Patent ID: 6539104
Filing Date: 2003-03-25
Classification: B65H,G06Q,G07D,G07F

Abstract:
A currency evaluation device for receiving a stack of currency bills, rapidly evaluating all the bills in the stack, and then re-stacking the bills, said device comprising:a feed mechanism for receiving a stack of currency bills and feeding said bills, one at a time, to a bill transport mechanism; said bill transport mechanism transporting bills at a first operating speed from said feed mechanism to a stacking station; a scanning head located between said feed mechanism and said stacking station for scanning a segment of each bill transported between said feed mechanism and said stacking station by said transport mechanism, said scanning head producing an output signal representing variations in characteristic information along said segment of each bill; means for sampling said output signal at preselected intervals as a bill is moved across said scanning head; a memory for storing characteristic signal samples produced by scanning bills of different denominations; signal processing means for receiving said signal samples and determining the denomination of scanned bills by comparing said stored signal samples with said output signal samples produced by scanning bills with said scanning head; and means for decelerating said bill transport mechanism from said first operating speed to a second operating speed such that during the deceleration of said bill transport mechanism a particular scanned bill is transported to said stacking station and a next upstream bill from said particular scanned bill is scanned by said scanning head, said particular scanned bill being the last bill delivered to said stacking station.