically selects either the high or low mode
or
the appropriate denomination mode based on the values of the notes being
processed.
This automatic mode selection system may be employed in systems capable of
identifying the different values or kinds of documents, for example, a
currency
denomination discriminator.
Accordingly, in the low mode or for low denomination modes (e.g., $l, $2)
the three tests may be set to relatively low sensitivities (e.g., UV test set
at 2,
fluorescent test set at S, and magnetic test set at 3). Conversely, in the
high mode or
n ?
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67
for high denomination modes (e.g., $50, $100) the three tests may be set to
relatively
high sensitivities (e.g., UV test set at 5, fluorescent test set at 6, and
magnetic test
set at 7). In this way, authentication sensitivity may be increased when
processing
high value notes where the potential harm or risk in not detecting a
counterfeit may
be greater and may be decreased when processing low 'value notes where the
potential
harm or risk in not detecting a counterfeit is lesser and the annoyance of
wrongly
rejecting genuine notes is greater. Also the UV, fluorescent, and/or magnetic
characteristics of genuine notes can vary due to number of factors such wear
and tear
or whether the note has been washed (e.g., detergents). As a result, the
fluorescent
detection of genuine U.S. currency, for example, may yield readings of about
0.05 or
0.06 volts.
The UV and fluorescent thresholds associated with each of the seven
sensitivity levels may be set, for example, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2
Sensitivity UV Test Fluorescent
Level (Volts) Test
(Volts)
1 0.2 0.7
2 0.3 0.6
3 0.4 0.5
4 0.5 0.3
S 0.55 0.2
6 0.6 0.15
7 0.7 0.1
In performing the UV test according to one embodiment, the no bill reflectance
value
is subtracted from resulting UV reflectance voltages associated with the
scanning of a
particular bill, and this difference is compared against the appropriate
threshold value
such as those in Table 2 in determining whether to reject a bill.
According to one embodiment, the potentiometer 2220 associated with the
fluorescence detector 2204 is calibrated by processing a genuine note or stack
of
notes, as described above in connection with the calibration of the UV
detector, and
adjusted so that a reading of near 0 volts (e.g., about 0.1 volt) results.
Magnetic
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calibration may be performed, for example, manually in conjunction with the
processing of a genuine bill of known magnetic characteristics and adjusting
the
magnetic sensor to near the center of its range.
Upon a bill failing one or more of the above tests, an appropriate error
message may be displayed such as "Suspect Document U--" for failure of the UV
reflection test, "Suspect Document -F-" for failure of the fluorescent test,
"Suspect
Document --M" for failure of the magnetic test, or some combination thereof
when
more than one test is failed (e.g., "Suspect Document UF-" for failure of both
the
UV reflection test and the fluorescent test).
While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more
particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that many
changes may
be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present
invention.
Each of these embodiments and obvious variations thereof is contemplated as
falling
within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in
the
following claims.
