CASH TRACKING SYSTEM

• US 20080223930A1
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sargent and Greenleaf, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sargent and Greenleaf, Inc.
• Inventors: Brookes, Jeremy R., Rolland, Richard A., Manor, Michael H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,496,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: E05G 1/04 Closure fasteners locks E05B
• CPC Class Codes: E05G 1/06 having provision for multiple compartments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/0096 Accepting paper currency or other valuables in containers, e.g. in code-marked envelopes
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/12 Containers for valuable papers
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/30 Tracking or tracing valuable papers or cassettes

Abstract

A system of tracking the location of cash is disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of verifying a deposit comprising:

providing a deposit bag with a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) tag secured to the deposit bag;

reading the RFID tag by a safe antenna to verify that the deposit bag has been deposited into a safe;

attempting to communicate with the RFID tag by the safe antenna at a predetermined time; and

sending a signal that the deposit bag has been removed from safe, if the RFID tag does not respond to the communication of the safe antenna.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of writing deposit information to the RFID tag.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the deposit information includes the amount of cash held by the deposit bag.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the deposit information includes the number and denomination of the cash held by the deposit bag.

5. A safe for securing assets, the safe comprising:

a safe housing defining an interior region,

a door permitting access to the interior region of the safe housing,

a lock positioned to block access to the interior region though the door,

a deposit container including an RFID tag, and

at least one antenna in periodic communication with the RFID tag to detect the presence of the RFID tag within the interior region of the safe housing.

6. The safe of claim 5, wherein the RFID tag includes deposit information.

7. The safe of claim 5, further comprises an RFID transceiver positioned outside of the interior region of the safe housing, wherein the safe housing is RF opaque and the at least one antenna is positioned in the interior region of the safe housing.

8. The safe of claim 7, wherein the lock contains deposit information and the RFID transceiver communicates the deposit information from the lock to the RFID tag.

9. The safe of claim 8, wherein the lock includes a keypad and the deposit information is provided to the lock through the keypad.

10. The safe of claim 5, wherein the lock is coupled to a communication network and transmits a signal indicative of the communication of the at least one antenna with the RFID tag.

11. The safe of claim 10, wherein the signal indicates that the RFID tag is no longer present in the interior region of the safe housing.

12. The safe of claim 5, wherein the interior region of the safe housing is divided into a plurality of compartments sized to receive at least one deposit container, each compartment is positioned to receive an RFID signal from the at least one antenna to detect the presence of a deposit container in a compartment.

13. The safe of claim 12, wherein the safe housing includes an access opening and the compartments are positioned on a carousel that aligns the compartments to receive a deposit container from the access opening.

14. The safe of claim 12, wherein the safe includes a plurality of antennas in periodic communication with the RFID tag positioned to detect the presence of RFID tags within the compartments.

15. A cash tracking system comprising:

a plurality of safes, each safe including an interior region sized to receive a plurality of deposit containers having an RFID tag secured thereto and at least one RF antenna coupled to the safe to detect the presence of the RFID tag within the safe,

a server that receives information from the plurality of safes indicative of the location of the deposit containers based on the detection of the RFID antennas associated with the safes.

16. The cash tracking system of claim 15, wherein the at least one RF antennas are configured to periodical send a signal into the interior regions of the safes to activate a response from the RFID tags.

17. The cash tracking system of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of safes include a transceiver configured to write deposit information to the RFID tags.

18. The cash tracking system of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of safes include an RF opaque housing defining the interior region, the transceivers are positioned outside of the interior region of the housings, and the RF antennas are positioned within the interior regions of the housings.

19. The cash tracking system of claim 15, wherein the interior region of the each safe is divided into a plurality of compartments sized to receive at least one deposit container, each compartment is positioned to receive an RF signal from the at least one RF antenna to detect the presence of a deposit container in a compartment.

20. The cash tracking system of claim 15, wherein the server sends an exception report based on information received from at least one safe when a deposit container is not positioned within said safe.