Patent ID: 7481702

Claim:
A method for determining when a coin storage bin is filled to a predetermined percentage of the volume of the coin storage bin, comprising: determining a coin volume for an unsorted cylindrical coin entering the coin storage bin, along with other unsorted cylindrical coins, from information provided by a coin acceptor as being equal to a volume of a smallest rectangular prism into which the cylindrical coin will fit along with empty space in corners of the prism which at least partly accounts for a volume of spaces between the unsorted coins in the coin storage bin, adding the coin volumes for each of the unsorted cylindrical coins entering the coin storage bin to thereby generate an estimate of a height of a coin pile formed of each of the unsorted cylindrical coins in the coin storage bin, comparing the estimate of the height of the coin pile with a height of the coin storage bin, and determining when the estimate of the height of the coin pile is greater than or equal to the height of the coin storage bin.