Apparatus and system for imaging currency bills and financial documents and method for using the same
First Claim
1. A method of processing documents in a currency bill processing system, comprising the currency bill processing system performing the acts of:
- receiving a plurality of currency bills in an input receptacle, each currency bill bearing a respective serial number;
transporting the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, one at a time, from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to an output receptacle;
imaging each of the plurality of currency bills with the image scanner to produce first image data, the first image data associated with each individual currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill;
extracting the serial numbers from the first image data for each of the currency bills;
determining whether each individual currency bill or the first image data associated with each individual currency bill satisfies one or more flag criteria; and
in response to one of the individual currency bills or the first image data associated with one of the individual currency bills satisfying one of the flag criteria, displaying a visually readable image of at least a portion of the one of the individual currency bills on a display unit;
displaying a find document element on the display unit;
in response to selection of the find document element, adding the serial number associated with the one of the individual currency bills displayed on the display unit to a find document queue, the one of the individual currency bills displayed on the display unit becoming a find document;
receiving at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills in the input receptacle a second time;
transporting the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills along the transport path a second time, one at a time, from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, to the output receptacle;
imaging each of the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills a second time with the image scanner to produce second image data, the second image data associated with each individual currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill;
extracting a second time the serial numbers from the second image data for each of the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills;
comparing each extracted serial number with one or more serial numbers in the find document queue to determine if a currency bill associated with an extracted serial number is a find document;
determining that one of the plurality of currency bills is a find document based on the act of comparing; and
in response to the determining that one of the plurality of currency bills is a find document, stopping the transportation of the plurality of currency bills such that the determined find document is the last currency bill transported to the output receptacle.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Currency bills are transported past an image scanner to one or more output receptacles. Each of the bills is imaged to produce image data from which a visually readable image of each bill can be reproduced. The serial number, denomination, and/or secondary identifiers of a bill is attempted to be extracted and/or determined from the image data associated with the bill. The serial number of the bill has an integer number, X, of characters. One or more of the X characters of the serial number of the currency bill is not extracted with a predetermined confidence. In response to failing to extract all of the X characters of the serial number of the bill with the predetermined confidence, a serial number field in an electronic record associated with the bill is populated with a serial number snippet image. The electronic record is stored in a non-transitory memory.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of processing documents in a currency bill processing system, comprising the currency bill processing system performing the acts of:
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receiving a plurality of currency bills in an input receptacle, each currency bill bearing a respective serial number; transporting the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, one at a time, from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to an output receptacle; imaging each of the plurality of currency bills with the image scanner to produce first image data, the first image data associated with each individual currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill; extracting the serial numbers from the first image data for each of the currency bills; determining whether each individual currency bill or the first image data associated with each individual currency bill satisfies one or more flag criteria; and in response to one of the individual currency bills or the first image data associated with one of the individual currency bills satisfying one of the flag criteria, displaying a visually readable image of at least a portion of the one of the individual currency bills on a display unit; displaying a find document element on the display unit; in response to selection of the find document element, adding the serial number associated with the one of the individual currency bills displayed on the display unit to a find document queue, the one of the individual currency bills displayed on the display unit becoming a find document; receiving at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills in the input receptacle a second time; transporting the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills along the transport path a second time, one at a time, from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, to the output receptacle; imaging each of the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills a second time with the image scanner to produce second image data, the second image data associated with each individual currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill; extracting a second time the serial numbers from the second image data for each of the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills; comparing each extracted serial number with one or more serial numbers in the find document queue to determine if a currency bill associated with an extracted serial number is a find document; determining that one of the plurality of currency bills is a find document based on the act of comparing; and in response to the determining that one of the plurality of currency bills is a find document, stopping the transportation of the plurality of currency bills such that the determined find document is the last currency bill transported to the output receptacle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of processing documents in a currency bill processing system, comprising the currency bill processing system performing the acts of:
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receiving a plurality of currency bills in an input receptacle, each currency bill bearing a respective serial number; transporting the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, one at a time, from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to an output receptacle; imaging each of the plurality of currency bills with the image scanner to produce first image data, the first image data associated with each individual currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill; extracting the serial numbers from the first image data for each of the currency bills; determining whether each individual currency bill or the first image data associated with each individual currency bill satisfies one or more flag criteria; and in response to one of the individual currency bills or the first image data associated with one of the individual currency bills satisfying one of the flag criteria, displaying a visually readable image of at least a portion of the one of the individual currency bills on a display unit; in response to selection of a find document element, adding the serial number associated with the one of the individual currency bills displayed on the display unit to a find document queue, the one of the individual currency bills displayed on the display unit becoming a find document; receiving at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills in the input receptacle a second time; transporting the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills along the transport path a second time, one at a time, from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, to the output receptacle; imaging each of the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills a second time with the image scanner to produce second image data, the second image data associated with each individual currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill; extracting a second time the serial numbers from the second image data for each of the at least a portion of the plurality of currency bills; comparing each extracted serial number with one or more serial numbers in the find document queue to determine if a currency bill associated with an extracted serial number is a find document; determining that one of the plurality of currency bills is a find document based on the act of comparing; and in response to the determining that one of the plurality of currency bills is a find document, physically flagging the find document. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification