Currency processing device, method and system

• US 20050029168A1
• Filed: 07/30/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Mennie, Douglas U., Jones, William J., Baranowski, Marek, Maier, Ken W., Chen, Yanmei
• Granted Patent: US 7,726,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 209/534
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 15/012 twisted belts
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/33212 about an axis parallel to the direction of displacement of material
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/33224 180°
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/1912 Banknotes, bills and cheques or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/16 Handling of valuable papers within containers G07D11/13
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/40 Device architecture, e.g. modular construction
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/50 Sorting or counting valuable papers

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a currency processing device for receiving and processing a stack of currency bills is disclosed. The currency processing device comprises an input receptacle for receiving a stack of bills to be processed, a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been processed, a transport mechanism for transporting the bills from the input receptacle to the output receptacles, and a discriminating unit for examining the bills. The output receptacles are arranged such that a center of at least one output receptacle is laterally offset from a center of the input receptacle. The discriminating unit includes a detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacles and is adapted to determine the denomination of bills.

Claims

1. A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed, each bill having a leading edge and a trailing edge;

a plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from said input receptacle;

a discriminating unit adapted to determine the denomination of the bills, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned between said input receptacle and said output receptacles; and

a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the output receptacles and past said discriminating unit, said transport mechanism including

at least first, second and third transport paths arranged to move currency bills from said input receptacle to at least one said output receptacle with the wide edge of the currency bills leading,

a bill rotating mechanism in said first transport path for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and orthogonal to the those edges so that the leading edge of a currency bill exiting the first transport path is aligned with said second path, and

a bill rotating mechanism in said third transport path for rotating the currency bills, around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and orthogonal to the those edges so that the leading edge of a currency bill exiting said third transport path is aligned with said output receptacles,

said transport mechanism moving the currency bills from said input receptacle to at least one said output receptacle without reducing the speed at which the bills are moved.

2. The currency device of claim 1 in which said discrimination unit produces at least one control signal representing the processing of each currency bill for the purpose of tracking and directing each currency bill.

3. The currency processing device of claim 2 in which said transport mechanism includes diverters for directing bills from said first transport path to at least one second path responsive to said control signal.

4. The currency processing device of claim 2 in which said transport mechanism includes a diverter for directing bills from said at least one second path to at least one third path in which said diverter is responsive to said control signal.

5. The currency processing device of claim 2 in which said transport mechanism includes diverters for directing bills from said transport mechanism to selected output receptacles in which said diverters are responsive to said control signal.

6. The currency device of claim 1 in which said plurality of output receptacles includes 6. a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset to the left of said input receptacle.

7. The currency device of claim 1 in which said plurality of output receptacles includes a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset to the right of said input receptacle.

8. The currency device of claim 1 in which said plurality of output receptacles includes a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset to the right of said input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset to the left of said input receptacle.

9. A method of currency processing which includes the acts of:

moving currency bills having a leading edge and a trailing edge from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle, wherein the act of moving includes the acts of;

removing bills from said input receptacle one at a time;

rotating the removed bills 90°

around an axis extending orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills; and

moving the rotated bills laterally in the direction in which said output receptacles are offset from said input receptacle.

10. The method according to claim 9 in which the bills are again rotated 90°

around an axis extending orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills, before the bills are delivered to said output receptacles.

11. The method according to claim 9 further including the act of examining the currency bills having a leading edge and a trailing edge while moving said bills from said input receptacle to said output receptacles, and

the act of delivering said bills to selected output receptacles based on said act of examining.

12. A method for rapidly moving currency bills from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle of a currency processing device and to multiple output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle in said device, the method comprising the acts of:

removing bills from said stack one at a time;

moving the bills removed from said stack away from said input receptacle along a first transport path;

examining said bills, including authenticating, counting and denominating said bills;

rotating the bills 90°

around an axis extending orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of said bills, and

moving the rotated bills laterally along a second transport path in the direction in which said output receptacles are offset from said input receptacle;

rotating the bills 90°

around an axis extending orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of said bills so that said bills are aligned to said output receptacles; and

delivering said bills to said output receptacles along a third transport path.

13. The method according to claim 12 whereby said bills can be moved from said first transport path to said second transport path without reducing the speed at which the bills are moved.

14. The method according to claim 12 whereby said bills are directed to said output receptacles based on said examination.

15. A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;

a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been processed, the output receptacles arranged such that at least one output receptacle is located to the right of the input receptacle, and at least one the output receptacle is located to the left of the input receptacle;

a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the output receptacles;

a discriminating unit for processing the bills, the discriminating unit including a detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacles, the discriminating unit be adapted to count and determine the denomination of bills.

16. A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;

a plurality of modular output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle;

a transport mechanism for transporting bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to the plurality modular output receptacles;

a discriminating unit including a detector positioned between the input receptacle and the output receptacle, said discriminating unit being adapted to count and determine the denomination of bills;

a housing for said input receptacle, transport mechanism, and discrimination unit, the housing having a front side, a back side, a left side, and a right side;

wherein the front side of the housing is adapted to permit bills to be received with said input receptacle and wherein said housing is adapted to permit one or modular output receptacles to be coupled to both the left side and the right side of said housing; and

wherein said transport mechanism is adapted to permit bills to be fed through the right side of the housing when one or modular output receptacles are coupled to the right side of the housing and to permit bills to be fed through the left side of the housing when one or modular output receptacles are coupled to the left side of the housing.

17. A currency processing device for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, said device comprising:

an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be evaluated;

a plurality of modular output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle for receiving said bills after said bills have been processed, said modular output receptacles being capable of being mounted to the device such that said modular output receptacles can be laterally offset either to the right or to the left of said input receptacle;

a transport mechanism for transporting said bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to said modular output receptacle along a transport path;

a discriminating unit for evaluating said bills, said discriminating unit including a detector positioned between said input receptacle and said output receptacle, said discriminating unit counting and determining the denomination of said bills

18. The currency processing device of claim 17 further comprising:

a processor that flags a currency bill meeting or failing to meet one or more criteria, said processor causing casing the transport mechanism to halt in response to the detection of a bill meeting or failing to meet said one or more criteria.

19. The currency processing device of claim 17 further comprising:

a routing interface, said routing interface comprising a data retrieval device, said data retrieval device receiving information from a user of said processing device specifying a set of one or more output receptacles to which bills that are flagged by said processor are to be directed.

20. A method for processing currency bills comprising the acts of:

receiving a stack of currency bills in an input receptacle;

transporting each of the currency bills, one at a time, from said input receptacle to one of a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle;

authenticating, counting and determining the denominations of the bills;

directing some of the bills to an output receptacle laterally offset to the right of said input receptacle and some of the bills to an output receptacle laterally offset to the left of said input receptacle based on the denomination of the bill and the location of the output receptacle for that denomination.

21. A method of automatically reporting financial information from a bank branch to a central banking computer comprising the acts of:

processing currency located at a facility using a currency processing device having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacles;

reporting results of the processing automatically to a central computer using a computing network containing at least the currency processing device at the facility and the central computer;

determining whether the facility reporting the results of the processing device possesses a proper number of bills of particular denominations.

22. A method of automatically ordering a delivery of currency to a facility comprising:

processing the currency located at a facility using a processing device having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacles;

reporting the results of the currency evaluation automatically to a central computer using a connection to a computing network containing at least one currency processing device at the facility and a central computer;

determining whether the possesses a deficient amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency; and

ordering a delivery of currency using a computing network containing at least the currency processing device and the central computer that restores the facility to the proper amount of currency if the facility is determined to have a deficient amount of particular denominations of currency.

