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

• US 8,478,019 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2010
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Csulits, Frank M., Jones, William J., Mennie, Douglas U., Anderson, Matthew L., Klein, Robert J., Jaeger, Ralf H., Badalamenti, David R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W
• Application Number:
  US12/758,945
• Time in Patent Office: 1,176 Days
• Field of Search: 382/112, 382/135, 382/137, 382/140, 382/311, 209/534, 209/546, 209/583, 209/584, 194/229, 194/302
• 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 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/146 Aligning or centring of the image pick-up or image-field
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/148 Segmentation of character regions
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0047 using checkcodes, e.g. coded numbers derived from serial number and denomination
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/04 Testing magnetic properties of the materials thereof, e.g. by detection of magnetic imprint G07D7/01 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/12 Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/202 using pattern matching

Abstract

A first plurality of documents is received, transported, and imaged to produce image data. Identifying information is extracted from the image data for each of the first plurality of documents. The document processing device determines whether each of the first plurality of documents satisfies a flag criterion. In response to one of the first plurality of documents satisfying the flag criterion, a visually readable image of at least a portion of the flagged document is displayed using the image data associated with a flagged document and a find document element is displayed. An activation of the find document element is received and the flagged document is designated as a find document by storing the extracted identifying information associated with the find document in a find document queue.

Claims

1. A method of processing documents in a document processing device, comprising the acts of:

receiving a first plurality of documents in an input receptacle of the document processing device;

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

imaging each of the first plurality of documents with the image scanner to produce image data, the image data associated with each of the first plurality of documents being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective one of the first plurality of documents;

extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the first plurality of documents;

determining in the document processing device whether each of the first plurality of documents satisfies a flag criterion, a document that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged document;

in response to one of the first plurality of documents satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display unit of the document processing device;

(i) a visually readable image of at least a portion of the flagged document using the image data associated with the flagged document; and

(ii) a find document element;

receiving an activation of the find document element;

in response to the receiving the activation, designating the flagged document as a find document by storing the extracted identifying information associated with the find document in a find document queue.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second plurality of documents in the input receptacle of the document processing device, the second plurality of documents including at least a portion of the first plurality of documents;

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

imaging each of the second plurality of documents with the image scanner to produce second image data, the second image data associated with each one of the second plurality of documents being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective one of the second plurality of documents;

extracting identifying information from the second image data for each of the second plurality of documents; and

detecting the find document.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the detecting includes determining in the document processing device whether the extracted identifying information associated with one of the second plurality of documents matches extracted identifying information stored in the find document queue.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising in response to the extracted identifying information associated with one of the second plurality of documents matching extracted identifying information stored in the find document queue, automatically stopping the transporting of the second plurality of documents such that the find document is the last document transported to the one of the one or more output receptacles.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of documents in the document processing device in response to the document processing device processing the find document a second time such that the find document is the last document transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of documents in the document processing device after the document processing device images the find document a second time such that the find document is the last document transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

7. A method of processing documents in a document processing device, comprising the acts of:

receiving documents in an input receptacle of the document processing device;

transporting the documents along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the documents with the image scanner to produce image data, the image data associated with each document being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective document;

determining in the document processing device whether each document satisfies a flag criterion, a document that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged document;

in response to one of the documents satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display unit of the document processing device a visually readable image of at least a portion of the flagged document using the image data associated with the flagged document; and

in response to the one of the documents satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on the display unit a selectable find document element.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising in response to the selectable find document element being selected, designating the flagged document as a find document.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the documents.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the designating includes transmitting the extracted identifying information associated with the find document to a memory.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the memory is internal to the document processing device or communicatively connected to the document processing device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the extracted identifying information associated with the find document is stored in a find document queue in the memory.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the designating includes storing a find document instruction in a memory of the document processing device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the find document instruction causes the document processing device to search for the find document in a second stack of documents received in the input receptacle and in response to detecting the find document, the document processing device delivers the find document to one of the one or more output receptacles and halts transportation of the second stack of documents such that the find document is the last document transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of documents in the document processing device the next time the document processing device detects the find document such that the find document is the last document transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the find document is detected based on a serial number comparison.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the find document is detected based on a serial number comparison and a denomination comparison.

