Method for verifying the denomination of currency

Ott et al.

[45] Aug. 9, 1977

[54] METHOD FOR VERIFYING THE DENOMINATION OF CURRENCY

[76] Inventors: David M. Ott; Cynthia Bunce Ott, both of 1720 Walnut St., El Cerrito, Calif. 94530; John G. Stoides, 206 W. Asher, Culpeper, Va. 22701

[21] Appl. No.: 710,217

[22] Filed: July 30, 1976

[51] Int. C1.2 G06K 9/00

[52] U.S. CI 340/146.3 R; 209/DIG. 2;

235/61.11 K; 340/146.3 Q

[58] Field of Search 340/146.3 Q, 146.3 R,

340/146.3 S; 356/71; 209/111.8, 111.7, 111.5, DIG. 2; 235/61.11 K, 92 SB

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

2,731,621 1/1956 Sontheimer 235/61.11 K

2,922,893 1/1960 Ett 235/61.11 K

2,941,187 6/1960 Simjian 235/61.11 K

3,031,076 4/1962 De Claris et al 209/DIG. 2

3,576,534 4/1971 Steinberger 340/146.3 Q

3,725,667 4/1973 Schwartz 209/DIG. 2

3,782,543 1/1974 Martelli et al 209/DIG. 2

3,930,582 1/1976 Gartner et al 235/61.11 K

Primary Examiner—Leo H. Boudreau
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Flehr, Hohbach, Test,
Albritton & Herbert

[57] ABSTRACT

A bill to be verified is scanned lengthwise by a two track optical sensor. For each bill the resulting analog signals are divided into eight segments or windows each segment producing a binary coded pattern produced by delta modulation. This is compared to a stored reference and a number is produced representing the dissimilarity between the bill being scanned and the average bill of that denomination with which it is being compared. Thereafter, a processor compares the foregoing numbers with additional quantitative functions which have previously been stored relating the corresponding segments of the bill denomination being scanned to other bill denominations. With the use of limit and weighting functions they are summed over the eight different effective windows and a decision is made as to whether the proper denomination is present.

11 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures