Apparatus and system for imaging currency bills and financial documents and method for using the same

• US 8,417,017 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2010
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Beutel, Dale E., Csulits, Frank M., Mennie, Douglas U., Anderson, Matthew L., Klein, Robert J., Jaeger, Ralf H., Badalamenti, David R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US12/758,916
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 382/135, 382/137, 382/139, 382/140, 705/45, 902/7, 356/71, 235/379, 209/534
• US Class Current: 382/135
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/95 Pattern authentication; Markers therefor; Forgery detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/127 with the intervention of an operator
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/30 Tracking or tracing valuable papers or cassettes
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/00 Testing specially adapted to determine the identity or genuineness of valuable papers or for segregating those which are unacceptable, e.g. banknotes that are alien to a currency
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0047 using checkcodes, e.g. coded numbers derived from serial number and denomination
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/12 Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

A method of using a document processing system includes receiving a target serial number via an input device communicatively connected to a document processing system and determining if the target serial number exactly matches one of a plurality of stored serial numbers residing in a memory. Each stored serial number is associated with a record. Each record includes customer account identification information that can be used to identify a customer account previously credited for a deposit of a currency bill having the stored serial number. In response to the target serial number not exactly matching any of the stored serial numbers, the method further includes displaying a wildcard search element on a display of the document processing system.

Claims

1. A method of processing currency bills in a document processing system, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving a plurality of currency bills in an input receptacle of the document processing system, a portion of each currency bill bearing a serial number comprising a plurality of serial number characters;

transporting the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, in a serial fashion, from the input receptacle;

imaging each of the plurality of currency bills with an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path to produce image data, the image data associated with each individual bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill including a portion of each respective currency bill bearing at least a portion of a serial number;

determining the denomination of each bill;

for each bill, attempting to extract serial number characters from image data associated with a bill;

generating an extracted serial number for each bill, the extracted serial number for each bill comprising serial number characters which were extracted with a predetermined degree of confidence, wherein the extracted serial number additionally comprises one or more wildcard characters in place of any serial number characters which were not extracted with the predetermine degree of confidence;

generating a record for each bill, each record comprising the determined denomination of a respective bill, the extracted serial number associated with a respective bill, and image data reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill bearing at least a portion of a serial number;

storing each record in a database;

receiving a target serial number comprising a plurality of target serial number characters;

searching the database for records containing an extracted serial number which exactly matches the target serial number; and

displaying a portion of each record which contains an extracted serial number which exactly matches the target serial number, the displayed portion of each record comprising at least a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective currency bill bearing at least a portion of a serial number,

wherein in determining whether an extracted serial number exactly matches the target serial number, any wildcard characters in an extracted serial number are treated as exactly matching corresponding target serial number characters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the database is stored in one or more memories.

3. A method of processing currency bills in a document processing system comprising:

receiving a plurality of currency bills in an input receptacle of the document processing system, each currency bill being associated with a serial number, each serial number having an integer number, N, of characters;

transporting the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, one at a time, from the input receptacle;

imaging each of the plurality of currency bills with an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path to produce image data;

cropping the image data to create snippet image data, respective portions of the snippet image data being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of each currency bill including the associated serial number;

extracting at least a portion of each one of the serial numbers from the respective portions of the snippet image data to generate an extracted serial number associated with each one of the plurality of currency bills;

storing each of the extracted serial numbers and respective portion of snippet image data in a memory;

receiving a target serial number having an integer number, M, of characters via an input device communicatively connected to the document processing system; and

comparing the target serial number with each of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory to determine if the target serial number matches one of the extracted serial numbers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each one of the extracted serial numbers has an integer number, X, of characters.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein X equals N.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein X equals N or X equals N-1 or X equals N-2 or X equals N-3.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the target serial number matches one of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to the M characters of the target serial number exactly matching corresponding ones of the X characters of the one of the extracted serial numbers.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the target serial number matches one or more of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to the M-1 characters of the target serial number exactly matching corresponding ones of the X characters of the one or more extracted serial numbers.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the target serial number matches one or more of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to the M-2 characters of the target serial number exactly matching corresponding ones of the X characters of the one or more extracted serial numbers.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the target serial number matches one or more of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to the M-3 characters of the target serial number exactly matching corresponding ones of the X characters of the one or more extracted serial numbers.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein one or more of the extracted serial numbers comprises alphanumeric characters and one or more wildcard characters.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the target serial number comprises N-1 alphanumeric characters and one wildcard character.

