Abstract:
There is provided an automatic processing apparatus which can protect the secret items of the validator, easily provide a measure for change of bank note and reduce the manufacturing cost. A validation processing unit provided in the side of an automatic processing apparatus to validate the bank note is mounted in the side of a host computer and a unit for transferring the feature data obtained with the sensor unit to the host computer from the automatic processing apparatus and a unit for transferring the validation result obtained with the validation processing unit to the automatic processing apparatus from the host computer are also provided. On the occasion of executing the discrimination process with one unit or a plurality of units of the host computer for a plurality of automatic processing apparatuses, the apparatus ID number for validating the feature data and apparatus is transferred to the host computer from the automatic processing apparatus.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an automatic processing apparatus comprising a bank note validator such as a cash dispenser or an automatic teller machine installed for various processes such as deposit and disbursement depending on user&#39;s manipulation in a financial institution and particularly to an automatic processing apparatus and bank note validating method which have improved security by executing the money validation process in the host computer side. 
     An automatic processing apparatus used in a financial institution has been constituted of various units such as a bank note deposit/disbursement unit for receiving or transferring bank note to or from a customer, a validating unit for validating bank note deposited and a bank note stacking unit. Among these units, the bank note transfer paths and gates for determining the transfer path for the bank note are provided. The validating unit which is one of these units is provided to discriminate the denomination of bank note deposited and also determine the true or false bank note. The validating unit is constituted of a sensor unit for detecting various features of the bank note, a memory unit for storing the feature data obtained from the sensor unit and a validation processing unit for validating the denomination of bank note from its feature data. These units are all provided within the automatic processing apparatus. 
     As explained above, since the automatic processing apparatus of the related art is provided with the validation processing unit for determining the denomination of bank note in its inside and therefore results in various problems that (a) if the apparatus is stolen, the validator that is the secret matter for discrimination is made public, (b) it is required to modify the validation processing unit, if the features of bank note are changed or if a measure for various kinds of bank note of respective countries is added, but such modification must be made for each automatic processing apparatus, and (c) since the validation processing unit is mounted to each automatic processing unit, memories for data storing and working are required, resulting in rise of manufacturing cost. 
     The official gazette, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application NO. 2000-348234 discloses the technique in which the rough true/false discrimination process is executed in the automatic processing apparatus as the initial stage of discrimination and detail true/false discrimination process is executed in the host computer. However, even in this prior art, the modification work of each apparatus and the memory for storing data for rough true/false discrimination are still required, if the feature data of bank note is changed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automatic processing apparatus and a bank note validating method which can solve the problems of the prior art and assure the security of the secret mechanism even if the automatic processing apparatus is stolen. 
     Moreover, it is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic processing apparatus and a bank note validating method that requires modification at only one area and can assure improvement in the working efficiency of such modification even in the case of adding the bank note of the other denominations. 
     Moreover, it is the other object of the present invention to provide an automatic processing apparatus and a bank note validating method that can reduce the manufacturing cost of the apparatus on the occasion of mounting the validation processing unit. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a structural diagram of an automatic currency processing system as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a detail block diagram of the automatic processing apparatus and the host computer illustrated in FIG.  1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a processing flowchart of the automatic processing method indicating an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is an operation flowchart of the money transfer process indicating the other embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       FIG. 1  is a structural diagram of an automatic currency processing system as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     In each bank, a plurality of automatic processing apparatuses  10  are connected with a host computer  11  installed in each business branch. Moreover, a host computer such as a management center  14  or the like are respectively linked with respectively communication lines  13 . 
     In the present invention, a sensor unit for reading features of the image data is provided within the automatic processing apparatus  10  and moreover the validation processing unit for validating the bank note based on such feature data is provided within the host computer  11  or within the management center  14 . Here, it is also possible to provided the validation processing unit within the host computer (management center) comprising a database for storing the account number and balance for the deposit, disbursement or transfer processes. Moreover, it is of course possible to provide a validation processing unit to the other host computer different from the management center. In this case, it is no longer required to execute the update of data for each host computer  11  of the business branches and thereby availability of the system can further be improved. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a detail structure of the automatic processing apparatus and host computer in FIG.  1 . 
     In  FIG. 2 , only one unit of the four automatic processing apparatuses  10  of FIG.  1  and any one unit (called a host computer  30 ) among the host computers  11 ,  14  of  FIG. 1  are illustrated. 