18. The method of claim 8, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of documents the next time the document processing device images the find document such that the find document is the last document transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

19. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more output receptacles is a plurality of output receptacles.

20. The method of claim 7, wherein the flag criterion is a no-call denomination criterion, an extraction error-currency bill criterion, an extraction error-check criterion, a suspect criterion, a stranger criterion, a fitness criterion, a soil criterion, or a serial number location criterion.

21. The method of claim 7, further comprising in response to the one of the documents satisfying the flag criterion, displaying a flag code associated with a reason that the flagged document satisfied the flag criterion.

22. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining includes determining in the document processing device whether information derived from the image data associated with each document satisfies the flag criterion.

23. The method of claim 7, wherein the documents includes only U.S. currency bills.

24. The method of claim 7, wherein the documents includes only checks.

25. The method of claim 7, wherein the documents 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.

26. The method of claim 7, wherein the documents include currency bills and checks.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising in response to the imaging, extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the documents.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the determining includes determining in the document processing device whether the extracted identifying information associated with each individual document satisfies the flag criterion.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the identifying information includes a serial number for currency bills and MICR line data for checks.

30. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and the second acts of displaying occur simultaneously to the transporting of at least a portion of the documents.

31. The method of claim 7, wherein each document has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each document in a wide-edge leading manner.

32. The method of claim 7, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the documents at a rate of at least about 100 documents per minute.

33. The method of claim 7, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the documents at least about 300 documents per minute.

34. The method of claim 7, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the documents at a rate of at least about 600 documents per minute.

35. The method of claim 7, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the documents at a rate of at least about 800 documents per minute.

36. The method of claim 7, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the documents at a rate of at least about 1000 documents per minute.

37. The method of claim 7, wherein the document processing device has a footprint of less than about 2 square feet.

38. The method of claim 7, wherein the document processing device has a weight of less than about 30 pounds.

39. A method of processing U.S. currency bills in a currency processing device, comprising the acts of:

receiving first U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;

transporting the first U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the first U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, the image data associated with each first U.S. currency bill being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective first U.S. currency bill;

extracting a serial number from the image data for each of the first U.S. currency bills;

denominating each of the first U.S. currency bills;

determining in the currency processing device whether each first U.S. currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged bill;

in response to one of the first U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display unit of the currency processing device;

(i) a visually readable image of at least a portion of the flagged bill using the image data associated with the flagged bill; and

(ii) a selectable find bill element.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising in response to the selectable find bill element being selected, designating the flagged document as a find bill.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the designating includes storing the extracted serial number and determined denomination associated with the find bill in a find bill queue.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

receiving second U.S. currency bills in the input receptacle of the currency processing device, the second U.S. currency bills including at least a portion of the first U.S. currency bills;

transporting the second U.S. currency bills along the transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, to the one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the second U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce second image data, the second image data associated with each one of the second U.S. currency bills being reproducible as a visually readable image of at least a portion of a respective one of the second U.S. currency bills;

extracting a serial number from the second image data for each of the second U.S. currency bills;

denominating each of the second U.S. currency bills; and

detecting the find bill.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the detecting includes comparing the denominations and extracted serial numbers associated with the second U.S. currency bills with the extracted serial number and determined denomination associated with the find bill stored in the find bill queue.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the detecting includes comparing the extracted serial numbers associated with the second U.S. currency bills with the extracted serial number associated with the find bill stored in the find bill queue.

45. The method of claim 40, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of currency bills in the currency processing device the next time the currency processing device detects the find bill such that the find bill is the last currency bill transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

46. The method of claim 39, wherein the determining includes determining in the currency processing device whether information derived from the image data associated with each U.S. currency bill satisfies the flag criterion.

47. A method of processing U.S. currency bills using a currency processing device, comprising:

receiving U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;

transporting the U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;

determining in the currency processing device whether each currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged currency bill;

in response to one or more of the currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display a visually readable image of at least a portion of each flagged currency bill; and

receiving an activation of a selectable find bill element.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the selectable find bill element is a physical button.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the physical button is located on a housing of the currency processing device.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the selectable find bill element is part of an operator interface.

51. The method of claim 47, further comprising in response to the one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on the display the selectable find bill element.

52. The method of claim 47, further comprising in response to the receiving the activation of the selectable find bill element, designating each flagged currency bill as a find currency bill.

