Bill identifier/counter

A bill recognizing and counting apparatus comprising:

• a rejecting unit for rejected bills;
• a transport-path switching unit configured to switch a route of a given bill from a main transport path to a branched transport path toward the rejecting unit;
• a detecting unit configured to detect a skew of the given bill;
• an operation unit configured to receive a setting of a given bill processing mode from a plurality of bill processing modes, wherein the plurality of bill processing modes includes a denomination mode for recognizing a denomination, and a counting mode for performing only counting;
• a recognizing unit configured to perform 1) denomination recognizing at a first processing speed when the given bill processing mode is the denomination mode, and 2) only counting of bills at a second processing speed when the given bill processing mode is the counting mode;
• and
• a control unit configured to drive the transport-path switching unit to guide the given bill to the rejecting unit through the branched transport path when the given bill is in a skewed state exceeding a predetermined criterion as detected by the detecting unit in the denomination mode;
• wherein a first criterion set as the predetermined criterion in the denomination mode is different from a second criterion set as the predetermined criterion in the counting mode,
• wherein the second criterion in the counting mode is set to be more lenient than the first criterion in the denomination mode such that a reject rate in the counting mode becomes lower than a reject rate in the denomination mode,
• wherein the second processing speed in the counting mode is higher than the first processing speed in the denomination mode, and
• wherein the first processing speed and the first criterion are previously set so that the recognizing unit can recognize the denomination of the given bill in the denomination mode.

A method for processing bills using a bill recognizing and counting apparatus having a stacker for normal bills and a rejecting unit for rejected bills, comprising:

• selecting one of a denomination mode for recognizing a denomination and a counting mode for performing only counting as a processing mode of the bill recognizing and counting apparatus;
• transporting a given bill received in the bill recognizing and counting apparatus along a transport path of the bill recognizing and counting apparatus;
• detecting a skew of the given bill via a detecting unit provided on the transport path;
• performing denomination recognizing in the denomination mode at a first processing speed and counting of bills in the counting mode at a second processing speed by a recognizing unit;
• stacking, when either the counting mode or the denomination mode is selected, the given bill into the stacker when a skewed state of the given bill does not exceed a first predetermined criterion for the denomination mode or a second predetermined criterion for the counting mode;
• stacking the given bill into the stacker, when the counting mode is selected, when the skewed state of the given bill exceeds the second predetermined criterion;
• and
• stacking the given bill into the rejecting unit, when the denomination mode is selected, when the skewed state of the given bill exceeds the first predetermined criterion,
• wherein the second processing speed in the counting mode is higher than the first processing speed in the denomination mode, and
• wherein the first processing speed and the first predetermined criterion are functions of an ability of the recognizing unit to recognize the denomination of the given bill in the denomination mode.