23. A method of automatically ordering a shipment of currency from a facility comprising:

processing the currency located at the facility using a currency processing device having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacles;

reporting the results of the evaluation automatically to a central computer using a computing network containing at least one currency processing device and the central computer;

determining whether the facility having the currency processing device reporting the results of the processing device possesses an excess amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;

ordering a shipment of currency from the location using the computing network containing at least the currency processing device and the central computer that restores the branch to the proper amount of currency if the facility is determined to have a deficient amount of particular denominations of currency.

24. A method of ordering a shipment of currency from a first facility to a second facility wherein the first and second facilities have currency processing devices having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacles and wherein the first and second facility are coupled to a computing network comprising:

processing the currency located at a first facility using a first currency processing device;

processing the currency located at a second facility using a second currency processing device;

determining whether the first facility with the first currency processing device reporting the results of the first processing device possesses a deficient amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;

determining whether the second facility with the second currency processing device reporting the results of the second processing device possesses an excess amount of the proper number of bills of particular denominations of currency;

reporting the results of the evaluation at the first facility and at the second facility to a central computer using the computing network containing at least the first currency processing device at the first facility, the central computer, and the second currency processing device at the second location;

ordering a shipment of currency from the second facility using a connection to the computing network, containing the central computer, and the first currency processing device that restores the second facility to the proper amount of currency, if the second facility possesses a surplus quantity of currency;

ordering a delivery of currency to the first facility using a connection to the computing network containing at least the first currency processing device, the central computer, and the second currency processing device that restores the first facility to the proper amount of currency, if the first facility possesses a deficient quantity of currency; and

generating a shipping request of an amount of currency from the second facility to the first facility so that the delivery is directly from the second facility to the first facility if the first facility possesses a deficient quantity of currency bills and the second facility possesses a surplus quantity of currency bills.

25. A currency processing device for receiving and processing a stack of currency bills, the currency processing device comprising:

an input receptacle for receiving a stack of bills to be evaluated, each bill having a leading edge and a trailing edge;

a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been evaluated laterally offset from said input receptacle;

an imager for capturing an image of each bill, the captured image being used for at least one of authenticating, counting, and determining the denomination of the bills;

a first bill rotating mechanism for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and orthogonal to the those edges; and

a second bill rotating mechanism for rotating the currency bills around an axis passing through the leading and trailing edges of the currency bills and orthogonal to the those edges so that the leading edge of a currency bill is aligned with said output receptacles.

26. The currency processing device of claim 25, wherein the imager produces at least one control signal representing the processing of each currency bill for the purpose of tracking and directing each currency bill.

27. The currency processing device of claim 26, further comprising a transport mechanism including diverters for directing bills from a first transport path to at least one second path responsive to said control signal.

28. The currency processing device of claim 26, further comprising a transport mechanism including a diverter for directing bills from at least one second path to at least one third path responsive to said control signal.

29. The currency processing device of claim 26, further comprising a transport mechanism including diverters for directing bills from said transport mechanism to one of said plurality of output receptacles responsive to said control signal.

30. The currency processing device of claim 25, wherein the imager includes at least one image sensor for capturing an image of a surface of the currency bills.

31. The currency processing device of claim 30, wherein the at least one image sensor comprises:

an upper image sensor for capturing an image of an upper surface of the currency bills; and

a lower image sensor for capturing an image of a lower surface of the currency bills.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

rotating the bills 90°

around an axis extending orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills, before the bills are delivered to said output receptacles.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein capturing comprises:

capturing an image of an upper surface of the currency bills; and

capturing an image of a lower surface of the currency bills.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein moving comprises moving the currency bills from the input receptacle one bill at a time.

32. A method of processing currency bills each having a leading edge and a trailing edge, the method comprising the acts of:

moving currency bills from a stack of bills placed in an input receptacle to a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from said input receptacle;

capturing an image of at least one surface of the currency bills;

creating a control signal based on the captured image of the currency bills;

rotating the bills 90°

around an axis extending orthogonally through the leading and trailing edges of the bills; and

moving the rotated bills laterally toward one of said plurality of output receptacles based on the control signal.