     The host computer  30  is a general name of the computers such as the host computer  11  installed in a financial institution or in the management center  14  or the like. The automatic processing apparatus  10  is constituted of a bank note deposit/disbursement unit  20 , a coin deposit/disbursement unit  21 , a control unit  22 , an interface unit  23 , a display input unit  24  for displaying the manipulation guide images to execute the processing input, a memory unit  25 , a power supply unit  26 , a card reading unit  27  and a bank book detail printing unit  28 . The bank note deposit/disbursement unit  20  is further constituted of a sensor unit  40 , a deposit/disbursement slot  41 , a reject box  42  and a recycle box  43  or the like. The automatic processing apparatus  10  is connected with the host computer  30  via a communication line  29  as the communication medium. The sensor unit  40  is formed of not only an image sensor such as a line sensor but also a magnetic sensor, an optical sensor and a combination of these elements. Therefore, the data transmitted to the host computers have been read with the sensors explained above. In the case of the optical sensor, the light beam which has been reflected from or passed through the bank note when the light beam is radiated thereto is received with a light receiving unit and the data obtained is transmitted to the host computer as the feature data. 
     In the automatic processing apparatus of the prior art, the validating unit including the sensor unit as a whole is installed within the bank note deposit/disbursement unit  20 , while in the automatic processing apparatus of the present invention, the sensor unit which is one of the essential portion to form the validating unit is provided within the automatic processing apparatus  10 . Therefore, the automatic processing apparatus transmits the feature information of bank note obtained from the sensor unit  40  to the host computer  30  via the interface unit  23  for making communication with the host computer  30 . 
     Moreover, the host computer  30  is constituted of a memory unit  31  for storing the transferred data and the reference data to be referred for executing the validation process, a control unit  32  for controlling the entire portion of the apparatus, an interface unit  33  for making communication with the automatic processing apparatus  10 , a power supply unit  34  and a validation processing unit  50  for validating bank note. 
       FIG. 3  is an operation flowchart of the automatic processing method as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     In  FIG. 3 , the left side of the center line (broken line) indicates the processing operations of the automatic processing apparatus  10 , while the right side of the center line indicates the processing operations of the host computer  30 . 
     A user selects a key (selection of processing  60 ) for deposit or disbursement from the processing name keys displayed on the display input unit  24  of the automatic processing apparatus  10 . 
     When the processing is selected, the control unit  22  moves, when the deposit processing is designated, the bank note placed at the deposit/disbursement slot  41  to the transfer route (step  61 ) and also moves, when the disbursement processing is designated, the bank note placed at the recycle box  43  to the transfer route (step  62 ). 
     The control unit  22  obtains, when the bank note placed in the course of the transfer passes the sensor unit  40 , the feature data of each bank note in the memory unit  25 . The control unit  22  further transfers the feature data of a sheet of bank note among those of the bank note obtained to the memory unit  31  of the host computer  30  via the communication line  29  connected to the interface unit  23  of the automatic processing apparatus  10  (step  64 ). In this case, the host computer  30  may be the host computer  11  of the financial institution or the host computer of the management center  14  or the like. Moreover, the apparatus ID is given to each apparatus and such apparatus ID is transferred simultaneously with the transfer of feature data corresponding to a plurality of automatic processing apparatuses. 
     The control unit  32  of the host computer  30  is in the condition to wait for the interruption (step  70 ) and then moves to the subsequent operation in such a timing as the transfer of feature data from the automatic processing apparatus  10 . 
     The control unit  32  of the host computer  30  executes the validation process with the validation processing unit  50  to determine the denomination of bank note (determination for denomination) and determination of true and false money (determination for true/false bank note) (step  71 ). Result of validation obtained from the validation processing unit  50  is transferred to the memory unit  25  of the automatic processing apparatus  10  as the feature data transfer source via the communication line  29  connected to the interface unit  33  of the host computer  30  (step  72 ). The host computer  30  side transits in direct to the condition to wait for the interruption. The feature data transfer source makes determination based on the apparatus ID to be transferred simultaneously at the time of transferring the feature data. Thereby, it is now possible to use only one validation processing unit from a plurality of automatic processing apparatuses. 
     The control unit  22  of the automatic processing apparatus  10  confirms whether the result of determination is transferred or not for the feature data of all sheets of bank note for this processing (step  65 ). If the result is not transferred, the feature data of the next sheet of bank note is transferred to the host computer  30  (step  64 ). 
     When the result of determination of feature data is transferred for all sheets of bank note, the amount confirming image is displayed on the display input unit  24  (step  66 ). Here, it is confirmed whether a user has selected or not the confirmation key of the display input unit  24  of the automatic processing apparatus  10 . When the confirmation key is selected, the control unit  22  completes the processing. If the confirmation key is not selected accurately, a user is urged to manipulate again the confirmation key (step  67 ). 