13. The method of claim 3, wherein the target serial number comprises N-2 alphanumeric characters and 2 wildcard characters.

14. The method of claim 3, further comprising in response to the target serial number matching one of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory, displaying at least a portion of a record associated with the matching one of the extracted serial numbers on a display of the document processing system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the record includes the respective portion of snippet image data associated with the extracted serial number that matches the target serial number and wherein the respective portion of snippet image data is displayed on the display.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the record includes denomination information, batch number, batch processing start and end time, subbatch number, subbatch processing start and end time, customer identification information, operator identification information, operator acceptance information, a transaction identifier, a deposit date, or any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the customer identification information includes a customer name, an address, a phone number, a financial account number, a social security number, or any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 3, further comprising in response to the target serial number not matching the extracted serial numbers, displaying a first operator-selectable element.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising activating the first operator-selectable element, and in response to the activating, comparing M-1 characters of the target serial number with each of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory to determine if the M-1 characters of the target serial number exactly matches at least a portion of the extracted serial numbers.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising activating the first operator-selectable element, and in response to the activating, comparing M-1 characters of the target serial number with each of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory to determine if each one of M-1 characters of the target serial number match corresponding characters of the extracted serial numbers.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein in response to the M-1 characters of the target serial number matching corresponding characters of one of the extracted serial numbers, displaying at least a portion of a record associated with the matching one of the extracted serial numbers on a display of the document processing system.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising in response to the M-1 characters of the target serial number not matching corresponding characters of the extracted serial numbers, displaying a second operator-selectable element.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising activating the second operator-selectable element, and in response to the activating, comparing M-2 characters of the target serial number with each of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory to determine if each one of the M-2 characters of the target serial number match corresponding characters of the extracted serial numbers.

24. The method of claim 3, further comprising in response to the target serial number matching one of the extracted serial numbers, displaying the serial number snippet image data associated with the matching extracted serial number as a visually readable image of the serial number on a display of the document processing system.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the displaying further includes displaying customer identification information associated with a customer deposit including the currency bill associated with the matching extracted serial number.

26. The method of claim 3, wherein the extracted serial numbers are stored in the memory as searchable alphanumeric characters.

27. The method of claim 3, wherein N equals eleven or ten and the integer number, N, of characters equals the integer number, M, of characters.

28. The method of claim 3, wherein the input device is a keyboard including alphanumeric characters, a touch screen display including softkeys, or a combination thereof.

29. The method of claim 3, wherein of the memory is communicatively connected to the document processing system.

30. The method of claim 3, wherein the document processing system includes one or more document processing devices communicatively connected to one or more computers.

31. A method of processing documents including currency bills and checks in a document processing system, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving a plurality of documents including currency bills and checks in an input receptacle of the document processing system, each document being associated with a document identifier, each document identifier having an integer number, N, of characters;

transporting the plurality of documents along a transport path, in a serial fashion, from the input receptacle to one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the plurality of documents with an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path to produce image data;

extracting at least a portion of each one of the document identifiers from the image data to generate an extracted document identifier associated with each one of the plurality of documents;

storing the extracted document identifiers and a respective portion of the image data in a memory for each one of the plurality of documents, the respective portion of the image data being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of the respective document including the associated document identifier;

receiving a target document identifier having an integer number, M, of characters via a input device of the document processing system; and

comparing the target document identifier with each of the extracted document identifiers stored in the memory to determine if the target document identifier matches one of the extracted document identifiers,

wherein one or more of the stored extracted document identifiers comprises alphanumeric characters and one or more wildcard characters.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein each one of the extracted document identifiers has an integer number, X, of alphanumeric characters.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein X equals N-1 or X equals N-2 or X equals N-3.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the target document identifier matches one of the extracted document identifiers stored in the memory in response to the X alphanumeric characters of the one of the extracted document identifiers exactly matching corresponding ones of the M characters of the target document identifier.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the target document identifier comprises N-1 alphanumeric characters and one single wildcard character.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein the target document identifier comprises N-2 alphanumeric characters and 2 single wildcard characters.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein the target document identifier comprises N-2 alphanumeric characters and one multiple wildcard character.