36. A currency processing device for processing a stack of currency bills, the currency processing device comprising:

an input receptacle for receiving a stack of bills to be evaluated;

a plurality of output receptacles for receiving bills after the bills have been evaluated, the output receptacles arranged such that at least one output receptacle is located to the right of the input receptacle, and at least one the output receptacle is located to the left of the input receptacle;

a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, from the input receptacle to one of the plurality of output receptacles; and

an imager for processing the bills and creating a control signal based on the evaluated bills, the imager including at least one image sensor adapted to capture an image of a surface of the bills.

37. The currency processing device of claim 36, wherein the imager comprises:

an upper image sensor for capturing an image of an upper surface of the bills; and

a lower image sensor for capturing an image of a lower surface of the bills.

38. The currency processing device of claim 36, wherein the plurality of output receptacles comprises a plurality of modular output receptacles, said modular output receptacles being capable of being mounted to the left or the right of said input receptacle.

39. The currency processing device of claim 36, further comprising a processor that flags a currency bill meeting or failing to meet one or more criteria, said processor causing the transport mechanism to halt in response to the detection of a bill meeting or failing to meet said one or more criteria.

40. The currency processing device of claim 36, further comprising:

a routing interface, said routing interface comprising a data retrieval device, said data retrieval device receiving information from a user of said currency processing device specifying a set of one or more output receptacles to which bills that are flagged by said processor are to be directed.

41. The currency processing device of claim 36, further comprising diverters for diverting the bills to a particular one of the plurality of output receptacles based on the control signal.

42. A method of reporting financial information from a bank branch to a central banking computer comprising:

processing the currency located at a facility using a currency processing device having an input receptacle and a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacles;

reporting the results of the evaluation to a central computer using a computing network including at least the currency processing device at the facility and the central computer;

determining whether the facility having the currency processing device reporting the results of the processing device possesses a proper number of bills of particular denominations.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

ordering a delivery of currency using a computing network including at least the currency processing device and the central computer that restores the branch to the proper amount of currency, if the facility has a deficiency.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

ordering a shipment of currency from the location having an excess quantity of currency using a computing network including at least the currency processing device and the central computer that restores the branch to the proper amount of currency, if the facility possesses an excess amount of currency.

45. A currency processing for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;

a first column of a plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;

a second column of a plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;

a discriminating unit adapted to determine the denomination of the bills; and

a transport mechanism for transporting the bills, one at a time, form the input receptacle to one of the output receptacles.

46. The currency processing device of claim 45 wherein the first column of a plurality of output receptacles and the second column of a plurality of output receptacles are laterally offset from the input receptacle in the same direction.

47. The currency processing device of claim 46 wherein the first column of a plurality of output receptacles and the second column of a plurality of output receptacles are laterally offset to the left of the input receptacle.

48. The currency processing device of claim 46 wherein the first column of a plurality of output receptacles and the second column of a plurality of output receptacles are laterally offset to the right of the input receptacle.

49. The currency processing device of claim 46 further comprising a third column of a plurality of output receptacles laterally offset from the input receptacle in the opposite direction of the first column of a plurality of output receptacles and the second column of a plurality of output receptacles.

50. A currency processing for receiving a stack of currency bills and rapidly processing the bills in the stack, the device comprising:

an input receptacle positioned to receive a stack of bills to be processed;

a first column of a plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;

a second column of a plurality of output receptacles adapted to receive bills after the bills have been processed laterally offset from the input receptacle;

a discriminating unit adapted to determine the denomination of the bills; and

a transport mechanism for transporting the bills along a leading edge of the bill, one at a time, form the input receptacle to one of the output receptacles, the transport mechanism transporting bills along a first transport path with a narrow edge of the bill being the leading edge past the discriminating unit, the transport mechanism transporting bills along a second transport path with a wide edge of the bill being the leading edge to one of the plurality of output receptacles.