Method and apparatus for improved coin, bill and other currency acceptance and slug or counterfeit rejection

A method of operating a money validation system having at least one sensor and a processing and control circuit, comprising:

• defining an idle operating point of the validation system;
• sensing at least two different item characteristics from a plurality of genuine items of a first type;
• combining the characteristics from each item to form first vectors having an origin at the idle operating point;
• mapping the plurality of first vectors onto a coordinate system to form a first acceptance cluster;
• sensing at least two different item characteristics from a plurality of genuine items of a second type;
• combining the characteristics of each second type item to form second vectors having an origin at the idle operating point;
• mapping the plurality of second vectors onto the coordinate system to form a second acceptance cluster;
• storing the first and second acceptance clusters;
• sensing an inserted item and generating test data representative of said at least two characteristics;
• converting the generated test data into a test vector;
• comparing the test vector to the first and second clusters;
• and
• accepting the inserted item as genuine money of the first type if the test vector falls within the first acceptance cluster, or accepting the inserted item as genuine money of the second type if the test vector falls within the second acceptance cluster.

A money validation apparatus, comprising:

• at least one sensor circuit which senses at least two characteristics of money items;
• means for defining an idle operating point of the apparatus;
• means for converting sensed characteristic data for genuine items into vectors having an origin at the idle operating point;
• means for mapping the vectors onto a coordinate system to form an acceptance cluster;
• means for storing the acceptance cluster;
• means for converting characteristic data from an inserted item into a test vector;
• and
• means for determining if the test vector matches a vector within the acceptance cluster.

A method for increasing the level of counterfeit rejection in a money validation system, wherein the money validation system generates at least one value corresponding to at least one characteristic of an inserted item and compares the generated value to predetermined acceptance criteria values, comprising:

• inserting a plurality of known counterfeit items into the validation apparatus;
• generating counterfeit values for each counterfeit item;
• subtracting the counterfeit values from the acceptance criteria values to form an improved acceptance criteria;
• and
• utilizing the improved acceptance criteria to validate subsequently inserted items.

A method of operating a money validation apparatus which compares at least one output signal generated by a sensor in response to an inserted item to at least one predetermined acceptance window to validate the item, wherein the acceptance window is defined by a range of values between a reference value and a first acceptance boundary, comprising:

• setting a deviation limit between the reference value and the first acceptance boundary;
• accepting an inserted item as genuine money if the output signal is within the acceptance window;
• and
• modifying the acceptance window if a predetermined number of accepted items had output signals falling within the deviation limit.