Currency handling system having multiple output receptacles

• US 6,994,200 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2003
• Issued: 02/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Klein, Robert J., Hallowell, Curtis W., Jenrick, Charles P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Walsh, Donald P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAPIRO, JEFFERY A
• Application Number:
  US10/424,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20040016621A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• Field of Search: 194/200, 194/206, 194/207, 271/149, 271/180, 271156-158, 271/181, 271/31.1, 209/534, 221/242
• US Class Current: 194/206
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/332 Turning, overturning
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/1912 Banknotes, bills and cheques or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/10 Mechanical details
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/13 with internal means for handling valuable papers
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/14 Inlet or outlet ports
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/202 Depositing operations within ATMs depositing in general G07D11/00

Abstract

A method and apparatus for handling bill jams within a currency processing device is provided. The device includes a transport mechanism adapted to transport bills along a transport path, one at a time, from the input receptacle past an evaluation unit into a plurality of output receptacles. At least one of the output receptacles includes a holding area and a storage area. A plurality of bill passage sensors are sequentially disposed along the transport path that are adapted to detect the passage of a bill as each bill is transported past each sensor. An encoder is adapted to produce an encoder count for each incremental movement of the transport mechanism. A controller counts the total number of bills transported into each of the holding areas and the total number of bills moved from a holding area to a corresponding storage area after a predetermined number of bills have been transported into the holding area. The controller tracks the movement of each of the bills along the transport path into each of the holding areas with the plurality of bill passage sensors. The presence of a bill jam is detected when a bill is not transported past one of the plurality of bill passage sensors within a requisite number of encoder counts. The operation of the transport mechanism is suspended upon detection of a bill jam. The bills from each of the holding areas are moved to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism. Remaining bills are then flushed from the transport path after moving the bills from each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

Claims

1. A method for processing currency bills with a currency handling device, the method comprising the device performing the acts of:

receiving a stack of a plurality of bills in an input receptacle;

transporting the bills with a transport mechanism, one at a time, from the input receptacle along a transport path into a plurality of output receptacles, at least one of the plurality of the output receptacles including a holding area and a corresponding storage area;

determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit at a rate of at least 800 bills per minute;

maintaining a count of the total number of bills transported into the holding area;

moving the bills transported into the holding area into the corresponding storage area after a predetermined number of bills have been stacked in the holding area;

maintaining a count of the total number of bills moved into the storage area;

tracking the movement of each of the bills along the transport path with a plurality of bill passage sensors, each of the plurality of sensors being adapted to detect the passage of a bill as each bill is transported past each sensor;

detecting the presence of a bill jam when a bill is not transported past one of the plurality of bill passage sensors along the transport path within a predetermined amount of time; and

suspending operation of the transport mechanism upon detection of a bill jam.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the act of updating the count of the number of bills moved into the storage area by adding thereto the count of the number of bills transported into the corresponding holding area prior to moving the bills from the holding area to the corresponding storage area upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising the act of resetting the count of the total number of bills transported into the holding area.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the act of receiving input from a user of the currency handling device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area after suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the acts of receiving input from a user of the currency handling device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein flushing the bills further comprises the act of flushing the bills in response to user input.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein a plurality of the plurality of output receptacles include a holding area and a corresponding storage area, the method further comprising the acts of detecting the presence of a bill jam in one of the holding areas when a bill is not transported past a predetermined position within the holding area within a predetermined amount of time, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the other holding areas further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the act of receiving input from a user of the device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprises the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after moving the bills already transported into the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the act of determining information further comprises the act of determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit at a rate of at least about 1500 bills per minute.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the acts of:

reversing the face orientation of a bill with a bill facing mechanism where the face orientation of a bill does not match a target orientation and;

detecting the presence of a bill jam in the bill facing mechanism when a bill is not transported past one of a plurality of bill passage sensors disposed along a transport path of the bill facing mechanism within a requisite number of encoder counts.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising the act of stacking the bills in each of the holding areas.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising the act of generating an encoder count for each incremental movement of the transport mechanism.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the act of detecting the presence of a bill jam when a bill is not transported past one of the plurality of bill passage sensors within a requisite number of encoder counts.

