Patent ID: 6860375

Claim:
A method of sorting currency bills, each having an associated denomination, using a currency bill evaluating device adapted to dynamically assign denominations to output receptacles, the currency evaluating device comprising an input receptacle, a plurality of output receptacles, and a transport mechanism positioned to individually transport bills from the input receptacle to the output receptacles, the method comprising the acts of: (A) transporting a bill from the input receptacle past a bill denominating sensor; (B) determining the denomination of the transported bill; (C) determining whether the denomination of the bill has been assigned to a non-full output receptacle and (i) if so, transporting the bill to the assigned non-full output receptacle; (ii) if not, determining whether there is an open output receptacle and (a) if so, assigning the denomination of the bill to an open output receptacle and transporting the bill to the assigned output receptacle; (b) if not, stopping the operation of the device; (D) determining whether an output receptacle to which a bill has been transported has reached an output receptacle limit and, if so, designating the output receptacle as being full; (E) determining whether there are any more bills to be processed and if so repeating acts (A)-(E).