38. The method of claim 31, wherein the plurality of documents solely includes currency bills and checks, and wherein the currency bills are received and processed separately in one or more distinct stacks from the checks.

39. The method of claim 31, wherein the receiving includes receiving the plurality of documents as an intermingled batch of currency bills and checks.

40. The method of claim 31, wherein the document identifier is a currency bill serial number or check MICR data.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the check MICR data includes an amount field, an On-Us field, a transit field, an external process control field, an auxiliary On-Us field, or any combinations thereof.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein N equals 11 or 10 for currency bill serial numbers and N equals at least 25 for check MICR numbers.

43. The method of claim 31, wherein the document identifier for currency bills is a serial number, a denomination, a type of note, a federal reserve letter/number, a series, a check letter and quadrant number, a check letter and face plate number, a back plate number, or any combinations thereof.

44. The method of claim 31, wherein N equals M.

45. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 100 documents per minute.

46. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 150 documents per minute.

47. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 300 documents per minute.

48. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 600 documents per minute.

49. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 1000 documents per minute.

50. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 1200 documents per minute.

51. The method of claim 31, wherein the acts of transporting, imaging, extracting, and storing are performed at a rate of at least about 1500 documents per minute.

52. The method of claim 31, wherein each document has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each document in a wide-edge leading manner.

53. The method of claim 31, wherein the currency bills are U.S. currency bills.

54. The method of claim 31, wherein the currency bills include currency bills associated with multiple countries including two or more of the following currencies:

U.S. dollar, euro, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, and pound sterling.

55. The method of claim 31, wherein the document processing system has a footprint of less than about 2 square feet.

56. The method of claim 31, wherein the document processing system has a weight of less than about 35 pounds.

57. The method of claim 31, wherein the currency bills are U.S. currency bills and each U.S. currency bill has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each document in a wide-edge leading manner, the document processing system having a footprint of less than about 1.5 square feet and a weight of less than about 25 pounds.

58. A currency processing system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of records, each record including a record serial number, the record serial number having one or more single wildcard characters and an integer number, N, of alphanumeric characters, each record further including image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a record currency bill including the record serial number;

an input receptacle configured to receive a plurality of currency bills, each one of the plurality of currency bills being associated with a serial number;

a transport mechanism configured to transport the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, in a serial fashion, from the input receptacle to one or more output receptacles;

an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path and configured to image each of the plurality of currency bills to generate one or more electrical signals from which image data can be derived, the image data being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the plurality of currency bills, each visually readable image including the serial number of a respective one of the plurality of currency bills;

an authentication sensor positioned adjacent to the transport path and configured to generate one or more electrical signals from which authentication data can be derived, the authentication data being used to perform one or more authentication tests for each of the plurality of currency bills to determine if a currency bill is a suspect currency bill, a currency bill failing one or more authentication tests being a suspect currency bill; and

a controller configured to control the operation of the transport mechanism and the image scanner,

wherein in response to the authentication sensor determining that a currency bill is a suspect currency bill, the controller being configured to extract at least a portion of the serial number of the suspect currency bill from the image data to generate an extracted suspect serial number associated with the suspect currency bill and to compare the extracted suspect serial number with each of the record serial numbers stored in the memory to determine if the extracted suspect serial number matches one of the record serial numbers.

59. The currency processing system of claim 58, wherein each one of the plurality of records stored in the memory is associated with a customer financial account that is maintained within a banking system.

60. The currency processing system of claim 58, further comprising a display device, in response to the extracted suspect serial number matching a record serial number, the display device is configured to display at least a portion of the image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of the record currency bill including the record serial number that matches the extracted suspect serial number.

