Method for semi-continuous currency processing using separator cards

Abstract

A method of semi-continuous currency processing using separator cards to separate currency stacks in a batch of currency fed into a currency processing machine. This currency processing method uses separator cards that facilitate the continuous processing of individual currency stacks without the necessity of stopping the process between each currency stack. The separator cards used contain features that allow for a positive delineation between individual currency stacks and the association of account data with each individual currency stack and its accompanying separator card as it is processed by the currency processing machine.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe field of this invention relates to high-volume currency processing using currency processing machines.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAutomated, high-volume currency processing is a growing international industry affecting numerous aspects of the distribution, collection, and accounting of paper currency. Currency processing presents unique labor task issues that are interwined with security considerations. Currency processing requires numerous individual tasks; for example; the collection of single notes by a cashier or bank teller, the accounting of individual commercial deposits or bank teller pay-in accounts, the assimilation and shipment of individual deposits or accounts to a central processing facility, the handling and accounting of a currency shipment after it arrives at a processing facility, and the processing of individual accounts through automated processing machines. Any step in the process that can be automated, thereby eliminating the ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention eliminates the need for individual batch feedings of stacks of currency. With the present invention, individual batch runs of currency can be consolidated into a much larger batch with accounting subsets, such as the single currency stack examples given above, delineated by separator cards with special features. As a result, currency relating to individual accounts can be stacked, without the need for bundling, to make up a much larger batch of currency to be processed. This step can be performed before the currency is even shipped to a central processing location. For example, individual tellers' shift collections for a single branch bank can be stacked into one single batch of currency with each teller's shift account separated by separator cards. Each separator card can be encoded with detailed account information about the stack of currency with which it is associated, or bar code information from the separator card can be identified to the account information of the accompanying stack of currency. The entire batch can now be transported to a central banking location or processing facility. When the currency, now in a large batch, arrives at the processing facility, the currency processing machine operator can load the entire batch into the currency processing machine in one step, rather than loading each teller's account individually. Data assimilated regarding each accounting subset can also be obtained continuously and compared with the detailed account information encoded on or identified to the separator cards without stopping the machine between each currency batch feed. As a result, the proposed invention greatly increases both security and labor savings for high-volume currency sorting operations by eliminating steps in the currency processing system.

The second critical goal of this invention, that of being able to identify specific account information to each separator card, is a requirement of the semi-continuous processing method described above. When individual account information for a single currency stack can be identified to an individual separator card, either by encoding the separator card with this information or by identifying the information to a unique identifier for each card (such as a unique bar code sequence), individual currency stacks in the batch feed of the currency processing machine can be tracked without the necessity of attempting to identify data accumulated on each stack to the position of the stack in the larger batch feed.

Additional unique characteristics of the separator cards used in the present invention can include separator cards designed with a unique size or dimension, a given thickness, and unique colors or optical patterns. These additional card characteristics provide for redundant confirmation of separator card features versus currency. Once a currency processing machine is configured to detect the several unique characteristics of unique separator cards, the machine can easily distinguish between separator cards and any type of currency. In addition, the currency processing machine can track each individual piece of currency through the detection, imaging, and sorting processing and provide a report on each individual piece of currency correlated to accounting and other data which has been identified to a single separator card.

Problems solved by technology

If a currency processing machine fails to identify a separator card as a break between one currency stack and another, the co-mingling of the currency between the two accounts would be fatal to the accuracy of the processing cycle.

Difficult accounting problems could likewise surface if a currency processing machine mistakenly identifies a currency note as a separator card.

Another particularly difficult quality control problem involves the misfeed of one or more currency notes simultaneously with a separator card, resulting in the currency and separator card entering the machine while stacked together.

Images