16. A method of handling bill jams within a currency processing device, the device including a transport mechanism including an encoder adapted to transport bills along a transport path, one at a time, from an input receptacle past an evaluation unit into a plurality of output receptacles, at least two of the plurality of the output receptacles each including a holding area and a storage area, the device having a plurality of bill passage sensors sequentially disposed along the transport path adapted to detect the passage of a bill as each bill is transported past each sensor, the method comprising the acts of:

maintaining a separate count for each of the holding areas of the number of bills transported into each of the holding areas;

moving the bills from a holding area to a corresponding storage area after a predetermined number of bills have been transported into the holding area;

maintaining a separate count for each of the storage areas of the number of bills moved into each of the storage areas;

tracking the movement of each of the bills along the transport path into each of the holding areas with the plurality of bill passage sensors;

generating an encoder count for each incremental movement of the transport mechanism;

detecting the presence of a bill jam when a bill is not transported past one of the plurality of bill passage sensors within a requisite number of encoder counts;

suspending operation of the transport mechanism upon detection of a bill jam;

moving the bills from each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism;

for each of the storage areas, updating the count of the number of bills moved into each of the storage areas by adding thereto the count of the number of bills transported into the corresponding holding areas prior to moving the bills from each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism; and

resetting the count of the total number of bills transported into each of the holding areas.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the act of electronically jogging the transport mechanism.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after moving the bills from each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising the act of manually clearing the bill jam from the transport path.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after moving the bills from each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

21. The method of claim 16 further comprising the act of manually clearing the bill jam from the transport path.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after moving the bills from each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

23. The method of claim 16 further comprising the act of receiving input from a user of the device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas to the corresponding storage areas after suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the act of flushing the bills further comprises the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after moving the bills already transported into the holding areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

25. The method of claim 16 further comprising the act of detecting the presence of a bill jam in one of the holding areas when a bill is not transported past one of the plurality of bill passage sensors disposed adjacent the holding area within a requisite number of encoder counts, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising the act of receiving input from a user of the device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the act of flushing the bills further comprises the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

28. The method of claim 16 wherein the act of determining information further comprises the act of determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit at a rate of at least about 800 bills per minute.

29. The method of claim 16 wherein the act of determining information further comprises the act of determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit at a rate of at least about 1500 bills per minute.

30. The method of claim 16 further comprising the acts of:

reversing the face orientation of a bill with a bill facing mechanism where the face orientation of a bill does not match a target orientation and;

detecting the presence of a bill jam in the bill facing mechanism when a bill is not transported past one of a plurality of bill passage sensors disposed along a transport path of the bill facing mechanism within a requisite number of encoder counts.

31. A method for processing currency bills with a currency handling device, the method comprising the device performing the acts of:

receiving a stack of a plurality of bills in an input receptacle;

transporting the bills with a transport mechanism, one at a time, from the input receptacle along a transport path into a plurality of output receptacles, at least one of the plurality of the output receptacles including a holding area and a corresponding storage area;

determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit;

maintaining a count of the total number of bills transported into the holding area;

moving the bills transported into the holding area into the corresponding storage area after a predetermined number of bills have been stacked in the holding area;

maintaining a count of the total number of bills moved into the storage area;

tracking the movement of each of the bills along the transport path with a plurality of bill passage sensors, each of the plurality of sensors being adapted to detect the passage of a bill as each bill is transported past each sensor;

generating an encoder count for each incremental movement of the transport mechanism; and

detecting the presence of a bill jam when a bill is not transported past one of the plurality of bill passage sensors along the transport path within a requisite number of encoder counts.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising the act of suspending operation of the transport mechanism upon detection of a bill jam.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising the act of updating the count of the number of bills moved into the storage area by adding thereto the count of the number of bills transported into the corresponding holding area prior to moving the bills from the holding area to the corresponding storage area upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising the act of resetting the count of the total number of bills transported into the holding area.

36. The method of claim 33 further comprising the act of receiving input from a user of the currency handling device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area after suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

37. The method of claim 33 further comprising the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after the act of moving the bills already transported into the holding area to the corresponding storage area.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising the acts of receiving input from a user of the currency handling device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein flushing the bills further comprises the act of flushing the bills in response to user input.

39. The method of claim 33 wherein a plurality of the plurality of output receptacles include a holding area and a corresponding storage area, the method further comprising the acts of detecting the presence of a bill jam in one of the holding areas when a bill is not transported past a predetermined position within the holding area within a predetermined amount of time, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the other holding areas further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism.

40. The method of claim 39 further comprising the act of receiving input from a user of the device via a user interface, the input including operational instructions, and wherein the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein further comprises the act of moving the bills already transported into each of the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein to the corresponding storage areas upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprises the act of flushing the bills from the transport path after moving the bills already transported into the holding areas not having a bill jam detected therein upon suspension of the operation of the transport mechanism in response to user input.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein the act of determining information further comprises the act of determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit at a rate of at least about 800 bills per minute.

43. The method of claim 40 wherein the act of determining information further comprises the act of determining information concerning the bills with an evaluating unit at a rate of at least about 1500 bills per minute.

44. The method of claim 40 further comprising the acts of:

reversing the face orientation of a bill with a bill facing mechanism where the face orientation of a bill does not match a target orientation and;

detecting the presence of a bill jam in the bill facing mechanism when a bill is not transported past one of a plurality of bill passage sensors disposed along a transport path of the bill facing mechanism within a requisite number of encoder counts.

45. The method of claim 40 further comprising the act of stacking the bills in each of the holding areas.