Devices, systems, and methods for optical validation

• US 10,325,436 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Van Horn, Erik, Germaine, Gennady, Allen, Christopher, Ryder, David, Poloniewicz, Paul, Saber, Kevin, Kearney, Sean Philip, Hatton, Edward, Bremer, Edward C., Miraglia, Michael Vincent, Pierce, Robert, Rapoport, William Ross, Guiheen, James Vincent, Patel, Chirag, Giordano, Patrick Anthony, Good, Timothy, Rueblinger, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mangialaschi, Tracy
• Application Number:
  US15/388,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20170193727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/015 Aligning or centering of the sensing device with respect to the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10732 Light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 2207/00 Paper-money testing devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0043 using barcodes
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/12 Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/2016 using feature extraction, e.g. segmentation, edge detection or Hough-transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/202 using pattern matching
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/2033 Matching unique patterns, i.e. patterns that are unique to each individual paper
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/206 Matching template patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0018 Constructional details, e.g. of drawer, printing means, input means
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 3/00 Alarm indicators, e.g. bells

Abstract

Existing currency validation (CVAL) devices, systems, and methods are too slow, costly, intrusive, and/or bulky to be routinely used in common transaction locations (e.g., at checkout, at an automatic teller machine, etc.). Presented herein are devices, systems, and methods to facilitate optical validation of documents, merchandise, or currency at common transaction locations and to do so in an obtrusive and convenient way. More specifically, the present invention embraces a validation device that may be used alone or integrated within a larger system (e.g., point of sale system, kiosk, etc.). The present invention also embraces methods for currency validation using the validation device, as well as methods for improving the quality and consistency of data captured by the validation device for validation.

Claims

1. A point of sale system, comprising:

a cash register for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale;

a handheld imager communicatively coupled to the cash register, the handheld imager operable in either (i) an indicia reading mode for reading indicia as part of a checkout process or (ii) in a currency validation mode (CVAL mode) for validating currency as part of a checkout process;

wherein

in the CVAL mode, the handheld imager is configured to illuminate a currency item in a field of view with illumination flashes from one or more light sources each having a different spectral profile and directed generally away from the handheld imager and is configured to capture at least one image of the currency item for each illumination flash to obtain a plurality of digital images of the currency item illuminated by the different spectral profiles and comprising at least one of reflected and luminescent images for each of the one or more light sources having a different spectral profile flashed, and wherein

in the indicia reading mode, the handheld imager is configured to capture a digital image of an indicia item in the field of view, and process the digital image to recognize and decode one or more indicia found in the digital image, the CVAL mode and the indicia reading mode each comprising a mode of operation of the handheld imager.

2. The point of sale system according to claim 1, wherein the handheld imager comprises processing circuitry and the mode of operation is set by signals from the processing circuitry, wherein the signals are generated by the processing circuitry in response to an analysis of the captured image.

3. The point of sale system according to claim 1, wherein the cash register is further configured to output signals, wherein the mode of operation is set by the signals from the cash register in response to a transaction event.

4. The point of sale system according to claim 1, wherein the handheld imager comprises interface circuitry and the mode of operation is set by signals from the interface circuitry, wherein the signals are generated by the interface circuitry in response to user input.

5. The point of sale system according to claim 4, wherein the interface circuitry includes at least one of:

a trigger switch and the mode of operation is set by a movement of the trigger switch and

a microphone and the mode of operation is set by voice command spoken into the microphone.