Apparatus and system for imaging currency bills and financial documents and method for using the same

A method of processing documents in a document processing device, comprising the acts of:

• receiving documents in an input receptacle of the document processing device;
• transporting the documents along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;
• imaging each of the documents with the image scanner to produce image data, the image data associated with each document being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective document;
• determining in the document processing device whether each document satisfies a flag criterion, a document that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged document;
• in response to one of the documents satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display unit of the document processing device a visually readable image of at least a portion of the flagged document using the image data associated with the flagged document;
• and
• in response to the one of the documents satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on the display unit a selectable find document element.

A method of processing U.S. currency bills in a currency processing device, comprising the acts of:

• receiving first U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;
• transporting the first U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;
• imaging each of the first U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, the image data associated with each first U.S. currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective first U.S. currency bill;
• extracting a serial number from the image data for each of the first U.S. currency bills;
• denominating each of the first U.S. currency bills;
• determining in the currency processing device whether each first U.S. currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged bill;
• in response to one of the first U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display unit of the currency processing device:
• (i) a visually readable image of at least a portion of the flagged bill using the image data associated with the flagged bill;
• and
• (ii) a selectable find bill element.

A method of processing U.S. currency bills using a currency processing device, comprising:

• receiving U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;
• transporting the U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;
• imaging each of the U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;
• determining in the currency processing device whether each currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged currency bill;
• in response to one or more of the currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display a visually readable image of at least a portion of each flagged currency bill;
• and
• receiving an activation of a selectable find bill element.

A currency processing device, comprising:

• an input receptacle configured to receive U.S. currency bills;
• a transport mechanism configured to transport the U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle to one or more output receptacles;
• an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path and configured to image each of the U.S. currency bills to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;
• a controller configured to determine whether each transported U.S. currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged currency bill;
• a display configured to display a visually readable image of at least a portion of one or more flagged currency bills in response to the one or more currency bills satisfying the flag criterion;
• and
• a selectable find bill element.

A method of processing U.S. currency bills in a currency processing device, comprising:

• receiving U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;
• transporting the U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;
• imaging each of the U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;
• determining in the currency processing device whether each U.S. currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged currency bill;
• in response to one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display a visually readable image of at least a portion of the one or more flagged currency bills, the displaying occurring simultaneously to the transporting of at least a portion of the U.S. currency bills;
• and
• receiving an activation of a selectable find bill element.

A method of processing U.S. currency bills in a currency processing device, comprising:

• receiving a first set of U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;
• transporting the first set of U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;
• imaging each of the U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the U.S. currency bills being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective one of the U.S. currency bills;
• extracting a serial number using the image data for each of the U.S. currency bills;
• denominating each of the U.S. currency bills;
• determining in the currency processing device whether each of the U.S. currency bills satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged bill;
• in response to one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the flagged bills;
• and
• in response to one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on the display a selectable find bill element.