Cash supply chain surveillance

• US 8,078,534 B1
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Nichols, Michelle, Atwood, Todd, Heddleson, James, Cargle, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert, Ella
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANDERSON, JOHN A
• Application Number:
  US12/262,448
• Time in Patent Office: 1,138 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00309 operated with bidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/08 by opening, e.g. of door, of window, of drawer, of shutter, of curtain, of blind
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1481 with optical detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2402 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS], i.e. systems using tags for detecting removal of a tagged item from a secure area, e.g. tags for detecting shoplifting mechanical aspects of the tags, e.g. related to locking E05B73/0017; RFID readers G06K7/00; RFID tags G06K19/00; access control systems G07C9/00; anti-theft control in point of sale systems G07G3/003; security seals G09F3/03

Abstract

The movement of physical cash and/or other monetary items along the cash supply chain requires security. Some security includes the continuous recordation of video or other images to provide a visual history of the activities that occurred at a particular location along the cash supply chain. By automatically identifying an item at various points along the cash supply chain and associating it with a particular timestamp, the relevant portions of the video surveillance may be quickly and efficiently identified when a suspicious event occurs.

Claims

1. A computer-assisted method of conducting cash supply chain surveillance, comprising the steps of:

receiving identification of an item at a surveillance point along a cash supply chain from a third party computing device, wherein the identification comprises a timestamp assigned by the third party computing device for the item at the surveillance point;

receiving a surveillance video of the surveillance point, the surveillance video recorded with a video camera and including surveillance during a time period corresponding to the timestamp;

receiving information relating to an event that included the item, wherein the receiving occurs via short message service (SMS);

storing the identification of the item, the surveillance video of the surveillance point, and the information relating to the event in a database;

using a processor, accessing the surveillance video at the timestamp to determine a cause of the event; and

receiving a first query of a status of the item in the cash supply chain, wherein the status includes at least a current location of the item, a prior location of the item, and a planned future location of the item;

transmitting a response to the first query;

receiving a second query to update the current location of the item; and

updating the current location of the item in response to the second query.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving identification of the item comprises receiving identification of the item based on an identifier transmitted by a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to the item.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the item is a cash bag.

4. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the item is a cash strap.

5. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the surveillance point is within a cash vault.

6. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the surveillance point is an ATM.

7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the surveillance point is a financial institution.

8. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the surveillance point is an armored carrier.

9. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the timestamp is assigned to include a time that the item arrives at the surveillance point and a time that the item departs from the surveillance point.

10. The method recited in claim 1, further including receiving an identification of personnel that handled the item at the surveillance point, wherein the accessing the surveillance video comprises accessing portions of the surveillance video that include personnel that handled the item at the surveillance point.

11. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a video surveillance of an item at a plurality of surveillance points along a cash supply chain over a period of time;

receiving confirmation that the item has been detected at least one of the plurality of points of surveillance;

for the at least one of the plurality of points of surveillance, receiving a timestamp for the item corresponding to the item'"'"'s presence at the at least one of the plurality of points of surveillance;

receiving information relating to an event that included the item, wherein the receiving occurs via short message service (SMS);

storing the video surveillance, the confirmation that the item has been detected, the timestamp for the item, and the information related to the event in a database;

selecting the at least one of the plurality of points of surveillance;

identifying a portion of the video surveillance relating to the selected at least one of the plurality of points of surveillance by matching the timestamp of the item'"'"'s presence at the selected at least one of the plurality of points of surveillance with a corresponding portion of the time period over which the video surveillance was recorded to determine a cause of the event;

receiving a first query of a status of the item in the cash supply chain, wherein the status includes at least a current location of the item, a prior location of the item, and a planned future location of the item;

transmitting a response to the first query;

receiving a second query to update the current location of the item; and

updating the current location of the item in response to the second query.

12. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the step of receiving the video surveillance includes:

receiving a first video surveillance at a first video camera positioned to monitor a first surveillance point; and

receiving a second video surveillance at a second video camera positioned to monitor a second surveillance point.

13. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the plurality of surveillance points includes at least one of an ATM, a cash vault, a financial institution, and an armored carrier.

