Fail safe document dispensing system
First Claim
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1. An article dispensing system comprising:
- first and second article dispensing subsystems, each of said article dispensing subsystems comprising;
dispensing means responsive to a first signal for either sequentially dispensing articles therefrom or for generating a second signal when no articles are being dispensed therefrom;
an output receptacle;
conveying means for feeding articles from said dispensing means to said output receptacle; and
diverter means being responsive to a third signal for diverting articles from said associated dispensing means to said output receptacle of the other one of said article dispensing subsystems; and
means being responsive to said second signal from one of said subsystems for selectively generating first and third signals to cause articles to be fed to said output receptacle in said one of said subsystems from said dispensing means in the other one of said subsystems.
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Abstract
A system and method are disclosed for automatically and mutually sharing the currency dispensers in adjacent automatic teller machines when one dispenser is either out of service because of a malfunction or out of currency. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the system is comprised of first and second article dispensers, first and second output stations, a transport mechanism operationally coupled to both dispensers and to both stations, first and second diverters respectively positioned in first and second paths through the transport mechanism and a control circuit for selectively controlling the operations of the dispensers and diverters during a dispensing operation.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An article dispensing system comprising:
first and second article dispensing subsystems, each of said article dispensing subsystems comprising; dispensing means responsive to a first signal for either sequentially dispensing articles therefrom or for generating a second signal when no articles are being dispensed therefrom; an output receptacle; conveying means for feeding articles from said dispensing means to said output receptacle; and diverter means being responsive to a third signal for diverting articles from said associated dispensing means to said output receptacle of the other one of said article dispensing subsystems; and means being responsive to said second signal from one of said subsystems for selectively generating first and third signals to cause articles to be fed to said output receptacle in said one of said subsystems from said dispensing means in the other one of said subsystems.
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2. A document dispensing system comprising:
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first dispensing means responsive to a first signal for either sequentially dispensing documents therefrom or for generating a second signal when no documents are being dispensed therefrom; second dispensing means responsive to a third signal for either sequentially dispensing documents therefrom or for generating a fourth signal when no documents are being dispensed therefrom; first and second output stations; transport means for conveying documents from said first dispensing means into a first path to said first output station and documents from said second dispensing means into a second path to said second output station; first diverter means in said first path being responsive to a fifth signal for diverting documents in said first path to said second output station; second diverter means in said second path being responsive to a sixth signal for diverting documents in said second path to said first output station; and means responsive to a second signal for producing said third and fifth signals or to a fourth signal for producing said first and sixth signals. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A document dispensing system comprising:
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first dispensing means responsive to a first signal for either sequentially dispensing documents therefrom or for generating a second signal when no documents are being dispensed therefrom; second dispensing means responsive to a third signal for either sequentially dispensing documents therefrom or for generating a fourth signal when no documents are being dispensed therefrom; first and second output stations; transport means for conveying documents from said first dispensing means into a first path to said first output station and documents from said second dispensing means into a second path to said second output station; first diverter means in said first path being responsive to a fifth signal for diverting documents in said first path to said second output station, said first diverter means including a first diverter in the first path and a first control means for causing said first diverter to pass documents in the first path to either the first or second output station in response to the absence or presence, respectively, of the fifth signal; second diverter means in said second path being responsive to a sixth signal for diverting documents in said second path to said first output station, said second diverter means including a second diverter in the second path and a second control means for causing said second diverter to pass documents in the second path to either the second or first output station in response to the absence or presence, respectively, of the sixth signal; and means responsive to a second signal for producing said third and fifth signals or to a fourth signal for producing said first and sixth signals. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A document dispensing system comprising:
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first dispensing means responsive to a first signal for either sequentially dispensing documents therefrom or for generating a second signal when no documents are being dispensed therefrom, said first dispensing means including a first sensor for generating the second signal when no documents are being dispensed from said first dispensing means; second dispensing means responsive to a third signal for either sequentially dispensing documents therefrom or for generating a fourth signal when no documents are being dispensed therefrom, said second dispensing means including a second sensor for generating the fourth signal when no documents are being dispensed from said second dispensing means; first and second output stations; transport means for conveying documents from said first dispensing means into a first path to said first output station and documents from said second dispensing means into a second path to said second output station; first diverter means in said first path being responsive to a fifth signal for diverting documents in said first path to said second output station, said first diverter means including a first diverter in the first path and a first control means for causing said first diverter to pass documents in the first path to either the first or second output station in response to the absence or presence, respectively, of the fifth signal; second diverter means in said second path being responsive to a sixth signal for diverting documents in said second path to said first output station, said second diverter means including a second diverter in the second path and a second control means for causing said second diverter to pass documents in the second path to either the second or first output station in response to the absence or presence, respectively, of the sixth signal; and means responsive to a second signal for producing said third and fifth signals or to a fourth signal for producing said first and sixth signals. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for selectively dispensing articles, said method comprising the steps of:
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enabling a first dispenser to dispense articles in response to a first request for articles from a first output station and a second dispenser to dispense articles in response to a second request for articles from a second output station; generating a first signal when the first dispenser is enabled and not dispensing articles or a second signal when the second dispenser is enabled and not dispensing articles; feeding articles dispensed from the first dispenser along a first path and articles dispensed from the second dispenser along a second path; and diverting articles in the first path to either the first or second output station as a function of the respective absence or presence of the first signal or articles in the second path to either the second or first output station as a function of the respective absence or presence of the second signal. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification