Security apparatus for an automated teller machine

A method for providing security to an automatic teller machine (ATM) having a cash capture device in a presenter ea of the ATM, said method comprising:

• detecting, by a proximity detector of a plurality of proximity detectors in a security apparatus in the ATM, the cash capture device in the presenter area of the ATM and generating, by proximity detector, a detecting signal in response to the cash capture device being detected, wherein the cash capture device is configured to retain cash inside the ATM and prevent the cash from being dispensed to a user who requested the cash;
• receiving, by control circuitry in the security apparatus from the proximity detector, the detecting signal and in response disconnecting, by the control circuitry, a shutter motor's access to electrical power, wherein said disconnecting the shutter motor's access to electrical power disables a dispensing shutter of the ATM in an open position and causes the dispensing shutter of the ATM to remain in the open position, wherein each proximity detector is electrically connected to the control circuitry, and wherein the dispensing shutter in the open position is configured, in an absence of the cash capture device in the ATM, to dispense paper currency processed and stored in the presenter area of the ATM;
• and
• transporting, via a plurality of presenter belts in the presenter area of the ATM, the paper currency from currency cassettes along a transportation path to a dispenser aperture wherein each proximity detector is attached to a cross member that is oriented at a right angle to each presenter belt, wherein the cross member is disposed between, and not in contact with, an upper and lower portion of the each presenter belt.

A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium in a security apparatus in an automatic teller machine (ATM), said storage medium having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code containing instructions which, upon being executed by one or more processors in the security apparatus, implement a method for providing security to the ATM, wherein the ATM comprises a cash capture device in a presenter area of the ATM, wherein the cash capture device is configured to retain cash inside the ATM and prevent the cash from being dispensed to a user who requested the cash, said method comprising:

• detecting, by a proximity detector of at least one a plurality of proximity detectors in the security apparatus via execution of the one or more processors, the cash capture device in the presenter area and generating, by the proximity detector via execution of the one or more processors, a detecting signal in response to the cash capture device being detected;
• and
• receiving, by control circuitry in the security apparatus from the proximity detector, the detecting signal and in response disconnecting, by the control circuitry, a shutter motor's access to electrical power, wherein said disconnecting the shutter motor's access to electrical power disables a dispensing shutter of the ATM in an open position and causes the dispensing shutter of the ATM to remain in the open position, wherein each proximity detector is electrically connected to the control circuitry, and wherein the dispensing shutter in the open position is configured, in an absence of the cash capture device in the ATM, to dispense paper currency processed and stored in the presenter area of the AT;
• transporting, via a plurality of presenter belts in the presenter area of the ATM, the paper currency from currency cassettes along a transportation path to a dispenser aperture, wherein each proximity detector is attached to a cross member that is oriented at a right angle to each presenter belt, wherein the cross member is disposed between, and not in contact with, an upper and lower portion of the each presenter belt.