Discriminant verification systems and methods for use in coin discrimination
AssigneeOuterwall Inc.
InventorDaniel D. Everhart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and associated methods for coin discrimination are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method for discriminating coins includes obtaining an electromagnetic sensor signal of a coin, sampling the sensor signal, generating a fingerprint of the coin from the sampled sensor signal, and calculating an appraisal using the fingerprint and a linear discriminant vector. The appraisal can be compared to a threshold to determine whether the coin is valued or impostor. In some embodiments, the linear discriminant vector can be calculated using the valued and impostor coin populations' covariance and means.
Claims27
A computer-implemented method for discriminating coins, the method comprising:
- acquiring a sensor signal of a coin;
- generating a fingerprint having a plurality of sampled sensor points from the sensor signal;
- calculating an appraisal from the fingerprint and a linear discriminant vector, wherein the linear discriminant vector is an inverse of a covariance matrix, and wherein the covariance matrix includes a valued training matrix from a valued coin population and an impostor training matrix from an impostor coin population;
- and
- comparing the appraisal to a threshold to discriminate the coin.
A consumer operated coin counting apparatus comprising:
- a coin input region configured to receive a plurality of coins;
- a coin sensor configured to generate one or more sensor signals corresponding to coin properties;
- means for generating fingerprints having a plurality of sampled points from the sensor signals;
- means for determining appraisals from the fingerprints and a linear discrimination discriminant vector, wherein the linear discriminant vector is an inverse of a covariance matrix, and wherein the covariance matrix includes a valued training matrix from a valued coin population and an impostor training matrix from an impostor coin population;
- and
- means for discriminating the coins by comparing the appraisals to a threshold.
A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computer to discriminate coins, the coins being discriminated by a method comprising:
- receiving multiple coins;
- obtaining a sensor signal of one of the coins;
- detecting a coin feature in the sensor signal;
- generating a fingerprint at least in part from the coin feature;
- calculating an appraisal from the fingerprint and a linear discriminant vector, wherein the linear discriminant vector is an inverse of a covariance matrix, and wherein the covariance matrix includes a valued training matrix from a valued coin population and an impostor training matrix from an impostor coin population;
- and
- comparing the appraisal to a threshold.
A computer-implemented method for discriminating coins, the method comprising:
- acquiring a sensor signal of a coin;
- calculating an appraisal from the sensor signal and a linear discriminant vector, wherein the linear discriminant vector is an inverse of a covariance matrix, and wherein the covariance matrix includes a valued training matrix from a valued coin population and an impostor training matrix from an impostor coin population;
- and
- comparing the appraisal to a threshold to discriminate the coin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.