53. The method of claim 52, further comprising extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the U.S. currency bills.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the designating includes transmitting the extracted identifying information associated with the find currency bill to a memory.

55. The method of claim 52, wherein the designating includes storing one or more find bill instructions in a memory of the currency processing device.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the one or more find bill instructions cause the currency processing device to search for each of the find currency bills in a second plurality of currency bills received in the input receptacle and in response to detecting a first one of the find currency bills, the currency processing device delivering the first one of the find currency bills to one of the one or more output receptacles and halting transportation of the second plurality of currency bills such that the first one of the find currency bills is the last currency bill transported to the one of the one or more output receptacles.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein each U.S. currency bill has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each U.S. currency bill in a wide-edge leading manner.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1000 U.S. currency bills per minute.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein each of the find currency bills is detected based on a serial number comparison.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein each U.S. currency bill has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each U.S. currency bill in a wide-edge leading manner.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1000 U.S. currency bills per minute.

62. The method of claim 56, wherein each of the find currency bills is detected based on a serial number comparison and a denomination comparison.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein each U.S. currency bill has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each U.S. currency bill in a wide-edge leading manner.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1000 U.S. currency bills per minute.

65. The method of claim 52, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of currency bills the next time the currency processing device images a first one of the find currency bills such that the first one of the find currency bills is the last currency bill transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

66. The method of claim 47, wherein the displaying occurs simultaneously to the transporting of at least a portion of the U.S. currency bills.

67. The method of claim 47, wherein each U.S. currency bill has a wide edge, and wherein the act of transporting comprises transporting each U.S. currency bill in a wide-edge leading manner.

68. The method of claim 67, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1000 U.S. currency bills per minute.

69. The method of claim 47, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 600 U.S. currency bills per minute.

70. The method of claim 47, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1000 U.S. currency bills per minute.

71. The method of claim 70, wherein the currency processing device has a footprint of less than about 2 square feet and a weight of less than about 30 pounds.

72. A currency processing device, comprising:

an input receptacle configured to receive U.S. currency bills;

a transport mechanism configured to transport the U.S. 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 U.S. currency bills to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;

a controller configured to determine whether each transported U.S. currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged currency bill;

a display configured to display a visually readable image of at least a portion of one or more flagged currency bills in response to the one or more currency bills satisfying the flag criterion; and

a selectable find bill element.

73. The currency processing device of claim 72, wherein the selectable find bill element is a physical button.

74. The currency processing device of claim 73, further comprising a housing, wherein the physical button is located on the housing of the currency processing device.

75. The currency processing device of claim 72, wherein the selectable find bill element is part of an operator interface.

76. The currency processing device of claim 72, wherein the display is further configured to display the selectable find bill element thereon in response to the one or more currency bills satisfying the flag criterion.

77. The currency processing device of claim 72, wherein the controller is further configured to designate each of the flagged currency bills as a find currency bill in response to the selectable find bill element being selected while the respective visually readable image of the at least a portion of a respective flagged currency bill is displayed.

78. The currency processing device of claim 72, wherein the display is configured to display the visually readable image of at least a portion of one or more flagged currency bills simultaneously to the transport mechanism operating.

79. The currency processing device of claim 72, wherein each U.S. currency bill has a wide edge, and wherein the transport mechanism is configured to transport each U.S. currency bill in a wide-edge leading manner.

80. The currency processing device of claim 79, wherein the transport mechanism is configured to transport the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 600 U.S. currency bills per minute.

81. The currency processing device of claim 79, wherein the transport mechanism is configured to transport the U.S. currency bills at a rate of at least about 1200 U.S. currency bills per minute.

82. The currency processing device of claim 81, wherein the currency processing device has a footprint of less than about 2 square feet and a weight of less than about 30 pounds.

83. A method of processing U.S. currency bills in a currency processing device, comprising:

receiving U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;

transporting the U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;

determining in the currency processing device whether each U.S. currency bill satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged currency bill;

in response to one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display a visually readable image of at least a portion of the one or more flagged currency bills, the displaying occurring simultaneously to the transporting of at least a portion of the U.S. currency bills; and

receiving an activation of a selectable find bill element.

