Method and apparatus for discriminating and counting documents

A currency evaluating device for receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly discriminating the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills comprising:

• an input receptacle for receiving said stack of currency bills to be discriminated;
• a transport mechanism for transporting said bills in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• a discriminating unit for determining the denomination of each of said bills, said discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between said input receptacle and one of said a plurality of output receptacles for receiving and re-stacking said bills after being discriminated by said discriminating unit;
• and
• an authenticating unit for determining the genuineness of said bills;
• said authenticating unit having an ultraviolet light source for illuminating said bill to be tested, an ultraviolet light detector for generating an output signal responsive to ultraviolet light reflected by said bill, and a signal processor for receiving said ultraviolet detector output signal and determining the genuineness of said bill based upon said output signal.

A currency evaluating device for receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly discriminating the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills comprising:

• an input receptacle for receiving said stack of currency bills to be discriminated;
• a transport mechanism for transporting said bills in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• a discriminating unit for determining the denomination of each of said bills, said discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between said input receptacle and one of said a plurality of output receptacles for receiving and re-stacking said bills after being discriminated by said discriminating unit;
• and
• an authenticating unit for determining the genuineness of said bills;
• said authenticating unit having an ultraviolet light source for illuminating said bill to be tested, an ultraviolet light detector for generating an output signal responsive to ultraviolet light reflected by said bill, a visible light detector for generating an output signal responsive to visible light emitted by said bill upon illumination of said bill by said ultraviolet light source and a signal processor for receiving said ultraviolet light detector output signal and said visible light detector output signal and determining the genuineness of said bill based upon said ultraviolet light detector output signal and said visible light detector output signal.

A currency evaluating device for receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly discriminating the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills comprising:

• an input receptacle for receiving said stack of currency bills to be discriminated;
• a transport mechanism for transporting said bills in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• a discriminating unit for determining the denomination of each of said bills, said discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between said input receptacle and one of said a plurality of output receptacles for receiving and re-stacking said bills after being discriminated by said discriminating unit;
• and
• an authenticating unit for determining the genuineness of said bills;
• said authenticating unit having a detection circuitry for detecting first characteristic information and second characteristic information from a scanned bill;
• wherein said discriminating unit generates a first characteristic scanned pattern associated with said detected first characteristic information,
• a memory for storing
• (1) at least one first characteristic master pattern associated with first characteristic information for each of a plurality of recognizable denominations of genuine bills,
• (2) at least one set of genuine second characteristic information for each of said plurality of recognizable denominations of genuine bills, and
• a signal processor for
• (1) performing a first comparison whereby at least a portion of said scanned pattern is compared with at least a portion of at least one of said master patterns,
• (2) determining and indicating the denomination of said scanned bill when said scanned bill is one of said plurality of recognizable denominations or indicating an error based on said first comparison,
• (3) retrieving at least a portion of at least one of said sets of genuine second characteristic information corresponding only to the denomination indicated by said first comparison regardless of which of said plurality of recognizable denominations said scanned bill is determined to be based on said first comparison,
• (4) performing a second comparison whereby at least a portion of said detected second characteristic information is compared with said retrieved genuine second characteristic information, and
• (5) indicating either the genuineness of said scanned bill or an error based on said second comparison.

A currency counting and evaluation device for receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly counting and evaluating all the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills, said device comprising:

• a input receptacle for receiving a stack of currency bills;
• a transport mechanism for transporting said bills, in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, from said input receptacle to one of a plurality of output receptacles for receiving and re-stacking said bills after being counted and evaluated at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• a stationary optical scanning head located between said input receptacle and said plurality of output receptacles for scanning a preselected segment of a central portion of each bill transported by said transport mechanism, said scanning head including at least one light source for illuminating a strip of said preselected segment of a bill, and at least one detector for receiving light from the illuminated strip on the bill and producing an output signal representing variations in the intensity of the received light;
• means for sampling said output signal at preselected intervals as a bill is moved across said scanning head in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bill, each of said output signal samples being proportional to the intensity of the light received from a different strip of said preselected segment of a bill;
• a memory for storing characteristic signal samples produced by scanning said preselected segments of bills of different denominations with said scanning head and sampling said output signal at said preselected intervals, each of said stored signal samples being proportional to the intensity of the light received from a different strip of said preselected segment of a bill;
• and
• signal processor for receiving said signal samples and (1) determining the denomination of each scanned bill by comparing said stored signal samples with said output signal samples produced by the scanning of each bill with said scanning head, (2) counting the number of scanned bills of each denomination, and (3) accumulating the cumulative value of the scanned bills of each denomination.

A currency evaluating device for receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly discriminating the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills comprising:

• an input receptacle adapted to receive said stack of currency bills to be discriminated;
• a transport mechanism adapted to transport said bills in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• and
• a discriminating unit adapted to determine the denomination of each of said bills at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, said discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between said input receptacle and one of said plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive and re-stack said bills after being discriminated by said discriminating unit,
• wherein said currency evaluating device has a height not exceeding about 17 1/2 inches, a width not exceeding about 13 1/2 inch and a depth not exceeding about 15 inches.

