Bill serial number reading device and bill serial number reading method

A bill serial number reading device for reading a serial number of a bill to be transported on a transport path, comprising:

• identification means for identifying a denomination and direction of the bill being transported on the transport path;
• image reading means for selectively driving light sources based on information on the denomination and direction identified by the identification means, and scanning and reading a portion where the serial number of the bill being transported is printed;
• and
• serial number recognition means for extracting the serial number area from output image data of the image reading means based on the denomination and direction information of the bill and recognizing a character of each digit of the serial number from image data of the serial number area, replacing a character which cannot be recognized with an error character which indicates a recognition error, and adding the error character to recognized characters to output as a recognition result.

A bill serial number reading method for reading a serial number of a bill to be transported on a transport path, comprising:

• a step of identifying a denomination and direction of the bill being transported on the transport path;
• a step of selectively driving light sources based on the identified information on the denomination and direction, and scanning and reading a portion where the serial number of the bill being transported is printed;
• and
• a serial number recognition step of extracting the serial number area from the image data acquired by the scanning and reading based on the information on the denomination and direction of the bill, and recognizing the character of each digit of the serial number from image data of the serial number area, replacing the character which cannot be recognized with an error character which indicates a recognition error, and adding the error character to recognized characters to output as the recognition result.