61. The currency processing system of claim 60, wherein each one of the plurality of records is associated with a transaction identifier, and the display device is further configured to display the associated transaction identifier of the record including the record serial number that matches the extracted serial number.

62. The currency processing system of claim 58, wherein the extracted suspect serial number has an integer number, X, of alphanumeric characters.

63. The currency processing system of claim 62, wherein X equals N or X equals N-1 or X equals N-2 or X equals N-3.

64. The currency processing system of claim 62, wherein the extracted suspect serial number matches one of the record serial numbers in response to the X alphanumeric characters of the extracted suspect serial number exactly matching corresponding ones of the N alphanumeric characters of the one of the record serial numbers.

65. The currency processing system of claim 62, wherein the extracted suspect serial number matches one or more of the record serial numbers in response to X-1 alphanumeric characters of the extracted suspect serial number exactly matching corresponding ones of the N alphanumeric characters of the one or more record serial numbers.

66. The currency processing system of claim 58, further comprising at least one additional document processing system communicatively connected with the memory, the at least one additional document processing system including:

a second input receptacle configured to receive a second plurality of currency bills, each one of the second plurality of currency bills being associated with a serial number;

a second transport mechanism configured to transport the second plurality of currency bills along a second transport path, in a serial fashion, from the second input receptacle to a second output receptacle;

a second image scanner positioned adjacent to the second transport path and configured to image each of the second plurality of currency bills to generate one or more second electrical signals from which second image data can be derived, the second image data being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the second plurality of currency bills, each visually readable image including the serial number of a respective one of the second plurality of currency bills;

a second controller configured to control the operation of the second transport mechanism and the second image scanner, the second controller configured to extract at least a portion of the serial number of each of the second plurality of currency bills from the second image data to generate an extracted serial number associated with each one of the second plurality of currency bills, the extracted serial numbers being stored in the memory as respective records, each record being associated with one of the second plurality of currency bills.

67. The currency processing system of claim 66, wherein the at least one additional document processing system is a plurality of additional document processing systems, each of the plurality of additional document processing systems being communicatively connected to the memory and configured to store extracted serial numbers therein.

68. The currency processing system of claim 66, wherein the second controller is configured to generate and to transmit the records to the memory for each one of the second plurality of currency bills imaged by the second image scanner.

69. The currency processing system of claim 68, wherein each of the records associated with one of the second plurality of currency bills includes the respective extracted serial number, at least a portion of the image data that is associated with the respective visually readable image, and a transaction identifier.

70. A method of processing currency bills in a document processing system comprising:

receiving a plurality of currency bills in an input receptacle of the document processing system, each currency bill being associated with a serial number;

transporting the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, one at a time, from the input receptacle to an output receptacle;

imaging each of the plurality of currency bills with an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path to produce image data;

extracting at least a portion of the serial number associated with each one of the plurality of currency bills from the image data to generate an extracted serial number associated with each one of the plurality of currency bills;

storing the extracted serial numbers and a respective portion of the image data in a memory for each one of the plurality of currency bills, the respective portion of the image data being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of the respective currency bill;

receiving a target serial number via an input device communicatively connected to the document processing system; and

determining if the target serial number matches one of the extracted serial numbers, wherein the target serial number matches one or more of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to all but one character and respective character positions of the target serial number exactly matching each character and character position of the one or more extracted serial numbers.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the target serial number matches one of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to each character and character position of the target serial number exactly matching each character and character position of the one of the extracted serial numbers.

72. The method of claim 70, wherein the target serial number comprises an ordered string of characters, and wherein the target serial number matches one or more of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory in response to the ordered string of characters of the target serial number exactly matching at least a portion of the one or more of the extracted serial numbers.

73. The method of claim 70, wherein the memory includes information associating each extracted serial number with a customer financial account number previously credited for a deposit of a currency bill corresponding with the extracted serial number;

and

further comprising communicating the customer financial account number associated with an extracted serial number determined to exactly match the target serial number.

74. The method of claim 70, further comprising automatically displaying a broader search element in response to the target serial number failing to match one of the extracted serial numbers.