84. The method of claim 83, wherein the selectable find bill element is a physical button.

85. The method of claim 83, wherein the selectable find bill element is part of an operator interface.

86. The method of claim 83, further comprising:

extracting identifying information from the image data for each of the U.S. currency bills; and

in response to the receiving the activation of the selectable find bill element, designating each flagged currency bill as a find currency bill.

87. The method of claim 86, wherein the designating includes storing one or more find bill instructions in a memory of the currency processing device;

and

the method further comprising receiving a second plurality of currency bills in the input receptacle;

transporting the second plurality of currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, to the one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the second plurality of U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each U.S. currency bill of the second plurality of currency bills being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective U.S. currency bill;

determining in the currency processing device whether each U.S. currency bill of the second plurality of currency bills is a find currency bill; and

in response to determining a U.S. currency bill of the second plurality of currency bills is a find currency bill, the currency processing device delivering the find currency bill to one of the one or more output receptacles and halting transportation of the second plurality of U.S. currency bills such that the find currency bill is the last U.S. currency bill transported to the one of the one or more output receptacles.

88. The method of claim 86, further comprising automatically stopping the transportation of U.S. currency bills the next time the currency processing device images a first one of the find U.S. currency bills such that the first one of the find U.S. currency bills is the last U.S. currency bill transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

89. The method of claim 83, wherein the transporting comprises transporting the U.S. currency bills in a wide-edge leading manner at a rate of at least about 800 U.S. currency bills per minute, and wherein the currency processing device has a footprint of less than about 2 square feet and a weight of less than about 30 pounds.

90. A method of processing U.S. currency bills in a currency processing device, comprising:

receiving a first set of U.S. currency bills in an input receptacle of the currency processing device;

transporting the first set of U.S. currency bills along a transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past an image scanner, to one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the U.S. currency bills being reproducible using the image data associated with a respective one of the U.S. currency bills;

extracting a serial number using the image data for each of the U.S. currency bills;

denominating each of the U.S. currency bills;

determining in the currency processing device whether each of the U.S. currency bills satisfies a flag criterion, a U.S. currency bill that satisfies the flag criterion being a flagged bill;

in response to one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on a display a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the flagged bills; and

in response to one or more of the U.S. currency bills satisfying the flag criterion, displaying on the display a selectable find bill element.

91. The method of claim 90, wherein the determining includes determining in the currency processing device whether information derived from the image data associated with each U.S. currency bill satisfies the flag criterion.

92. The method of claim 90, wherein the displaying includes serially displaying on the display the visually readable image of the at least a portion of each of the flagged bills.

93. The method of claim 90, wherein the display is part of the currency processing device.

94. The method of claim 90, further comprising designating each of the flagged bills as a find bill in response to the selectable find bill element being selected while the respective visually readable image of the at least a portion of a respective flagged bill is displayed.

95. The method of claim 94, further comprising automatically stopping the transporting of currency bills in the currency processing device the next time the currency processing device detects a find bill such that the detected find bill is the last currency bill transported to one of the one or more output receptacles.

96. The method of claim 94, wherein the designating includes storing the extracted serial number and determined denomination associated with each respective find bill in a find bill queue.

97. The method of claim 96, further comprising:

receiving a second set of U.S. currency bills in the input receptacle of the currency processing device, the second set of U.S. currency bills including at least a portion of the first set of U.S. currency bills, the second set of U.S. currency bills including at least one U.S. currency bill having been designated as a find bill;

transporting the second set of U.S. currency bills along the transport path in a serial fashion from the input receptacle, past the image scanner, to the one or more output receptacles;

imaging each of the second set of U.S. currency bills with the image scanner to produce second image data, a visually readable image of at least a portion of each of the second set of U.S. currency bills being reproducible using the second image data associated with a respective one of the second set of U.S. currency bills;

extracting a serial number using the second image data for each of the set of second U.S. currency bills;

denominating each of the second set of U.S. currency bills; and

detecting each find bill.

98. The method of claim 97, wherein the detecting includes comparing the denominations and extracted serial numbers associated with the second set of U.S. currency bills with the extracted serial number and determined denomination associated with each of the find bills stored in the find bill queue.

99. The method of claim 97, wherein the detecting includes comparing the extracted serial numbers associated with the second set of U.S. currency bills with the extracted serial number associated with each of the find bills stored in the find bill queue.