A currency evaluating device adapted to receive a stack of currency bills, rapidly discriminating the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills comprising:

• an input receptacle adapted to receive the stack of currency bills to be discriminated;
• a transport mechanism adapted to transport the bills in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• and
• a discriminating unit adapted to determine the denomination of each of the bills at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between the input receptacle and one of the plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive and re-stack the bills after being discriminated by the discriminating unit,
• wherein the currency evaluating device has a volume not exceeding 2.05 ft.sup.3.

A currency evaluating device adapted to receive a stack of currency bills, rapidly discriminating the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills comprising:

• an input receptacle adapted to receive the stack of currency bills to be discriminated;
• a transport mechanism adapted to transport the bills in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• a discriminating unit adapted to determine the denomination of each of the bills at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between the input receptacle and one of the plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive and re-stack the bills after being discriminated by the discriminating unit;
• and
• an authenticating unit adapted to determine the genuineness of the bills, the authenticating unit having an ultraviolet light source adapted to illuminate the bill to be tested, an ultraviolet light detector adapted to generate an output signal responsive to ultraviolet light reflected by the bill, and a processor programmed to receive the ultraviolet detector output signal and to determine the genuineness of the bill based upon the output signal.

A currency counting and evaluation device adapted to receive a stack of currency bills, rapidly counting and evaluating all the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills, the device comprising:

• an input receptacle adapted to receive a stack of currency bills;
• a transport mechanism adapted to transport the bills at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, from the input receptacle to one of a plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive and re-stack the bills after being counted and evaluated;
• a stationary optical scanning head located between the input receptacle and the plurality of output receptacles adapted to scan a preselected segment of a central portion of each bill transported by the transport mechanism at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, the scanning head including at least one light source adapted to illuminate a strip of the preselected segment of a bill, and at least one detector adapted to receive light from the illuminated strip on the bill and produce an output signal representing variations in the intensity of the received light;
• means for sampling the output signal at preselected intervals as a bill is moved across the scanning head in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bill, each of the output signal samples being proportional to the intensity of the light received from a different strip of the preselected segment of a bill;
• a memory programmed to store characteristic signal samples produced by scanning the preselected segments of bills of different denominations with the scanning head and sampling the output signal at the preselected intervals, each of the stored signal samples being proportional to the intensity of the light received from a different strip of the preselected segment of a bill;
• and
• a processor programmed to receive the signal samples and (1) determine the denomination of each scanned bill by comparing the stored signal samples with the output signal samples produced by the scanning of each bill with the scanning head, (2) count the number of scanned bills of each denomination, and (3) accumulate the cumulative value of the scanned bills of each denomination.

A method of evaluating currency bills of different denominations using a currency evaluation device comprising:

• receiving a stack of bills to be evaluated in an input receptacle of the evaluation device;
• transporting, under control of the evaluation device at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, the bills along a transport mechanism in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles;
• and
• determining the denomination of the bills under control of the evaluation device using a denomination discriminating unit at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between the input receptacle and one of the plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive and re-stack the bills after being discriminated by the discriminating unit.

A method of evaluating currency bills of different denominations using a currency evaluation device comprising:

• receiving a stack of bills to be evaluated in an input receptacle of the evaluation device;
• transporting, under control of the evaluation device, the bills along a transport mechanism in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• determining the denomination of the bills under control of the evaluation device using a denomination discriminating unit at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned along a transport mechanism path between the input receptacle and one of the plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive and re-stack the bills after being discriminated by the discriminating unit;
• and
• authenticating the bills under control of the evaluation device using an authenticating unit adapted to determine the genuineness of the bills, the authenticating unit having an ultraviolet light source adapted to illuminate the bill to be tested, an ultraviolet light detector adapted to generate an output signal responsive to ultraviolet light reflected by the bill, and a processor programmed to receive the ultraviolet detector output signal and to determine the genuineness of the bill based upon the output signal.

A method of evaluating currency bills of different denominations using a currency evaluation device comprising:

• receiving a stack of bills to be evaluated in an input receptacle of the evaluation device;
• transporting, under control of the evaluation device, the bills along a transport mechanism in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles, at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute;
• scanning a preselected segment of a central portion of each bill transported by the transport mechanism at a rate in excess of about 800 bills per minute by a stationary optical scanning head located between the input receptacle and the plurality of output receptacles, the scanning head including at least one light source adapted to illuminate a strip of the preselected segment of a bill, and at least one detector adapted to receive light from the illuminated strip on the bill and produce an output signal representing variations in the intensity of the received light;
• sampling the output signal at preselected intervals as a bill is moved across the scanning head in the direction of the narrow dimension of the bill, each of the output signal samples being proportional to the intensity of the light received from a different strip of the preselected segment of a bill;
• and
• feeding the output signal samples to a processor, the processor (1) determining the denomination of each scanned bill by comparing stored signal samples with the output signal samples produced by the scanning of each bill with the scanning head, (2) counting the number of scanned bills of each denomination, and (3) accumulating the cumulative value of the scanned bills of each denomination.