Patent ID: 7567698

Claim:
A method for identifying currency that has been used in unlawful activity, comprising: obtaining an image of a currency document using a device coupled to a money-counting machine, wherein the device includes: an entry stage that holds a plurality of stationary documents in a stack arrangement; an image-capturing device having an image plane extending forwardly from the entry stage, the image-capturing device arranged such that a top or a bottom one of the plurality of stacked documents is visible in the image plane; a rotating member coupled to the entry stage that retrieves one of the plurality of documents per rotation and guides the retrieved document into the counting machine; and a synchronization mechanism that triggers the image-capturing device once per rotation of the rotating member, such that the image-capturing device captures an image of each document in the stack prior to the document passing into the counting machine; capturing a serial number of the currency document from the obtained image using a microprocessor; comparing the captured serial number against one or more lists of wanted serial number using the microprocessor; and identifying the currency document as having been used in unlawful activity based on the comparison performed using the microprocessor.