75. The method of claim 74, further comprising activating the broader search element, and in response to the activating automatically comparing the target serial number with each of the extracted serial numbers stored in the memory on a basis which does not require the target serial number to exactly match one of the extracted serial numbers.

76. The method of claim 75, wherein in response to the activation of the broader search element, automatically performing a 1-degree-of freedom search.

77. The method of claim 75, wherein in response to the activation of the broader search element, performing a 1-wildcard search.

78. The method of claim 70, wherein the act of receiving the target serial number via an input device communicatively connected to the document processing system comprises receiving a target serial number which was manually entered via the input device.

79. A method of using a document processing system comprising:

receiving a target serial number via an input device communicatively connected to a document processing system;

searching a memory including a plurality of records, each record including an extracted serial number and information associating each extracted serial number with customer account identification information that can be used to identify a customer account previously credited for a deposit of a currency bill having the extracted serial number, one or more of the extracted serial numbers including a wildcard character;

the searching being performed so as to identify one or more records which contain an extracted serial number which at least partially matches the target serial number; and

communicating information from the one or more records which include an extracted serial number which at least partially matches the target serial number.

80. The method of claim 79, wherein the wildcard character is a single wildcard character.

81. The method of claim 79, wherein the extracted serial number at least partially matches the target serial number in response to at least about 75 percent of the target serial number exactly matching the extracted serial number.

82. The method of claim 79, wherein the communicating comprises displaying the information from the one or more records which include an extracted serial number which at least partially matches the target serial number on a display.

83. The method of claim 82, wherein the act of displaying comprises displaying a serial number snippet image from each record which contains an extracted serial number which at least partially matches the target serial number on a display.

84. The method of claim 83, wherein the document processing system is configured to permit an operator to select one of the one or more records;

and

further comprising, in response to the selection of the one of the one or more records, generating a charge-back instruction configured to debit the customer account associated with a selected record.

85. The method of claim 84, wherein each record includes information associating each extracted serial number with a value of a currency bill associated with the extracted serial number, and wherein the generating the charge-back instruction comprises generating a charge-back instruction to debit the customer account associated with a selected record by an amount corresponding to the value of the currency bill associated with the selected record.

86. A currency processing system comprising:

a memory including a plurality of records, each record including a stored serial number and information associating each record with customer account identification information that can be used to identify a customer account previously credited for a deposit of a currency bill having the stored serial number, one or more of the stored serial numbers including one or more single wildcard characters;

an input receptacle configured to receive a plurality of currency bills, each currency bill having a serial number;

a transport mechanism configured to transport the plurality of currency bills along a transport path, in a serial fashion, from the input receptacle to one or more output receptacles;

an image scanner positioned adjacent to the transport path and configured to image each of the plurality of currency bills to generate image data, the image data being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of one or more of the plurality of currency bills, each visually readable image including an image of the serial number of a respective imaged currency bill;

an authentication sensor positioned adjacent to the transport path and configured to detect suspect currency bills by performing one or more authentication tests for each of the plurality of currency bills, a currency bill failing one or more of the authentication tests being a suspect currency bill; and

a controller configured to control the operation of the transport mechanism, the image scanner, and the authentication sensor;

the currency processing system being configured to extract a serial number of each suspect currency bill from the image data; and

the currency processing system being configured to search the plurality of records in the memory and, for each detected suspect currency bill, to identify one or more records including a stored serial number that matches the extracted serial number associated with the suspect currency bill, a record including a stored serial number matching the extracted serial number associated with one of the detected suspect bills being a suspect record.

87. The currency processing system of claim 86, wherein the extracted serial number matches one of the stored serial numbers including a wildcard character in response to all of the non-wildcard characters of the stored serial numbers exactly matching corresponding characters of the extracted serial number.

88. The currency processing system of claim 86, wherein in response to the currency processing system failing to identify a record including a stored serial number matching the extracted serial number associated with a suspect currency bill, the currency processing system is configured to automatically display a broader search selection element;

wherein in response to an activation of the broader search selection element, the currency processing system is configured to search the plurality of records using a broader search criteria.