System and method for processing casino tickets

• US 9,129,271 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2014
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• 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: Jenrick, Charles P., Klein, Robert J., Hallowell, Curtis W., Mennie, Douglas U.
• Primary Examiner(s): BEAUCHAINE, MARK J
• Application Number:
  US14/193,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20140175173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: 194/205, 194/206, 194/207, 235/379, 235/462.01, 235/462.11, 235/462.41, 902/6, 902/23, 209/534, 700/215, 700/224, 382/112, 382/135, 382/137, 382/138, 382/140, 250/559.44, 250/559.45, 250/559.46, 250/556, 705/16, 705/17
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 5/00 Methods or arrangements for verifying the correctness of markings on a record carrier; Column detection devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 11/02 for validating inserted tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/20 Controlling or monitoring the operation of devices; Data handling
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 11/50 Sorting or counting valuable papers
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 3/125 by moving deflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/0043 using barcodes
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/12 Visible light, infrared or ultraviolet radiation

Abstract

A method of processing documents includes receiving a stack of documents including currency bills and substitute currency media. Each substitute currency medium has at least one barcode. The method further includes transporting the stack of documents via a transport mechanism, one document at a time, along a transport path and denominating with a currency detector each of the currency bills in the stack of documents. The currency detector is positioned adjacent to the transport path. The method further includes scanning with a barcode scanner a barcode on each substitute currency medium in the stack of documents. The barcode scanner is positioned adjacent to the transport path. The method further includes imaging with an image scanner each substitute currency medium in the stack of documents to generate a raw image file of the substitute currency medium. The image scanner is positioned adjacent to the transport path.

Claims

1. A method of processing casino tickets on a document processing device, the method comprising:

receiving a stack of casino tickets, each casino ticket having a barcoded pattern;

transporting the casino tickets via a transport mechanism, one casino ticket at a time, along a transport path in a wide-edge leading manner at a rate of at least 350 casino tickets per minute;

imaging, during the transporting in the wide-edge leading manner, each of the casino tickets transported along the transport path with an image scanner to generate image data that is reproducible as a visually readable image of each of the casino tickets; and

using a controller, decoding the barcoded pattern of each casino ticket from the image data associated with each casino ticket transported along the transport path in the wide-edge leading manner.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the barcoded pattern of each casino ticket encodes a respective ticket number on each casino ticket, and further comprising the act of:

scanning with a barcode scanner the barcoded pattern on each casino ticket transported along the transport path to obtain the ticket number on each casino ticket.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the acts of transporting and imaging occur at a rate of at least 1000 casino tickets per minute.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the acts of transporting and imaging occurs at a rate of at least 1500 casino tickets per minute.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the act of storing in a storage device one or more image files including at least a portion of the generated image data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more stored image files include at least a portion of the generated image data being tagged with information of interest from a casino ticket.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more stored image files include at least a portion of the generated image data tagged with an operator identifier and characteristic information for a casino ticket.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the stored image files has an image resolution of approximately 100 DPI by approximately 100 DPI.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the stored image files has an image resolution of approximately 200 DPI by approximately 200 DPI.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more image files stored on the storage device include generated image data tagged with text-searchable information from a casino ticket.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the storage device is remote from the document processing device.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the storage device includes a network drive, a RAM, CD-ROM, or a DVD.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each barcoded pattern uniquely identifies a casino ticket.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each barcoded pattern encodes a ticket number uniquely identifying a casino ticket.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing an image quality check of the image data for each casino ticket.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein each casino ticket includes additional ticket data, the method further comprising extracting the additional ticket data using optical character recognition.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the casino ticket is a cashout voucher.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the image data is reproducible as partial images of at least one side of each received casino tickets.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the image data is reproducible as full images of at least one side of each received casino tickets.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein a transaction identifier is generated for each batch of received casino tickets.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein each casino ticket is associated with a monetary value, the method further comprising, totaling the monetary values of the received stack of casino tickets to obtain a total value of received casino tickets.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising, communicating the total value to an accounting system.

23. A barcoded casino ticket scanning device, comprising:

a receptacle configured to receive barcoded casino tickets, each barcoded casino ticket having a barcoded pattern;

a transport mechanism configured to transport the barcoded casino tickets from the receptacle to an output in a wide-edge leading manner at a rate of at least 350 barcoded casino tickets per minute;

an image scanner configured to generate image data, during the transporting in the wide-edge leading manner, reproducible as an image of at least one side of each received barcoded casino ticket; and

a controller configured to (1) receive a transaction identifier associated with the received barcoded casino tickets, (2) decode the barcoded pattern of each casino ticket from the image data associated with each barcoded casino ticket transported to the output in the wide-edge leading manner, thereby obtaining a respective unique identifier from the generated image data for each barcoded casino ticket, and (3) create an image file for each of the barcoded casino tickets, each created image file including at least a portion of the image data, wherein the image file for each received barcoded casino ticket is tagged with the respective unique identifier and the received transaction identifier such that one or more of the barcoded casino tickets are traceable by the unique identifier or the transaction identifier.

24. The barcoded casino ticket scanning device of claim 23, wherein the controller is further configured to perform an image quality check of the image data for each casino ticket.

25. A casino ticket processing device, comprising:

an input receptacle configured to receive a stack of casino tickets, each casino ticket having a barcoded pattern;

a transport mechanism for transporting the casino tickets, in a serial fashion, from the input receptacle, at a rate of at least about 350 casino tickets per minute, along a transport path in a wide-edge leading manner;

an image scanner positioned to image, during the transporting in the wide-edge leading manner, each of the casino tickets transported along the transport path to produce an image file associated with each casino ticket;

a controller configured to decode the barcoded pattern of each casino ticket from the image file associated with each casino ticket transported along the transport path in the wide-edge leading manner; and

a barcode scanner positioned to scan a barcode on each casino ticket transported along the transport path.

26. The casino ticket processing device of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to perform an image quality check of the image file for each casino ticket.

27. The casino ticket processing device of claim 26, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a transaction identifier associated with the received casino tickets.