Currency processing device, method and system

A method of currency processing comprising the acts of:

• moving currency bills having a leading edge and a trailing edge from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle, wherein the act of moving comprises the acts of:
• removing bills from said input receptacle one at a time;
• rotating the removed bills approximately 90° around an axis extending approximately orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills;
• and
• moving the rotated bills laterally in the direction in which said output receptacles are offset from said input receptacle.

A method for rapidly moving currency bills from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle of a currency processing device to a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle in said device, the method comprising the acts of:

• removing bills from said stack one at a time;
• moving the bills removed from said stack away from said input receptacle along a first transport path;
• examining said bills;
• rotating the removed bills approximately 90° around an axis extending approximately orthogonally through leading and trailing edges of said bills, and
• moving the rotated bills laterally along a second transport path in the direction in which said output receptacles are offset from said input receptacle;
• rotating the bills a second time approximately 90° around an axis extending approximately orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of said bills;
• and
• delivering said twice rotated bills to said output receptacles.

A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

• an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;
• a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been processed, the output receptacles arranged such that at least one output receptacle is located to the right of the input receptacle, and at least one the output receptacle is located to the left of the input receptacle;
• a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the output receptacles, wherein the transport mechanism is adapted to transport bills from the input receptacle to the output receptacles at a rate equal to or greater than 800 bills per minute;
• a discriminating unit for processing the bills, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacles, the discriminating unit being configured to count and determine the denomination of bills.

A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

• an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;
• a plurality of modular output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• a transport mechanism for transporting bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the plurality modular output receptacles;
• a discriminating unit including a detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacles, said discriminating unit being configured to count and determine the denomination of bills;
• a housing for said input receptacle, transport mechanism, and discrimination unit, the housing having a front side, a back side, a left side, and a right side;
• wherein the front side of the housing is configured to permit bills to be received in said input receptacle and wherein said housing is configured to permit modular output receptacles to be coupled to both the left side and the right side of said housing;
• and
• wherein said transport mechanism is configured to permit bills to be fed through the right side of the housing when a modular output receptacle is coupled to the right side of the housing and to permit bills to be fed through the left side of the housing when a modular output receptacle is coupled to the left side of the housing.

A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, said device comprising:

• an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;
• a plurality of modular output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle for receiving said bills after said bills have been processed, said modular output receptacles being capable of being mounted to the device such that said modular output receptacles can be laterally offset either to the right or to the left of said input receptacle;
• a transport mechanism for transporting said bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to said modular output receptacles along a transport path;
• a discriminating unit for evaluating said bills, said discriminating unit including a detector positioned between said input receptacle and said output receptacles, said discriminating unit counting and determining the denomination of said bills.

A method for processing currency bills comprising the acts of:

• receiving a stack of currency bills in an input receptacle;
• transporting each of the currency bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to one of a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle at a rate equal to or greater than 800 bills per minute;
• authenticating, counting and determining the denominations of the bills;
• directing some of the bills to an output receptacle laterally offset to the right of said input receptacle and some of the bills to an output receptacle laterally offset to the left of said input receptacle based on the denomination of a bill and the location of the output receptacle for that denomination.

A method of automatically ordering a delivery of currency to a facility comprising:

• processing currency located at a facility using a currency processing device having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• reporting the results of the processing automatically to a central computer using a connection to a computing network containing at least one currency processing device at the facility and a central computer;
• determining whether the facility possesses a deficient amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;
• and
• ordering a delivery of an amount of currency using a computing network containing at least the currency processing device and the central computer that would restore the facility to the proper amount of currency if the facility is determined to have a deficient amount of particular denominations of currency.

A method of automatically ordering a shipment of currency from a facility comprising:

• processing currency located at a facility using a currency processing device having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• reporting the results of the processing automatically to a central computer using a computing network containing at least one currency processing device and the central computer;
• determining whether the facility possesses an excess amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;
• ordering a shipment of an amount of currency from the facility using the computing network that would restore the facility to the proper amount of currency if the facility is determined to have an excess amount of particular denominations of currency.