14. The method recited in claim 11, wherein the detection is performed by an RFID system that includes attaching an RFID tag to the item and a plurality of RFID scanners that are positioned at each of the points of surveillance.

15. A method of providing security along a cash supply chain, comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a third party computing device, a unique identifier associated with an item when the item arrives at a point of surveillance;

receiving a timestamp of the item from the third party computing device, wherein the timestamp indicates a time that the item arrives at the point of surveillance;

storing first information relating to the unique identifier and the timestamp in a database of a computing system;

receiving a video surveillance of the point of surveillance over a period of time, wherein the video surveillance is recorded with a video camera;

receiving second information relating to an event that included the item, wherein the receiving the second information occurs via short message service (SMS);

using a processor of the computing system, identifying a time period during which the item was present at the point of surveillance by assessing the first information in the memory;

using the processor, selecting a relevant portion of the video surveillance that corresponds to the time period during which the item was present at the point of surveillance;

receiving a first query of a status of the item in the cash supply chain, wherein the status includes at least a current location of the item, a prior location of the item, and a planned future location of the item;

transmitting a response to the first query;

receiving a second query to update the current location of the item; and

updating the current location of the item in response to the second query.

16. The method recited in claim 15, further comprising causing display of the video surveillance of the item that was included in the event.

17. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising the step of identifying a cause of the event.

18. The method recited in claim 15, wherein the point of surveillance includes at least one of a cash vault, an ATM, a financial institution, and an armored carrier.

19. A system for providing cash supply chain surveillance, comprising:

a video camera capable of recording video at a first location;

a computing system, comprising;

a database for storing item information, timestamp information, and event information;

a receiver for receiving;

the item information about an item that is present at the first location; and

the timestamp information about a time at which the item is present at the first location;

the event information relating to an event that included the item, wherein the event information is received via short message service (SMS);

a first query of a status of the item in the cash supply chain, wherein the status includes at least a current location of the item, a prior location of the item, and a planned future location of the item;

a second query to update the current location of the item, and

a processor configured to identify a portion of the recorded video that corresponds to the item information and the timestamp information, transmit a response to the first query, and update the current location of the item in response to the second query,

wherein the portion of the video surveillance is relevant to investigating the event that includes the item.

20. The system recited in claim 19, wherein the location is within a cash vault.

21. A computer-assisted method of conducting cash supply chain surveillance, comprising the steps of:

receiving identification of physical cash at a cash vault along a cash supply chain from a third party computing device based on an identifier transmitted by a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to the physical cash,

wherein the identification comprises a timestamp assigned by the third party computing device for the physical cash at the cash vault,

wherein the timestamp includes a time that the physical cash arrives at the cash vault and a time that the physical cash departs from the cash vault,

wherein the RFID tag is read by an RFID scanner at the cash vault,

wherein the identifier comprises alphanumeric characters,

wherein the RFID tag comprises a passive RFID tag that is powered by power inherent to a signal that is received from the RFID scanner;

receiving an identification of personnel that handled the physical cash at the cash vault,

receiving a surveillance video of the cash vault, the surveillance video recorded with a video camera and including surveillance during a time period corresponding to the timestamp;

receiving information relating to an event that included the physical cash,

wherein the receiving occurs via short message service (SMS),

wherein the event includes disappearance of the physical cash from the cash vault;

storing the identification of the physical cash, the identification of the personnel that handled the physical cash, the surveillance video of the cash vault, and the information relating to the event in a database,

wherein the database is organized as a relational database that is responsive to requests in structured query language, wherein the database comprises a distributed database;

generating an alert in reaction to the event;

using a processor, accessing the surveillance video at the timestamp to determine a cause of the event,

wherein the accessing the surveillance video comprises accessing portions of the surveillance video that include personnel that handled the physical cash at the cash vault;

generating a web page configured to allow a user to query a status of the physical cash in the cash supply chain,

wherein the status includes at least a current location of the physical cash, a prior location of the physical cash, and a planned future location of the physical cash,

wherein the web page is further configured to allow the user to access the surveillance video;

receiving a first query of the status of the physical cash in the cash supply chain through the web page;

transmitting a response to the first query;

receiving a second query to update the current location of the physical cash; and

updating the current location of the physical cash in response to the second query.