     In this embodiment, the feature data is transmitted sheet by sheet of the bank note to the host computer  30 , but it is also possible to transmit the feature data of a plurality of sheets of bank note at a time to the host computer  30 . In the case where the feature data is transmitted sheet by sheet of the bank note, it provides a merit that the waiting time of a user may be reduced because the feature data of the other bank note can be read while the feature data is transmitted. On the contrary, in the case where the feature data of a plurality of sheets of bank note is transmitted at a time, it provides a merit that since a plurality of sheets of bank note are summarized, the data transmitted from the other automatic processing apparatus is interrupted for discrimination process during execution of one processing in the host computer  30  and thereby the condition to wait for such validation process can be eliminated. 
       FIG. 4  is an operation flowchart of the money transfer processing as the other embodiment of the present invention. 
     Since the process in the host computer side is identical to that of  FIG. 3 , an explanation will be omitted and only the process in the automatic processing apparatus side will be explained in detail. A user first selects the “Transfer of Money” in the processing selection image by manipulating the display input unit  24  in the automatic processing apparatus  10  (step  81 ). Next, a user selects the “Transfer of Cash” by selecting the transfer of cash or transfer of money using a credit card depending on the guidance image (step  82 ). Next, in the case where only the transfer charge is paid using a credit card, a user inserts the transfer charge card (step  83 ). Next, a user inputs the mount of transfer (step  84 ) and selects the transfer destination designation method. For example, a user designates the transfer of money with the individual designation (step  85 ) and then inputs the account number of the transfer destination depending on the instruction and guidance for input depending on the touch-key image for transfer destination designating input (step  86 ). When the input manipulation up to this step is completed, the automatic processing apparatus  10  makes communication with the management center  40  via the communication line connected to the interface unit  23  and receives an answer message allowing the start of processing from the management center  40  (step  87 ). 
     Since the management center  40  only refers to the content of the relevant account number in the database, only a short period is required for the communication with the management center. When the response message allowing the start of processing is received, a confirmation image for confirming the content of money transfer processing is displayed on the display input unit  24 , urging a user to confirm the content of money transfer processing (step  88 ). When a user inputs the result of confirmation following such request, the display image instructs and guides a user to put the cash. When a user puts the cash depending on such instruction and guidance (step  89 ), the automatic processing apparatus  10  reads the feature data of bank note including the image data with the sensor unit  40  and then transmits the feature data and apparatus ID number to the management center  40  or the other host computer  30  via the communication line connected to the interface unit  23 . 
     Transmission to the host computer  30  is indicated with the arrow mark of a solid line and transmission to the management center  40  is indicated with the arrow mark of a broken line. A comparatively longer period is required for the discrimination process (determination for denomination and true/fault bank note) and moreover a still longer time is also required because of existence of the waiting time in the case where the discrimination of a plurality of automatic processing apparatuses is conducted with the host computers in the number less than such apparatuses or with a unit of host computer. 
     However, such waiting time can be reduced by reducing the number of automatic processing apparatuses assigned for only one unit of host computer. 
     When the data of all sheets of money is returned from the host computer  30  or  40  in the automatic processing apparatus  10 , the confirmation image is displayed on the display input unit  24 , urging a user to confirm the data (step  90 ). When a user confirms the amount of money and inputs the result of confirmation, the automatic processing apparatus  10  makes communication with the host computer  30  or  40  and receives the answer message for completing the processing from the host computer (step  91 ). Next, the end of transfer processing is displayed on the input display unit  24  with instruction and guidance for removing the detail processing slip and transfer charge card. Thereby, the entire part of processing is completed. 
     Here, in this embodiment, the discrimination processing is executed after confirming the account number, but it is also possible to confirm the account number after the discrimination process. In this case, there is provided a merit that the waiting time of user can be shortened with execution of the discrimination process in the host computer  30  during the account number confirming process. 
     As explained above, according to the present invention, (a) security can be improved because the validator for making validation is provided only in the host computer, (b) only modification of the validation processing unit in the host computer side is required when the features of bank note are changed or when measures for the bank note of each country is added and thereby the modification is required only for one or several areas and the working efficiency can be improved, and (c) it is no longer required to mount the validation processing unit (validation program) to each automatic processing apparatus and therefore a memory and a memory for work or the like are unnecessary and thereby manufacturing cost of each apparatus can be reduced.