Patent ID: 7602956

Claim:
A system for processing documents, comprising: a plurality of document processing units; a communications network interconnecting the plurality of document processing units; a memory linked to the network, the memory storing an amount of information which identifies at least one counterfeit document; each document processing unit comprising: at least one input receptacle that receives documents; at least one output receptacle that receives documents; an image scanning system that obtains an image of at least a portion of at least one side of each document from which an amount of information which uniquely identifies the document is extracted; a transport mechanism that transports each of the documents, one at a time, from the at least one input receptacle, past the image scanning system, to the at least one output receptacle; and a processor operating to compare the extracted amount of information which uniquely identifies each document to the stored amount of information which identifies at least one counterfeit document obtained from the memory so as to identify, as a suspect document, any document with matching information.