A method of ordering a shipment of currency from a first facility to a second facility wherein the first and second facilities have currency processing devices having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle and wherein the first and second facilities are coupled to a computing network comprising:

• processing currency located at a first facility using a first currency processing device;
• processing currency located at a second facility using a second currency processing device;
• determining whether the first facility with the first currency processing device reporting the results of the first processing device possesses a deficient amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;
• determining whether the second facility with the second currency processing device reporting the results of the second processing device possesses an excess amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;
• reporting the results of the processing at the first facility and at the second facility to a central computer using the computing network containing at least the first currency processing device at the first facility, the central computer, and the second currency processing device at the second facility;
• ordering a shipment of currency from the second facility using a connection to the computing network that restores the second facility to the proper amount of currency, if the second facility possesses an excess amount of currency;
• ordering a delivery of currency to the first facility using a connection to the computing network that restores the first facility to the proper amount of currency, if the first facility possesses a deficient amount of currency;
• and
• generating a shipping request of an amount of currency from the second facility to the first facility so that the delivery is directly from the second facility to the first facility if the first facility possesses a deficient amount of currency bills and the second facility possesses an excess amount of currency bills.

A currency processing device for receiving and processing a stack of currency bills, the currency processing device comprising:

• an input receptacle for receiving a stack of bills to be processed, each bill having a leading edge and a trailing edge;
• a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from said input receptacle;
• an imager for capturing a human readable image of at least of portion of each bill, the captured human readable image being used for at least one of authenticating, counting, and determining the denomination of the bills;
• a first bill rotating mechanism for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and orthogonal to the those edges;
• and
• a second bill rotating mechanism for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and orthogonal to the those edges so that the leading edge of a currency bill is aligned with said output receptacles.

A method of processing currency bills each having a leading edge and a trailing edge, the method comprising the acts of:

• moving currency bills from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle;
• capturing a human readable image of at least a portion of one surface of each of the currency bills;
• creating a control signal based on the captured image of the currency bills;
• rotating the bills approximately 90° around an axis extending approximately orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills;
• and
• moving the rotated bills laterally toward one of said plurality of output receptacles based on the control signal.

A currency processing device for processing a stack of currency bills, the currency processing device comprising:

• an input receptacle for receiving a stack of bills to be processed;
• a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been processed, the output receptacles arranged such that at least one output receptacle is located to the right of the input receptacle, and at least one output receptacle is located to the left of the input receptacle;
• a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to one of the plurality of output receptacles;
• and
• an imager for processing the bills and creating a control signal based on the processed bills, the imager including at least one image sensor configured to capture a human readable image of at least a portion of a surface of each of the bills.

A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

• an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;
• a first column of a plurality of output receptacles configured to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• a second column of a plurality of output receptacles configured to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• a discriminating unit configured to determine the denomination of the bills;
• and
• a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, form the input receptacle to one of the output receptacles.

A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

• an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;
• a first column of a plurality of output receptacles configured to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• a second column of a plurality of output receptacles configured to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• a discriminating unit configured to determine the denomination of the bills;
• and
• a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to one of the output receptacles, the transport mechanism transporting bills along a first transport path with a narrow edge of each bill being the leading edge past the discriminating unit, the transport mechanism transporting bills along a second transport path with a wide edge of each bill being the leading edge to one of the plurality of output receptacles.

A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

• an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed, each bill having a leading edge and a trailing edge;
• a plurality of output receptacles configured to receive bills after the bills have been processed, the output receptacles being laterally offset from the input receptacle;
• a discriminating unit comprising at least one detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacles, the detector generating at least one output signal used to determine the denomination of bills;
• and
• a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the output receptacles and past the least one detector of the discriminating unit, the transport mechanism including,
• at least first, second and third transport paths arranged to move currency bills from the input receptacle to at least one of the output receptacles with a wide edge of each of the currency bills leading,
• a bill rotating mechanism in the first transport path for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and approximately orthogonal to the those edges so that the leading edge of a currency bill exiting the first transport path is rotated about approximately 90° and is aligned with the second path, and
• a bill rotating mechanism in the third transport path for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and approximately orthogonal to the those edges so that the leading edge of a currency bill exiting the third transport path is rotated about approximately 90° and is aligned with the plurality of output receptacles,
• the transport mechanism moving the currency bills from the input receptacle to at least one of the output receptacles without changing the leading edge of the bills.

A method for rapidly moving currency bills from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle of a currency processing device to a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle in the device, the method comprising the acts of:

• removing bills from the stack one at a time;
• moving the bills removed from the stack away from the input receptacle along a first transport path;
• examining the bills;
• rotating the bills approximately 90° around an axis extending approximately orthogonally through leading and trailing edges of the bills, and
• moving the rotated bills laterally along a second transport path in the direction in which the output receptacles are offset from the input receptacle;
• rotating the bills a second time approximately 90° around an axis extending approximately orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills so that the bills are aligned to the output receptacles;
• and
• delivering the bills to the output receptacles along a third transport path;
• whereby the leading edge of the bills does not change as the bills are moved.